International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Red Banks]

we are expecting 43 Dg C tomorrow .
very ,very hot .
this year I m ready for the heat .most of mt coops are done and the chooks are well used to the place too .they know where to hid in the hot days .

I have access to a lot water to use for irrigation this year .a lot of grass . it is so tall in some places you can t even see the chooks.they like it .I never cut the grass .

chooks man

109 degrees! Mon Dieu! Zut alor ..... that is hot. No humidity I hope. Like Arizona! My last month in Arizona it never got below 120F (49c)..... still better than Florida though.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

we are expecting 43 Dg C tomorrow .
very ,very hot .
this year I m ready for the heat .most of mt coops are done and the chooks are well used to the place too .they know where to hid in the hot days .

I have access to a lot water to use for irrigation this year .a lot of grass . it is so tall in some places you can t even see the chooks.they like it .I never cut the grass .

chooks man

Wow, hot! It was 9° F when we woke up this morning. Thera some fresh snow on the ground with more coming tonight :/

 

[KF0002]

Time for you to give your line a name. Now they are Red Banks and your line. We have chosen our birds we have made them what they are.

They still dont feel like my lines yet and calling them by their "code names" makes it easier for me to keep track of them in my mind and on paper for my records. I will probably start calling my lines just simply lines A, B, and C. What do you think? Technically my FRF x LA birds are a separate line on their own, or they will be as I work with them. They are line C. My LA line is line A because I got them first, then the FRF birds are line B. For everyone else's sake I can start referring to them this way to make it easier to understand my crazy ramblings. Lol

 

[KF0002]

Wow, hot! It was 9° F when we woke up this morning. Thera some fresh snow on the ground with more coming tonight :/

Its cold here too.. 22° F here right now so that's toasty compared to 9° where you are! I hate the cold. Im a creature of the spring.

On a very positive note, despite the cold my birds are laying decent. My old LA, pardon me, "line A" hens never fail to disappoint. Their eggs are a gigantic 72 to 75 grams!

 

[KF0002]

Here is an egg my precious Zanitta laid yesterday. It weighed 60 grams. I expected the "line C" birds to lay a little lighter than the original lines as they are a mix of the original two lines. It will take a generation or two of back crossing to either the line A or line B side or breeding C x C birds together to see darker eggs but all in all I am happy.

 

[KF0002]

And here is an egg from one of my original hens that came from Louisiana (line A). It weighs 75 grams!

 

[Chooks man]

And here is an egg from one of my original hens that came from Louisiana (line A). It weighs 75 grams!


View attachment 1208351

true marans egg .color .sheen .shape and size . chick that hatch from this type of egg will weight around 60 and plus at hatch .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Here is an egg my precious Zanitta laid yesterday. It weighed 60 grams. I expected the "line C" birds to lay a little lighter than the original lines as they are a mix of the original two lines. It will take a generation or two of back crossing to either the line A or line B side or breeding C x C birds together to see darker eggs but all in all I am happy.

View attachment 1208346

even a pure dark layer strain will yield a light layer eggs . some will lay darker than they parents stock ,other will lay lighter .it is who the genes of the dark egg work . it is not really understood who does work .

some time we lose the dark egg color in the first cross ,bt will get back in the F2 progeny .

selective breeding can darken the eggs too . Philippe from France work with a wheaten variety .started 10 years ago with a mix wheaten strain ,the best of them lay 4 .now after 10 years and no adding any thing to them he is at #6 with a god sheen and shape .

line breeding can do wonders

chooks man

 

[OneMountainAcres]

These are the eggs I set for the hatch a long. My Marans girls have been doing a pretty good job giving me eggs

 

[Red Banks]

They still dont feel like my lines yet and calling them by their "code names" makes it easier for me to keep track of them in my mind and on paper for my records. I will probably start calling my lines just simply lines A, B, and C. What do you think? Technically my FRF x LA birds are a separate line on their own, or they will be as I work with them. They are line C. My LA line is line A because I got them first, then the FRF birds are line B. For everyone else's sake I can start referring to them this way to make it easier to understand my crazy ramblings. Lol

This works internally but..... one day when you are famous you will need a name. You will be a brand!