I agree that he has some more growing to do so his coloring should continue to fill in some. Also remember that the chooks do not express their true color until after the second molt at about 18-22 months. The Marans Rooster's best asset is his coloring (feathers & legs) even over type, combs and tail sets (these traits are inherited from the hen). It would be great to have all these traits in one Rooster but that does not always happen so we have to match strengths with faults in our breeding pairs to produce progeny that will be correct. What we want are rich copper hackles & saddle feathers, well defined red shoulder, copper ear tufts and a small amount of copper coloring on his breast. The Marans Rooster that is well colored produces well colored chicks - he will add the copper hackles to his female progeny. A Marans Rooster with dark colored ear tufts and solid black breast will generally produce all black females. These black females are useful if they have overall good type, eye color, correct tail set and combs as they can be breed to a Rooster with an over copper colored breast. Some copper color on the ear tufts is better than none - at least he got some of the copper genetics.
I wasn't sure about the white-tipped feathers on Lady Olivia (hard for my old eyes to see it in pics) so I just offered up an alternative based on my experience. If she has white tip feathers then she is a carrier of recessive white or parasitic white gene. I do know that the white can be hard to bred out of a line but it is possible and will take several generations. Chooks Man is our resident expert on the white gene so he can better explain it - I am not 100% sure but I think the parisitic white is harder to bred out than the recessive white. The white and brown feathers are not desirable in the BCM - definitely faults and possibly DQs.
I was able to view the video last night. Hopefully Chooks Man will respond to your post.
Take Care,
Keith
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