International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[BlueTheBrahma]

Thought I’d have my first cup of tea in my Blue Copper Marans mug. Colours remind me of Napoleon, but I’m glad he has better type than this painting!

 

[LaFleche]

Hi my friends it s me chooks man with new user name.mist you all .my marans are thriving and very healthy . I have a lot worked very hard last few years to breed them better. Will post photos soon
Have a lot catching up to do.
Love you all
Joesmarans

Welcome back! You were missed by many.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Looks like 7 is the total for Chloe + head spot from incubator. For the new guy @Joemarans the 7 are Kong x Solo (BCM x BSM) to hopefully get @Bantambird glorious type, tail and combs into the BCM from her flock.
Little blue band is head spot..

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Looks like 7 is the total for Chloe + head spot from incubator. For the new guy @Joemarans the 7 are Kong x Solo (BCM x BSM) to hopefully get @Bantambird glorious type, tail and combs into the BCM from her flock.
Little blue band is head spot..View attachment 4094614View attachment 4094615View attachment 4094616

Before anyone says anything about breeding Silver to Gold, I take the blame, it was my idea!

I made sure to stress these birds aren’t to enter the silver breeding flock, but will just help improve type in the coppers.

 

[KF0002]

@Bantambird , I don't breed Marans anymore but do have a general breeding question about shafting, as it's been a while since I encountered it. If the hens in a line of birds are exhibiting a lot of shafting in the back and breast feathers, but the roosters do not exhibit it (but obviously carry it), would bringing in an unrelated bird from a line with lack of shafting be the only way to improve this in a line? From what I can tell, all of the hens from the line have lighter colored feather veins in the body and breast feathers. They are golden duckwings, and it seems really common to have a lot of shafting in golden duckwings. I appreciate your thoughs.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

@Bantambird , I don't breed Marans anymore but do have a general breeding question about shafting, as it's been a while since I encountered it. If the hens in a line of birds are exhibiting a lot of shafting in the back and breast feathers, but the roosters do not exhibit it (but obviously carry it), would bringing in an unrelated bird from a line with lack of shafting be the only way to improve this in a line? From what I can tell, all of the hens from the line have lighter colored feather veins in the body and breast feathers. They are golden duckwings, and it seems really common to have a lot of shafting in golden duckwings. I appreciate your thoughs.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m taking you mean by Shafting is what I call shaftiness, light centres to duckwing feathers.

What breed are they? There are two options here: old fashioned selective breeding, where you gradually select for the least amount of shaftiness until it reduces.

This can take time and there are no guarantees, so breeding better stock in is a more certain way.

I often say work with what you have, but I’d be a hypocrite as I’ve just bought two new lines of marans.

I breed Welsummers, which should have shaftiness, so I can’t say I have much experience trying to reduce it.

I hope this helps.

 

[KF0002]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m taking you mean by Shafting is what I call shaftiness, light centres to duckwing feathers.

What breed are they? There are two options here: old fashioned selective breeding, where you gradually select for the least amount of shaftiness until it reduces.

This can take time and there are no guarantees, so breeding better stock in is a more certain way.

I often say work with what you have, but I’d be a hypocrite as I’ve just bought two new lines of marans.

I breed Welsummers, which should have shaftiness, so I can’t say I have much experience trying to reduce it.

I hope this helps.

Thank you for your input, it is much appreciated. The birds I will be working with are Light Brown Leghorn, and I know I learned a lot from Joe (Chooks man) when I bred Marans, so I couldn't think of a better place to ask my question.

I agree with working with the birds you have, unless the faults you have cannot be improved easily without bringing in better stock (such as squirrel tails, size and type issues, etc). I know in Marans, color could be improved by balancing the colors of the females with a complimenting male. If the hens were undercolored, using a well-colored male would balance out the color in the progeny and vice versa. But with Brown Leghorns, shaftiness doesn't appear to show up in the males much, but it plagues the hens in lines that have it. I agree with hatching a large number of chicks each year and selecting away from it, even if progress is slow that way. Especially since better stock is harder to obtain these days with Avian Influenza making people leery to ship birds and receive shipped birds. I am also in grad school, so can't make a long road trip to pick up better birds right now, so I guess I am just stuck working with the birds I have. lol The two hens I have currently have the shafting in their back and breasts, and I ordered some eggs from a line that I can see some shaftiness in some of the hens.

 

[KF0002]

I edited my comment to remove the statement about Welsummers requiring some degree of shaftiness. I misread your post. I thought you were saying you were trying to breed out shaftiness. I wish shaftiness was required in Brown Leghorns. Then my problem would be solved. lol

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I edited my comment to remove the statement about Welsummers requiring some degree of shaftiness. I misread your post. I thought you were saying you were trying to breed out shaftiness. I wish shaftiness was required in Brown Leghorns. Then my problem would be solved. lol

The feathers 4 (back) and 6 (breast) are what you want, notice how the breast feather still have some light shaft, as it’s basically impossible to not have it on the breast. Would you say yours currently look like 4a on the back? That one is the bad, light shafted example, and I agree you want to breed this out.
I wish you luck my friend.

 

[KF0002]

View attachment 4094703The feathers 4 (back) and 6 (breast) are what you want, notice how the breast feather still have some light shaft, as it’s basically impossible to not have it on the breast. Would you say yours currently look like 4a on the back? That one is the bad, light shafted example, and I agree you want to breed this out.
I wish you luck my friend.

Yes they look like the 4A feather. Here is one hen, mind you she has been laying since January and has been with a male the entire time so she is looking a little worn.

Thank you for everything! I may circle back sometime and ask some more questions. I always loved this group and our good buddy Chooks man. It is nice to see the group is alive and well. I think of our old friend Red Banks who started this thread and miss our Marans chats. I appreciate you for helping with my questions.