International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

here a photos of the Birchen chicks that hatched .

plus Cream Legbar and white Aras

 

[KF0002]

thank for the positive vibe . just to sure I canceled all the order I had for the 2016 chicks . what ever I manage to hatch I ll keep . my chooks are laying like there is no tomorrow .nice large eggs . the rooster are nice and active too Only the man technology let me down . Great lesson for me . I never had such a set back like that before in my life . over 50 fertile marans egg where toast out . heart breaking . the luck will change . chooks man

here a photos of the Birchen chicks that hatched . plus Cream Legbar and white Aras

That does sound heart breaking. All those beautiful Marans eggs ruined. I feel your pain. So sorry.. But I have learned that for every up there is a down, and even through the bad we come out stronger and wiser in the end. You are a poultry genius and I have no doubt that you will have things running like a well oiled machine in no time. Since you mentioned cream legbars, do you like the breed? I have heard mixed reviews. Since Greenfire Farm first imported them into the US I have wanted them but the price was outrageous. Now the price of them is more reasonable and I would like to get a few to see how well I like them. I would love an autosexing breed as a layer to replace my Leghorns. Plus I just love crested and barred chickens.. and the light blue/green eggs are just so pretty.

 

[Chooks man]

That does sound heart breaking. All those beautiful Marans eggs ruined. I feel your pain. So sorry..

But I have learned that for every up there is a down, and even through the bad we come out stronger and wiser in the end. You are a poultry genius and I have no doubt that you will have things running like a well oiled machine in no time.

Since you mentioned cream legbars, do you like the breed? I have heard mixed reviews. Since Greenfire Farm first imported them into the US I have wanted them but the price was outrageous. Now the price of them is more reasonable and I would like to get a few to see how well I like them. I would love an autosexing breed as a layer to replace my Leghorns. Plus I just love crested and barred chickens.. and the light blue/green eggs are just so pretty.

Ah I m all over it like the rush .

here my new home made set up . new incubation room inside the house in of the spare room I have . nice and cool East facing so it is cooler room

they are marked as A ,B ,C etc........... they have a count down too .



a good thing that a lot people did not want to cancel the order they placed . they prefer to wait another year because there is no one selling the marans varieties I m offering ( if I can hatch them first )

I was going to give back they deposit but they would it accept it . Guess I have to keep it than .

few where not happy ,but that life you can t please every body .

the hatcher are in the Landry easier in case for handling a chicks when they come out of the hatcher ( if they are going to hatch) . I have to stop the habit of counting my eggs before they hatch .

about the Cream LegBar I don t know much about them .they are my friend chooks ,he want me to breed them and we go 50/50 in the surviving chicks .
I need to look at them .
I actually like them heavy forager . and nice large Blue eggs .

chooks man

 

[bullets]

I have 2 CCL pullets in with a mixxed flock. I think they are beautiful and full of wonderful personality. They're inquisitive [if a bird could ever actually possess that quality] the best foragers. They are not afraid threat. They will chase my two non-chicken friendly chihuahuas if they get too close. They are are the first to alert the others if a large bird is flying over and head to the bushes. I really love those two little girls.

 

[winterhorses]

AuroraDream26,

Thought I would share a pic of my over-colored cockerel - his name is Otis. He is 7 months old in this pic. You can go to Post #483 to see what he looked like at 4.5 months old. They change a lot over their first 18 months. Otis is the smallest of my 3 breeders and has developed a wry tail within the last 6-8 weeks. Despite his faults he has nice copper color on his hackles, saddle feathers, and ear tufts. He has more copper on his chest than I would prefer but he will add the proper color to his female progeny.

Keith

Such beautiful copper!

 

[winterhorses]

I don't think your lovely little lavender cockerel has vulture hocks, just heavily feathered thighs. Vulture hock type feathers are stiffer and longer. I may be wrong as it's not a subject that brings up much info when I've done searches. I had a cockerel from my LA group that had vulture hocks and it was very noticeable. Vulture hock feathers don't feel soft and fluffy like normal thigh feathers feel. When I think vulture hocks, I think d'uccle belgain bantams.

The lavender and split to lavender pullets are beautiful! What a cool project!

And the lavender ameraucanas.. be still my heart! Such striking birds!

Good to hear! I'll have to keep an eye out on the feathers to see how he matures.

I love my LAs. I hatched a group of 11, but a predator killed 6 of them...including all of the females! I kept 2 of the roos and just put 8 eggs in the bator, but they arrived in pretty bad shape (very dirty and water-stained). I'm looking for some good hatching eggs/chicks if you know of any reputable breeders or have some yourself!

 

[winterhorses]

wow!! I absolutely LOVE the lav. & lav/black marans, just beautiful birds!!! congrats!

Hmm...did you breed these yourself as a result? if so how? I'm in canada, so i'm already wondering if it's even possible that i'm able to get a hold of their variety. lol

I got them from Chicken Ridge Farm. http://www.chickenridgefarm.com/lavender-marans.html

 

[winterhorses]

and this 2 are Blue birchen maran not lavender thing .

the breeder is using a Blue birchen and A Birchen ( Black ) marans together .so he/she getting 50% each not split

I m working on the same color pattern my self .

gorgeous looking strain .well worked and worth to breed from . they have a lot thing going for them .
my hat to the breeder .take a long time to produce chooks like that .

the cockerel is going to be huge .he is a gorgeous looking boy keep your eyes on him . love his eyes Blue/Green .they are going to be well orange wen he mature .

I love to see photos of him wen fully grown .

you are a lucky person so keep your eyes on them please .

chooks man

Thanks so much for your insightful feedback, as always! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment!

I'm still new to chicken genetics, so I'm not sure how all the colors work. The person I got them from said they were lavender - should I be upset? I think these two are either parents or relatives of mine.




This is what they had on their site about the splits:
"Black split to Lavender Marans chicks. We are currently breeding the Lavender Marans with Little Peddler French Black Copper Marans to improve the egg coloring to reach the desired, highly sought after chocolate egg coloring. These chicks would be considered projects and when breed back to each other should yield a percentage of Lavender chicks."

I asked about the birchen color and was told something about the lavender diluting the copper...?

 

[winterhorses]

thank for the positive vibe .

just to sure I canceled all the order I had for the 2016 chicks . what ever I manage to hatch I ll keep .

my chooks are laying like there is no tomorrow .nice large eggs . the rooster are nice and active too Only the man technology let me down .

Great lesson for me . I never had such a set back like that before in my life . over 50 fertile marans egg where toast out . heart breaking .

the luck will change .

chooks man

Ugh, so sorry to hear that! Glad that your girls are giving you more to work with, though.

 

[winterhorses]

Pinky Pie is a good boy .he seem to give you a hard time about what sort of shoes you should where . maybe he was a shoes maker in his previous life .

I m not worry about his saddle copper is lighter than his hackle ,that is ok . a problem I see is his access fluff around his thigh . they should be held tight close to the body .

chooks man

Thanks for the heads up about the thigh fluff! Is that something I can fix with good pullets?