International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

here my birchen hen ,who look exactly like yours .
Stockholm

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

here my birchen hen ,who look exactly like yours .
Stockholm

chooks man

i like your hen a lot .

my Stockholm gave me a lot nice chicks ,great type .

your is going to do a same for you .
breed as much chicks I you can .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Okay here's some pics of my week old hatchlings.

I got 2 Black and 2 Blue out of the hatch. Happy about that.
Black #1
Here's my very black with minimal white [other than wingtips]. This one looks very similar to my Lady Olivia at the same age.


Black #2
Lots of white.


Here's Blue #1
This one also has very minimal white, and hatched from the darkest egg.


Blue #2
With more white than any of them.


Gosh do I love chicks!

cute chicks .good type and hatch down color except the last one . penguin type

N1 is a pullet ,early feathering type no parasitic white . great .
N2 is a cockerel .nice body type enough white on him but not extreme .
N3 is a blue pullet ,my favorite one .nice body type ,early feathering type and great colored hatch down
N4 penguin type and is a cockerel

keep us posted as they grow.
Gender i m not a 100% but i m guessing from the photos ..

choos man

 

[Chooks man]

I noticed the chicks with the less white have the thickest and shortest down.

I remember chooks man saying something about chicks with minimal white and short down, so I was happy to see this.

I m pleased you remembered .

hatch down color is very important does help us to select later in the season the new breeders .

it is the only way to breed the parasitic white from any strain .selecting the shorter hatch down chicks with less white possible .

keep your eyes on the dark blue pullet .she ll be a start for sure .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

most people think they girls are too black ( they call the over melenized . they have no clue what they are talking about)

me I say they are correct because they feet ( they toes ) are pink the way they should be PLUS they comb is lighter color too NOT black .
this 2 traits are very important - lighter comb and pinkish toes NOT all black shank and toes .

chooks man

 

[bullets]

Okay great!

So I learned something new again. Thanks chooksman. I understand why we should should be looking for chicks with short down and less white, but why a lighter comb?

Also, what sticks out to you as being male or female on chicks? Is it just an overall look and hard to explain? You've got so much experience raising and growing out chooks so it sure you can gather a pretty accurate guestimate just by look but I'm curious

The chicks with the short down and less white, should I only use those for breeding going forward?

 

[dvoice]

sublime . color ,form ,shape and well shiny . true marans eggs .
go for it .good luck with them .best hatch ever.

chooks man

Ty chooks man
5 days into collecting and have 29 so far
Only keeping the darkest ones, some are a shade lighter than those pictured and won't be used. Roo was from a solid 7 and these will be second generation from him

 

[Chooks man]

Okay great!

So I learned something new again. Thanks chooksman. I understand why we should should be looking for chicks with short down and less white, but why a lighter comb?

Also, what sticks out to you as being male or female on chicks? Is it just an overall look and hard to explain? You've got so much experience raising and growing out chooks so it sure you can gather a pretty accurate guestimate just by look but I'm curious

The chicks with the short down and less white, should I only use those for breeding going forward?

Ah good question . why the lighter comb ?
Because the darker comb contain extra Melanin we don t want

Less white ,mean we are trying to breed the parasitic white out
Lighter comb and feet ,mean we are trying a minimize the unwanted Melanin .

about male and female just over all guess .
i find out the cockerels and the pullets have a different stand when they are young ,plus the heat too .the cockerels have a larger head and the pullets have a smaller head .

we can breed from the penguin type one too as long as we mix them up with a shorter hatch down .
in my breeding program of the ER family ( Black copper ,Blue copper ,Birchen .Cuckoos ). all my cockerels has to have a shorter hatch down when hatched and less white possible . the pullets I don t mind

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Ty chooks man
5 days into collecting and have 29 so far
Only keeping the darkest ones, some are a shade lighter than those pictured and won't be used. Roo was from a solid 7 and these will be second generation from him

you seem to have a good strain .great

what do you mean about his second generation? is he now over his daughters?

for me I don t incubate only the dark eggs .bad practice ,instead I incubate all the eggs from the best hens/pullets except the deformed ones .

the reason I do that because the fertilization on the eggs and the transfer of the genetic information happen before the shall formation .the first egg of the week is always darker than the last one ,but the have a same genetic information .

I breed from the hens not from the eggs .

lazy layer lay darker eggs than they sisters a good layer , doesn t mean they are better than them .

chooks man

 

[bullets]

Ah good question . why the lighter comb ?
Because the darker comb contain extra Melanin we don t want

Less white ,mean we are trying to breed the parasitic white out
Lighter comb and feet ,mean we are trying a minimize the unwanted Melanin .

about male and female just over all guess .
i find out the cockerels and the pullets have a different stand when they are young ,plus the heat too .the cockerels have a larger head and the pullets have a smaller head .

we can breed from the penguin type one too as long as we mix them up with a shorter hatch down .
in my breeding program of the ER family ( Black copper ,Blue copper ,Birchen .Cuckoos ). all my cockerels has to have a shorter hatch down when hatched and less white possible . the pullets I don t mind

chooks man

Thanks, I will notate this in my mind bank.

Ya know, I saw an interesting thread about sexing chicks by comb at hatch or within a few days. An old timer had suggested to one of the members on BYC that you can get a better understanding of male or female by how far down the beak the comb starts. He said that if the comb starts at the top or before the nostrils it is a pullet. if it goes to the bottom of the nostrils (toward the point of the beak) or past then it should be cockerel. This of course could just be one of those wives tales but I found it interesting. Maybe we can all test this out with our hatches?