International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

you know I have a soft spot for the LP line .

my hen s only spend 6 month breeding the rest is hollodays. all grouped as one large layer flock one rooster with them all the time (50 hens in each large pen ) .

in this 6 month off .they have a time to finish laying nicely ( eggs color by this time has dropped ) without been pushed ( especially with a summer heat ) and Molting .So they don t need the Rooster.

this time is a good time for me to introduce a future cockerels to the hen s .they ll teach them manners .one big pen 40/50 hens POL pullets plus one Adult rooster ( no breeder) and 2/3 cockerels FUTURE breeders.) So I balance the thing up .

I rotate the cockerels every 3 weeks from one big pen to other SO they learn NOT to feel in love ( no favorite hen ). they get used to me catching them and moving them from one pen to another .

wen they see me when they are adult going in to they pen .they know what I m up too . NOT a new thing for them.

that the time when I give them a treat ( bugs or spicy cooked Kangooroo mince ) when i swap them and catch them .

I never catch my chooks and let them go without treat. SO they never afraid of me .they are like my pet .well mannered .I rise them to be well mannered .

chooks man

 

[Red Banks]

Fertility is not based on how many time a hen is mated to a rooster . is based on when the hen want her eggs to be fertilized . SHE is a boss NOT we a breeder OR the Rooster.

keep the hen s healthy and happy and the fertility of your flock goes up.

the hen s have a power to store the sperm for a long period up to 3 weeks from the rooster they really like.and use t when they need t .very clever girls .

there is many method out there to how to run a breeding pen during the breeding season .

I ll go around that one day soon when I move to the new farm and start pairing and hatching .

I ll post all my work here and I ll explain the reason behind t .

long breeding journey . is just started.

chooks man

All of my pullets are too young to be concerned about fertile eggs and with my laying flock same thing. I really don't need the roosters in with them. I am going to give the boys a nice coop in the shade for the summer.

 

[Chooks man]

I ll do the same thing .all the roosters /cockerels in the same pens.

I keep the rooster pens full all the time , I take the one I need to work with and the rest in they pen .they know each other even when I take them out and bring them back in ,they don t seem to forget how is the boss.

BUT like I said before I keep my favorite cockerels with the hens .very important .they have to go through the routine .

it is very important to have a roosters pens available all the year around .

chooks man

 

[FeelsRightFarm]

Wow FeelsRightFarm. that a pretty gorgeous BCM Rooster you have.

Wow,wow,wow................... the purity of the copper color is second to none . nice red copper with solid flat black body.

great type a good comb .alright size and shape. he s just gorgeous DO NO LOOSE HIM do what ever you can to keep him alive as long as you can.

Rooster like him hard to past by. never mind free ranging for him. never let him out never, never never WITHOUT assistance .

He s your asset .from him alone ( regardless of the type of the hen s he s mated too ) you can create you own line .just based on him .BACK cross his daughter and G daughters to him .Line breeding.

he do have all the trait of a great breeder.

the BCM hen s in the photo with him .she is walking very hard to see a true type. he havea nice face, comb and a good hackle .is she his sister ?

post more photos of the hen s when you have time .

Good chose ,stick with a marans .they are the best far I m concern .

chooks man

She is actually one of our Greenfire hens so they are not related at all. Would they be good to pair up?
I will get some better hen picks soon, they are sweethearts and easy to be around.
We are going to separate them this weekend. We have a good sized coop we can put the boys in for a little while and give the hens some time to relax. I will get pics of them once the roos are out. This works great as we had planned to separate our LP stock soon anyway.

We really got lucky with that LP rooster since he was the only one that hatched. Most of our hens look okay copper wise but a good chunk of them are mostly black. The ones that do have coloring have nice coloring (not straw colored like I've seen) I guess I thought I had a lot more hen photos than I do!

Here is our Greenfire rooster. His copper is not as nice. What would be the correct way to describe it? It is darker in some spots than others and brassy further down. He also always looks weird around the eyes to me, like he is sleepy or bored lol! Maybe he is bored, who knows! His comb is also very large. These photos are a few months old and I swear it looks even bigger now than it did. Here is another photo of one of the greenfire hens. I dont have any good photos of the hens standing normally. I will get some once we get the roosters moved out for sure.

 

[Chooks man]

I want to talk about a few breeding method use by a chooks breeders around a world . the method we marans breeders will be interested to understand , master and prictice.

Method 1 = Single mating ;
this method like the name suggest is mating the chooks in the single manner . witch the rooster is been rotated between a certain number of pens ,housing aselected hen s .
the hen s are housed in the singular pen s or double ( if they the lay different eggs ) and the roosters are rotated between the hens pens every 12 or 24 hours depend on the time available .most of the breeder they like to move the roster night time it is easier plus the roster are good at morning and evening the rest of the day is west of time and damaging the hen s back .
So the one they prefer do the swap every 24 hours ,they usually house 2 hens 4/5 days rotation = 8/10 hen some breeders use more other use less .
Breeders with a time on they hand and run a large number of breeders like to do it every 12 hours. rotating at lunch time and evening . the rooster are active morning when they are up and evening before they go to sleep.and they prefer they hen s housed single. THAT will give them a chance to run a rooster over 1o/8 pen at the rate of 2 pen a days.
we don t have to have as many hen to use this method .we can use t even with one hen . mate it to a roster every 4/5 day and keep then separated . Good for the hen Health and back and great for the fertility .

this method is developed to test a future breeders to see what is they genomes.and for a using a high number of rooster to father different off spring from a same hen /hen s.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

He s not that bad but not great either .
I tell why ; Nod bad = great type.
good mass.
gorgeous colored ears tufts.
wide shoulders.
nice wide back a LITTLE SHORT.
nice taill form and Angle A LITTLE LONGER .
nice red shoulder
Correct size shank well feathered.and a great color grey with a pink hues .
good type feather nice and tight well held close to the body.

BUT STRAW COLORED HACKLE NOT that bad could be used over a black hens ( they carry extra Mahogany on them .will darken the gold on the future progeny )
his comb .is too large like you said but it is workable .

I ll use his and do a little culling ( no bad to fill up the freezer ) and find a few good one.

So using his is depend on the hen s is paired with and the person has to except a extra culling that all .

chooks man

 

[chickengr]

Hey everyone. I have been keeping up with this thread and figured it is time to officially join. It will be easier than searching for it each time. I have already learned a lot from the posts here and will have to get photos of all mine to put on. Ours don't look quite as nice as our hens are all wearing saddles at the moment. It is a sorry sight!

welcome!

I cannot use saddles with this heat we have but I would need some.

welcome to the thread FeelsRightFarm .

So you are the lady with Sold eggs to RedBank .

Impressed by the progeny your stock is throwing. Bravo

Yeah I need to see your chooks .I think I can help you tuning them to perfection .

Why you use saddle on the hen s Do you ride them ? hahaha

I do no use a saddle on my hens .a pair them properly ( correct density and timing ) good for the over all health of the hens and increase the fertility .

Hens need to be mated to the Rooster one s every 4/5 days for a great fertility .

loosing the feathers from the hen s back is a sign of over matting .

Over matting harm the health and the well being of the hens PLUS decrease the fertility .

chooks man

do you keep your roos separate from hens? what is the best ratio hens:roos for having fertile eggs and not overmating? I have noticed that my roos have their favorites. it seems that they even don't mate with a tiny new one I brought in. fortunately I got her for eggs and hatching (she is the local breed that gets broody).

 

[Chooks man]

Hi chickengr the correct ratio vary a lot can go from 5 to 12 hens /rooster .
a lot factor to consider , ages ,health, season, diet space, etc.....

try to keep the favorite one out of the pen for few day s when you introduce the one.

I keep my roosters separated from the hen after 6 month of breeding .summer off and the molting season as well.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

SECOND breeding method ; PEN BREEDING; this is the method most of us use . one rooster with a ? numbers of hens.

this method produce a lot of cull when the breeding subject ( breeders ) are not tested .

when used by the experience breeders ,this method give a great result and safe time and space. because they test mated all they breeders before. they have collected enough data .so they no witch one are compatible .and witch one aren t .

is a good technique for cockerels/ pullets breeding because of the same origin of the stock.they all carry a same genes with a little variation ( variation will be always present doesn t matter how much and how long the line is been worked .) a difference is a percentage, that why we have to chose between cockerels/pullets even they are brother/sisters .closely related .inbred .

it is good as well when many roosters are used in the breeding program . let say 5/10 hen s all related and 5 roosters . they get rotated after 3 weeks . that will cover 6 months of breeding. will give a better result to choose from than a single rooster used all the year around .GET bored .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

last method we can use . this one is well advance and is used by the well established breeders and a Commercial breeders.

FLOCK BREEDING; that the name of t.

for this technique to work the breeders parents stock has to be inbred lines. all the rooster has to be from the same line say line A. and the hens all from a same line B'

all the flock are house together to a ratio 1/10 . Cock A X Hens B = AB

if the breeders parent stock are not from inbred lines this method will not work

chooks man