International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[marchick]

View attachment 1386466 View attachment 1386465 3 weeks old. #1 Still hardly any feathers. What gives? Here it is with #3 legs are have the thickness of 3 - +1 on @RedBanks predictions.

Is it normal to feather this slow?

Depends on the line. My Marans are fast feathering. I have had a slow feathering line in the past.

 

[Red Banks]

View attachment 1386466 View attachment 1386465 3 weeks old. #1 Still hardly any feathers. What gives? Here it is with #3 legs are have the thickness of 3 - +1 on @RedBanks predictions.

Is it normal to feather this slow?

Many lines are slow feather. Mine are, that is one way I tell cockerels in my young chicks. They don't have a tail.

 

[Hensndoes]

Many lines are slow feather. Mine are, that is one way I tell cockerels in my young chicks. They don't have a tail.

Well.. from the beginning I wondered if 1 is a cockerel. 3 more weeks I should know who's what

 

[chickengr]

Many lines are slow feather. Mine are, that is one way I tell cockerels in my young chicks. They don't have a tail.

thanks for the information. my line is fast feathering and as my cockerels developed tails early I thought some of them had been girls.

 

[Old Man Tom]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

 

[marchick]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Thank you!

 

[chickengr]

I have just found e-mail of a chooks man's friend. I hope he will tell me where chooks has been lately

 

[KF0002]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Thank you!

 

[Red Banks]

I think it was because I took the picture at sunset. Here is one I took this morning of the same pullet.
I am not sure this is correct leg color for a splash.

View attachment 1384838

Are they yellow or white?

 

[Red Banks]

The thing is " I know nothing" I just repeat what I remember from reading the Marans threads. My point is all these top lines from top breeders are producing a lot of CULL birds. If we can not produce a lot of birds (30) birds per hen and cull 90% of those I do not Know that we can have ANY birds that met the SOP standard! TOM
ps. I am going to try

The SOP is a guide, a perfect bird is not attainable. I am not saying you don't try, that is the whole point. With dogs, only one pup in a litter might be a show dog, only one pup might be champion. It doesn't matter that the sire and dam are champions. The same in chickens, there are no guarantees that a particular line will give you great birds, you have to do the work and you still are not going to have perfect birds. My birds meet the SOP. They are not perfect, if you take your bird from top to bottom and evaluate it against the SOP you should hit the requirements. The reality is that all birds have faults, some are worse than others. We work to eliminate faults thru selective breeding and probably a lot harder culling than I am doing.... I am not showing. Show breeders breed hundreds to get a good one. Chooks man type breeders breed to improve their line. I have seen Chooks man take a horrible looking rooster and end up with a beautiful line of birds from that rooster that I would have never kept. In time he can fix anything. He doesn't throw them away. I like my birds because they do not have USA lines. I know that the numbers in USA were very limited in the beginning and I know they had a hard time. Tom.... your birds meet the standard.