International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Red Banks]

here how I select for type as early as i can .
I do not feed the one s I m not going to keep .

Both cockerels are 17 days old . the one on the right Orange tag is great type short and chunky . well wide from the rear. he is a keeper.
the one on the left Silver cuckoo no leg tag . bad type tall and skinny . Not a keeper.

Both have nice eyes color.

Selection at the early age .

chooks man

I do know you can see the difference in the chicks when they are very young and I have been trying to do this. I used to feed cockerels (even ones I had no intention of keeping) until they were several months old. I get rid of them right away now unless they show promise or I need them.

Cute chicks!

 

[chickengr]

they are very difficult to deal with if you don t know what are doing,

genetically speaking they are easy to fix ,because they are not related to something else . comb is comb . not like the feathers color . mahogany related to a black . ears tufts related to a shoulder and chest colors . this are difficult point to fix .NOT the comb , feathered shanks and all this sort of stuff.

when we want to fix this sort of problem we only need one breeder out of the 2 with the quality we are looking for.we can see this sort of things . So they are easy to fix. that why I leave them to the end. not a big deal .
Eggs color . type. correct copper, nice pattern .all this point are hard to breed ,they take time to fix.

chooks man

my marans come from a flock where every single hen has a bent comb. I suppose I cannot fix comb with luna. I must wait for the french babies.

 

[chickengr]

here how I select for type as early as i can .
I do not feed the one s I m not going to keep .

Both cockerels are 17 days old . the one on the right Orange tag is great type short and chunky . well wide from the rear. he is a keeper.
the one on the left Silver cuckoo no leg tag . bad type tall and skinny . Not a keeper.

Both have nice eyes color.

Selection at the early age .

chooks man

cute chicks.

both marco and luna were like the cockerel on the right. I watched them a bit this evening, they do have mass compared to their parents.

 

[chickengr]

Thank you for this lesson. I wasn't looking there. I see what you mean. Combs are difficult aren't they?

I could watch a pic of a comb for three days in a row and still wouldn't be able to see a sprig. I have order glasses, just in case

 

[Chooks man]

my marans come from a flock where every single hen has a bent comb. I suppose I cannot fix comb with luna. I must wait for the french babies.

yes you can fix it with a rooster too but not as efficient as the hens .

choose a rooster with a great comb and do a same thing I mentioned before .

it is Autossomal genes NOT Sex linked genes.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

cute chicks.

both marco and luna were like the cockerel on the right. I watched them a bit this evening, they do have mass compared to their parents.

that is great to hear .

I could tell in the photos they are a good type and I told you .you have a nice good marans.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I do know you can see the difference in the chicks when they are very young and I have been trying to do this. I used to feed cockerels (even ones I had no intention of keeping) until they were several months old. I get rid of them right away now unless they show promise or I need them.

Cute chicks!

I only keep the chunky cockerels . even if they have others faults. at lease when time come to butcher them they.will be some meat there no just bones .

To practice early selection we need to hatch a lot and get ready of the unwanted ones quick to make room for the newly hatch chicks.

like this we are only feeding the one with desirable trait.and we end up having few nice ones to select from in the end of the breeding season

chooks man

 

[Red Banks]

Quote: I think that is the trouble for a lot of us. We are trying to get good BCM's and we are buying them. They are expensive to say the least and they are rare. We don't see a lot of them and we don't have a lot of experience so we hang on to what we get. We never end up with something worth reproducing. Then we have to get rid of them, we are discouraged and still have not seen a good BCM. I went thru several batches to get the ones I have. I guess it is not fair for me to say "a lot of us".... but this is my experience.

 

[Red Banks]

Quote: I can't wait to see Marco/Luna chicks!

 

[chickengr]

I can't wait to see luna's egg!

I am falling asleep so see you tomorrow!