International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Hensndoes]

Help? Which cockerel do I keep? 11 weeks old. One is darker blue - had black eyes that are slowly turning a brownish color. He's more bulky and his copper is slowly coming in but a nice deep color. The other is lighter blue with gold eyes from day one and lots more copper- but not as dark copper except one the wings. I think the lighter one has a nicer comb. He's not as bulky as the darker. I also see a white feather in wing of the lighter (McSpurry - last 4 pics)

My plans = breed over the legbar for olive eggers then find a good hen to breed marans. Maybe neither are good and I find a different cockerel? As far as egg color I bought them from a good breeder and believe it would have been quality if Boy Named Sue would have just been a pullet!

 

[snowbird]

I got mine on June 8, probably the same hatch. I have 12 cockerels and 14 hens. I like all of them. Hens have real nice copper hackles. 3 cocks have feathers on middle toe. I have one with too much copper in the chest and one very dark. I'm going to process 6 or 7 next week. Good luck with your birds

Hey Tom, How are the BC Marans working out for you.

 

[Old Man Tom]

Hey Tom, How are the BC Marans working out for you.

Don I absolutely love my birds. Next spring I hope to have my incubator, hatcher, brooder, cocks and hens ready to go. This does take a lot of time, money and feed. I love it.

 

[Old Man Tom]

Oh, I forgot about building the trap nest and the roll out nest boxes.

 

[kfelton0002]

View attachment 1144240 View attachment 1144238 View attachment 1144238 View attachment 1144237 View attachment 1144236 View attachment 1144234 View attachment 1144233 View attachment 1144230 View attachment 1144229 Help? Which cockerel do I keep? 11 weeks old. One is darker blue - had black eyes that are slowly turning a brownish color. He's more bulky and his copper is slowly coming in but a nice deep color. The other is lighter blue with gold eyes from day one and lots more copper- but not as dark copper except one the wings. I think the lighter one has a nicer comb. He's not as bulky as the darker. I also see a white feather in wing of the lighter (McSpurry - last 4 pics)

My plans = breed over the legbar for olive eggers then find a good hen to breed marans. Maybe neither are good and I find a different cockerel? As far as egg color I bought them from a good breeder and believe it would have been quality if Boy Named Sue would have just been a pullet!

In my opinion, this cockerel is definitely the one I would keep.

He has a lot going for him. Good eye color, nice type and tail angle. He is going to be well colored when he matures, nicely feathered shanks, and comb is not bad best I can tell - the lobe of the comb does not touch the nape of the neck. His wattles are nice and round, ear lobes are pure red. Find him a pretty little black copper pullet to breed to and the blue copper offspring will be a darker blue. Very nice cockerel! If he hatched from a dark egg you've got yourself a gem.

 

[Hensndoes]

In my opinion, this cockerel is definitely the one I would keep.
View attachment 1144715
He has a lot going for him. Good eye color, nice type and tail angle. He is going to be well colored when he matures, nicely feathered shanks, and comb is not bad best I can tell - the lobe of the comb does not touch the nape of the neck. His wattles are nice and round, ear lobes are pure red. Find him a pretty little black copper pullet to breed to and the blue copper offspring will be a darker blue. Very nice cockerel! If he hatched from a dark egg you've got yourself a gem.

Thank you! I was leaning toward him because he does have a very nice comb and his shanks are feathered just right out that toe. I feel pretty confident he came from a nice dark egg so I will get some BCM chicks next spring when someone goes broody. I'll post pics of him in a month or so

 

[kfelton0002]

Thank you! I was leaning toward him because he does have a very nice comb and his shanks are feathered just right out that toe. I feel pretty confident he came from a nice dark egg so I will get some BCM chicks next spring when someone goes broody. I'll post pics of him in a month or so

You're welcome! Yes definitely post pics as he matures. Good luck with your Olive Egger project. A blue copper marans cockerel over a Legbar hen will produce autosexing (sex-link) chicks that you can sex at hatch. The male chicks will have a white spot on their head and the female chicks will be solid black. Since the father will be blue, 50% of the chicks will be blue and 50% will be black. The autosexing still applies the same way with the blue chicks, they are just a lighter smoky gray instead of black. Fun stuff!

Here is one of my male olive egger chicks.

And here is a female.

My olive eggers are the product of a black copper cockerel and a cream legbar pullet.

 

[Chooks man]

@Khaled

those are high quality Black copper marans .the hens are a little black that all but they have a great body type ( that what we want from the hens any way plus dark egg too) the Rooster is Show quality gorgeous body color and type .his tail is a little higher . at 60Degrees still accepted by the standard , the max we can go .
if you cockerel end up looking like his father than you are lucky man .

all the best and thank you for sharing the photos of your stock with us .

Love the big hen on the right .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I have 11 roosters and can only keep 1. It is hard to put the ring on their legs. They don't like it. But I managed to put a ring on 1 to identify him.

How does he look? Is he a keeper? They all look the same to me.

good body type that all what I can see .
need better photos of his head ,side shot ,front ,the rear .
he look good well chunky and colorful

they all seem to have a long tail .

love the length of they back .gorgeous

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

@Hensndoes

you have a gorgeous specimen . sublime .I love every thing about him . he is pretty but he has some thing attractive about him . pretty as my Elvis ( Blue Wheaten rooster)
very rare to come a cross such a creature ,well put together ,correct in most of the area .
need to find him a BCM pullet and start breeding marans .

thank you for sharing those photos with us .

chooks man