International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[The Moonshiner]

he is sublime . great type . all strength and vigor .
body wise I can not spot a fault all greatness .

he is not just over colored .he carry different gene ,will be an asset to recreate a Blue buff tail marans by crossing him to a wheaten hen with a lot flame on her hackle and uniform clay dody color .

you hatch him from your flock or shipped eggs?
I m very interested about him .

very fine specimen . forget about the body color .he has a truck load of quality . he is not a show bird for sure but he is a first class breeder.

chooks man.

PS = are you really a moonshiner , running around a forest to do your crafty business . ha ha ha ....................

Thank you for your insight.
He's a fourth generation home grown. We started with eggs from 2 sources and two cockerels from another. Every year i'd pick the best cockerel and a few pullets then sell the rest. I culled through quite a few chicks but never kept a very big flock.
Most of our hens had hardly any color so i quickly decided to try to keep the best cockerel with more color. His dad was a beautiful blue copper rooster with a bit more color then normal. Our hens werent improving but i was fond of the overcolored rooster.
I about gave up on them and only hatched about 8 or 10 chicks last year. I just let two go broody and hatched what they hatched. I then turned them all out with our layer flock. We lost his dad over the summer so i reviewed what had hatched and had 6 boys. That one really stood out to me because he had more color and just really stood out as a stocky typey bird.
Glad I kept him. I really like how he turned out. Thinking i'll pick out my best two hens and see what they produce next year.

 

[KF0002]

Thank you for your insight.
He's a fourth generation home grown. We started with eggs from 2 sources and two cockerels from another. Every year i'd pick the best cockerel and a few pullets then sell the rest. I culled through quite a few chicks but never kept a very big flock.
Most of our hens had hardly any color so i quickly decided to try to keep the best cockerel with more color. His dad was a beautiful blue copper rooster with a bit more color then normal. Our hens werent improving but i was fond of the overcolored rooster.
I about gave up on them and only hatched about 8 or 10 chicks last year. I just let two go broody and hatched what they hatched. I then turned them all out with our layer flock. We lost his dad over the summer so i reviewed what had hatched and had 6 boys. That one really stood out to me because he had more color and just really stood out as a stocky typey bird.
Glad I kept him. I really like how he turned out. Thinking i'll pick out my best two hens and see what they produce next year.

I have many projects for this coming year, but one in particular will be to create some (hopefully) decent Blue Copper Marans. I will be breeding a Black Copper cockerel to my best Splash Copper pullets to create Blue Coppers. Chicken genetics just fascinate me. Good luck with your breedings! I look forward to seeing pictures of your results!

 

[kcrandall]

I have many projects for this coming year, but one in particular will be to create some (hopefully) decent Blue Copper Marans.  I will be breeding a Black Copper cockerel to my best Splash Copper pullets to create Blue Coppers.  Chicken genetics just fascinate me.  Good luck with your breedings!  I look forward to seeing pictures of your results!  
 

Haa, I have the same plan! My April hatch yielded 3 good BCM Ccokerels and 3 good pullets - a BCM, Blue CM and Splash. That gives me 9 combinations to see how the genetics work on the different pairings. I should get 50 / 50 BCM and Blue CM so I'm hoping for a nice Blue CM Cockerel so I can create more Splash in 2018. If I get a good Blue CM I may look for a couple of Silver Cuckoos Marans to try to make Blue Cuckoo Marans. I need more land and pens!!

Keith

 

[Chooks man]

Haa, I have the same plan! My April hatch yielded 3 good BCM Ccokerels and 3 good pullets - a BCM, Blue CM and Splash. That gives me 9 combinations to see how the genetics work on the different pairings. I should get 50 / 50 BCM and Blue CM so I'm hoping for a nice Blue CM Cockerel so I can create more Splash in 2018. If I get a good Blue CM I may look for a couple of Silver Cuckoos Marans to try to make Blue Cuckoo Marans. I need more land and pens!!

Keith

Ah you are saying you need more land and pens . that does not solve a problem .
I keep saying that to my self when I started in 2014 with 2 dozens Wheaten eggs ans a 24 Brinsea incubator, 1 broody box and life was easy . than I strat saying like you need more incubator ,more pens ,more land ,more varieties . I vcan t stop .
i m running 2 farm 300 km apart from each other and a ton of chooks and work . I haven t have a day of for a while now and I m still well behind , never seem to be able to catch up .

So be careful what you wish for .

I agree with you on recreating the Blue silver Cuckoo .I m working on it my self .

good luck with your dream .

chooks man

 

[KF0002]

Haa, I have the same plan! My April hatch yielded 3 good BCM Ccokerels and 3 good pullets - a BCM, Blue CM and Splash. That gives me 9 combinations to see how the genetics work on the different pairings. I should get 50 / 50 BCM and Blue CM so I'm hoping for a nice Blue CM Cockerel so I can create more Splash in 2018. If I get a good Blue CM I may look for a couple of Silver Cuckoos Marans to try to make Blue Cuckoo Marans. I need more land and pens!!

Keith

I will also need more land and more pens if I keep coming up with additional projects. lol

I am excited there are others on this thread that plan on breeding BBS also. It will be fun to share pictures of our chicks this spring and watch them grow!

The blue cuckoo project sounds interesting. The birds will be beautiful I bet. Can't wait to see them!

 

[Chooks man]

Thank you for your insight.
He's a fourth generation home grown. We started with eggs from 2 sources and two cockerels from another. Every year i'd pick the best cockerel and a few pullets then sell the rest. I culled through quite a few chicks but never kept a very big flock.
Most of our hens had hardly any color so i quickly decided to try to keep the best cockerel with more color. His dad was a beautiful blue copper rooster with a bit more color then normal. Our hens werent improving but i was fond of the overcolored rooster.
I about gave up on them and only hatched about 8 or 10 chicks last year. I just let two go broody and hatched what they hatched. I then turned them all out with our layer flock. We lost his dad over the summer so i reviewed what had hatched and had 6 boys. That one really stood out to me because he had more color and just really stood out as a stocky typey bird.
Glad I kept him. I really like how he turned out. Thinking i'll pick out my best two hens and see what they produce next year.

Ah it is your handy work .
you have a great type but watch for the color , Black copper and blue copper are all about balancing the color and the body pattern .
the way you are doing it ,you are going too far toward the copper ( the blue gene is making it look more rich buff )
love to see a photos of his mam or sisters .

I m impressed about his type . majestic .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I have many projects for this coming year, but one in particular will be to create some (hopefully) decent Blue Copper Marans. I will be breeding a Black Copper cockerel to my best Splash Copper pullets to create Blue Coppers. Chicken genetics just fascinate me. Good luck with your breedings! I look forward to seeing pictures of your results!

it is always great to create your own variety ,

Good luck with your project . work very well the way you are doing it ,a Black copper is a rooster and the Splash is a hen .
Rooster always dictate the body pattern is the crossing
the hens dictate the body type .

can t wait to see all this chicks coming out of all this international project .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I know this is a BCM thread, but since we are talking about genetics I have a question for @Chooks man . I hope it is okay to ask it here.

A friend gave me a Crele American Gamecock, and two of his single barred sons (only 1/2 crele). The cock is supposedly pure crele so he should be double barred. I want to create a pure crele line using the cock. I have wheaten game hens and some that come partridge looking (wild type) that I could mate him to. I've read using a wild type hen would be best since crele is wild type color with barring. What would be the best way to go about breeding the creles so they breed true? I am eager to work with them to create an autosexing line.

My thoughts:

Mate the cock to a wild type hen producing my F1. Then mate single barred F1 x F1 to create double barred cockerels and single barred pullets (F2). From then on any further offspring should breed true, correct? The single barred pullets and double barred cockerels would be autosexing at hatch like any other barred breed, would they not?

Or I could mate the cock to a wild type hen, and then back cross the single barred F1 pullets back to the cock.

What approach would be best for this?

Thank you for your infinite wisdom of chicken genetics.

your approach is correct either way will work ,but will give a different result .

crossing with a wild type is your best option .
if the Cock is a pure creles and a good one than make sense to mate his F1 daughter back to him to make the F2 progeny .

me personally I like to create 2 line from the same sire .
1) back cross his F1 daughters to the sire and keep that line pure as long as the sire is a live and active.
2) cross the F1 between them selves and make a true F2 . I like the genes combination in this generation . great varieties depend on the purity of the parent stock .
from this F2 i like to choose the ones are close to the ideal type i m looking and mate them and get the F3

after 3 year or 3 generation you can merge both line to restore the hybrid vigor and correct any fault .

the barring gene is easy to work with ,because if it is there even in a single form will show up .you can see it .

about the autosexing trait you have to select only the chicks showing the trait . the one they are hard to tell apart they are a cull .
by doing this practice from the start of the crossing for a few generation ,than all chicks will be true autosexing type .

chooks man

 

[kcrandall]

Ah you are saying you need more land and pens . that does not solve a problem .
I keep saying that to my self when I started in 2014 with 2 dozens Wheaten eggs ans a 24 Brinsea incubator, 1 broody box and life was easy . than I strat saying like you need more incubator ,more pens ,more land ,more varieties . I vcan t stop .
i m running 2 farm 300 km apart from each other and a ton of chooks and work . I haven t have a day of for a while now and I m still well behind , never seem to be able to catch up .

So be careful what you wish for .

I agree with you on recreating the Blue silver Cuckoo .I m working on it my self .

good luck with your dream .

chooks man

Haa, I hear ya Chooks Man!!

 

[BobletFarmBirds]

Welcome back!  It is easier for us to check your chickens out if you take pics of them from different angles (front, back, side view, top, and close up for eye color and comb).  When you take pics make sure they are standing in a natural position.  I know just how difficult it is to take good pictures of chickens when they are running around the coop.  And if they are anything like mine, they never stand still!  lol  

What I can tell about your cockerel is that his comb doesn't look half bad right now.  I have definitely seen worse combs (like on my chickens.. lol).  The blade doesn't touch the back of his head and is free from side springs and thumb print.  His eye color looks good, leg color looks appropriate.  His shanks are feathered down to the end of the outer toes as they should be.  He is still young and is still developing his copper coloring.  So far his copper is looking good.  Can't tell much about his type from the angles of the pictures.

Thanks!! I will definitely get some better pics in the morning. The girls have all been inside for three days (I feel bad) because we have had 9 degree f weather. This isn't usual for us lol. With all the snow we kept them in, but hopefully they can stretch their legs tomorrow!!