International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[KF0002]

Thank you! Do you have a tip on what kind of light to use for candling dark eggs? I can't even see which end the air pocket is on. They are so dark.

That's great they are too dark to candle.. thats what we want! Lol I usually dont even really bother candling Marans eggs until I put them into lockdown on the 18th day. At thay point, eggs with development will have a distinct lighter colored air cell and below it will be very dark because at that point most of the egg is occupied by the chick.

Here is an egg on the 11th day of incubation. The color is about a 5 but all you can really see is the distinct color difference of the air cell and the part below it with the developing chick. Thats all I really look for because that shows the egg is developing. I use an inexpensive LED flashlight from Walmart. It is Ozark Trail brand. It is pretty bright and its the best flashlight Ive ever used for candling.

 

[KF0002]

If the egg is not developing you wont see the dark shadowing under the aircell.

 

[littlepeeps81]

Here's my young man. Looking pretty good He's 22 1/2 weeks old. Is there any hint at all of red on his wing? Or is it just wishful thinking lol?

pioneerchick816, yes I do see some red on his wing. I hope he will develope more on the shoulder for you.

 

[littlepeeps81]

View attachment 1123946 View attachment 1123947 Dang bird is either photo shy or in crow mode! I see what you are saying on the high tail now. Here are the first couple of eggs my girls just started laying the last couple days. One was darker but cracked. I wish I would have snapped a pic before I disposed of it.

crazychixlady, wow beautiful eggs!

 

[littlepeeps81]

Onyx laid her first egg today! I ordered an egg color chart, but it is taking its precious time getting here. Also got a pic of Hazel's 7th, 8th and 9th egg. Onyx's first egg is nicer than Hazel's was, so happy about that.

 

[KF0002]

Here is an updated pic of one of the cockerels I am currently growing out. He is FRF x LA (Mud is his sire). Unfortunately the list of cockerels is very short and gets shorter it seems by the day. I have lost all but one of my FRF cockerels, including the nicest one that my husband had to cull today due to a broken wing. He was being bullied pretty bad and he wasnt doing well with the injury. Rotten luck.

Anyway, I definitely think I will be able to use this cockerel. He has an open tail from the rear view, even copper color, good eye color, and for now his tail angle and back length looks good. No white underfluff so far. I have a couple darker hackled pullets I think he would go nicely with to help correct his small amount of copper leakage. He could use more depth to his chest. He does have a goofy looking comb with that one tall point in the middle but that can be corrected also. Lol.

*Disregard my messy yard.. my son leaves stuff laying everywhere.*

 

[KF0002]

Onyx laid her first egg today! I ordered an egg color chart, but it is taking its precious time getting here. Also got a pic of Hazel's 7th, 8th and 9th egg. Onyx's first egg is nicer than Hazel's was, so happy about that.

Sometimes they start out speckled like that and get darker after the first few eggs. First eggs are so exciting! Beautiful pictures too btw! You are a good photographer!

 

[chickengr]

Here is an updated pic of one of the cockerels I am currently growing out. He is FRF x LA (Mud is his sire). Unfortunately the list of cockerels is very short and gets shorter it seems by the day. I have lost all but one of my FRF cockerels, including the nicest one that my husband had to cull today due to a broken wing. He was being bullied pretty bad and he wasnt doing well with the injury. Rotten luck.

Anyway, I definitely think I will be able to use this cockerel. He has an open tail from the rear view, even copper color, good eye color, and for now his tail angle and back length looks good. No white underfluff so far. I have a couple darker hackled pullets I think he would go nicely with to help correct his small amount of copper leakage. He could use more depth to his chest. He does have a goofy looking comb with that one tall point in the middle but that can be corrected also. Lol. View attachment 1131134 View attachment 1131136
*Disregard my messy yard.. my son leaves stuff laying everywhere.*

I wish I had such a cockerel!

I don't need anyone to make my yard messy. somehow I always manage to do it myself, lol. I desperately need to move to a bigger place.

 

[KF0002]

I wish I had such a cockerel!

I don't need anyone to make my yard messy. somehow I always manage to do it myself, lol. I desperately need to move to a bigger place.

Thank you! It has been quite the challenge raising one or two decent cockerels to breed from. And I swear I hatched a ton of Marans chicks thinking it would be a sufficent number to cull through. Lose one here and one there, cull for this and for that and the numbers go down quick.

 

[KF0002]

Here's my young man. Looking pretty good He's 22 1/2 weeks old. Is there any hint at all of red on his wing? Or is it just wishful thinking lol?

I think he is nice! Give him time to color up. My Marans cockerels take a long time to develop their full color. Like 8-9 months. Apollo keeps getting more and more copper color as he matures and he is going on 9 months old. When he was 5 months old he still had a lot of black. They are very slow to mature. My next two oldest cockerels are 5 and 6 months old and they're still not crowing.