International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[wrathsfarm]

Hi. If I were you, I would not hatch any of those eggs and eat Joanie's eggs for the next 21 days. Like someone mentioned, what if that 14 week old got to her right before Kong. I am saying that because it's so hard to cull chicks. And the time, the money, the energy etc...
I would want to do it right from the get go. Jmho.

Yes, that's what I decided. It's just a bummer because she my darkest layer and I've only got one pullet left from her test mate with Kong.
I opted to put eggs from another decent dark layer (Kong x Raven) under that broody.

Pushing too close to winter now to have to wait a month at least for her to clean out, so my first hatch in the spring will be all Kong x Joannie unless one of these cockerel grow outs really stand out to change pairings.

I appreciate your opinion all the more, tho. It helps ease the pain...

 

[MayBerg]

Yes, that's what I decided. It's just a bummer because she my darkest layer and I've only got one pullet left from her test mate with Kong.
I opted to put eggs from another decent dark layer (Kong x Raven) under that broody.

Pushing too close to winter now to have to wait a month at least for her to clean out, so my first hatch in the spring will be all Kong x Joannie unless one of these cockerel grow outs really stand out to change pairings.

I appreciate your opinion all the more, tho. It helps ease the pain...

But, let's say you pair her with Kong mid August and start collecting from Joanie Sept 1st and collect for 2 weeks. Bear with me please, I am trying to understand since I am new to this ok.
So from mid September can you set in the incubator or do you absolutely have to have a broody? And the hens don't go broody in the winter time?

If you hatch in Oct, I am thinking that by end of Feb or March those pullets will start laying ....

Probably something obvious I don't understand yet.

 

[MayBerg]

The only hatching I will do in Spring will be to mate Olive(supposed to be an Olive egger, but she gas no crest), to Monsieur Jacques Marans to try to get some dark olive.
At this point Olive might be a cuckoo maran. We won't know until she lays in the fall.

 

[MayBerg]

If she is a cuckoo, I'll have to outsource a olive egger from a local breeder.

 

[chickengr]

Here is Penguin and her egg is the lighter one.
View attachment 3890792View attachment 3890793

#4 and #4+. they might be darker than in the pic. if so #4+ might be #4-5 or even #5. only you can compare eggs with this pic.

 

[chickengr]

If she is a cuckoo, I'll have to outsource a olive egger from a local breeder.

if she has a cuckoo pattern you will get sex linked chicks.

 

[Helloyou89]

It sounds like he's doing really good so far, but he's only 11 weeks old. Correct?
Long ways to go yet with chaos coming. Just keep doing what your doing for now and watch him.
At some point you may see that his advances towards the older girls aren't working so he goes after the pullets. This is the time where you may have to separate if it gets too aggressive. Or you may not have to.
You may also see him try to mate the pullets but the hens will chase him off or knock him off the pullets (their training him)
For now tho, he's acting pretty chill and that's a good sign.
Yes, your pullets are establishing the pecking order in their sub flock. And then around POL (point of lay) or after, they should start upsetting the hens pecking order as they meld into one flock.
Right now your cockerel is just playing along but realize he's not part of the pecking order. He's going to break away from the pecking order and man up to oversee the flock and this is the time where the hens will most likely submit to him, most of the time this goes fluently but sometimes a hen can put up a fight, usually it's the head hen not wanting to give up her leadership. Once she submits to him usually the others fall in line and it's over and he becomes the alpha.
Right now all you can do is sit back and watch him as he grows, and try to keep his aggression to a minimum.

Yes he’s only 11weeks.. Thank you so much for this! I kept reading horror stories and just was not sure what to expect. Some folks made it sound like one day they woke up and their rooster hit puberty and did a 180 becoming a total nightmare. Seems like I just have to keep an eye out for their flock dynamic, see how it changes, and only intervene when necessary. Again, I really appreciate the solid advice. I’ve been so stressed about how to handle a growing rooster (probably need to stop reading those horror stories people post about on those FB groups.) He’s starting to grow at much faster rate than the pullets his age. I’ll update with some pictures soon.

Oh and my head hen is a Rhode Island Red. She loves cuddles and attention from people, but boy is she bossy to the other girls. I think he’s got a long ways to prove himself before she’ll be ready to hand over that leadership role.

 

[NanaK]

@NanaK ...I wasn't ignoring you I meant to multi quote both yours and @Tstraub reply but hit reply instead of insert quotes.

Sorry about that...

No worries.

 

[wrathsfarm]

But, let's say you pair her with Kong mid August and start collecting from Joanie Sept 1st and collect for 2 weeks. Bear with me please, I am trying to understand since I am new to this ok.
So from mid September can you set in the incubator or do you absolutely have to have a broody? And the hens don't go broody in the winter time?

If you hatch in Oct, I am thinking that by end of Feb or March those pullets will start laying ....

Probably something obvious I don't understand yet.

Yes, I could set eggs any time and the more I think about it I should as there's always that chance of losing her and then I would be really upset. I'm in Michigan so our weather is impossible to predict, but my coops are in my pole barn and I could build another brooder room.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Yes he’s only 11weeks.. Thank you so much for this! I kept reading horror stories and just was not sure what to expect. Some folks made it sound like one day they woke up and their rooster hit puberty and did a 180 becoming a total nightmare. Seems like I just have to keep an eye out for their flock dynamic, see how it changes, and only intervene when necessary. Again, I really appreciate the solid advice. I’ve been so stressed about how to handle a growing rooster (probably need to stop reading those horror stories people post about on those FB groups.) He’s starting to grow at much faster rate than the pullets his age. I’ll update with some pictures soon.

Oh and my head hen is a Rhode Island Red. She loves cuddles and attention from people, but boy is she bossy to the other girls. I think he’s got a long ways to prove himself before she’ll be ready to hand over that leadership role.

As the saying goes..."it could go either way".
A few tips I could suggest would be when I start to see the hormones going full on I mostly ignore him but I reinforce I'm the ruler of the coop. I walk thru them intentionally to make them move out of my way and demand respect of my space. Any aggressive behavior is swiftly dealt with.

Especially if this your only roo, he needs to learn from 'you' what he is not allowed to do, but also learn I'm not a threat by giving respect back to him.