International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[KF0002]

Two new pics of Pinky Pie. His tail is a little fuller/longer, and he has a little bit more copper.



For some reason, his saddle feathers look a lot lighter than his hackles in this pic.



He's a very good roo who takes perfect care of his girls. He has this strange thing about shoes, though, and if I wear anything other than my muck boots, he tries to attack them, lol.

Pinky has to be one of the most exquisite BCM cockerels I have ever seen. Toss him in a box and ship him to me immediately. lol

I hope he gives you many beautiful chicks that are just as lovely as he is. Absolutely stunning! You could show him as he is and win many ribbons in my opinion.

 

[kcrandall]

Last night I purchased 3 bcm cockerels and 3 bcm hens, all are 6 months old, and hoping to select one cockerel to use as a breeder. I have spent hours reading about the French standards today but the more I read the more I realize I don't know enough to select the right cockerel on my own. Here are some pics of the three. If better pics are needs please let me know, and thanks in advance for your help.

Cockerel 1:

Cockerel 2:

Cockerel 3:

Cockerel 3 wasn't cooperative when I was taking pics. Seems like he was always in the back and amongst the hens. I can get more pics if needed.

Hello @raisechickens,

If you have the space I would keep at least 2 cockerels then single mate matching your males and females to offset their negative traits and accentuate their positive traits. Below are my observations of your birds:

Cockerel 1:
Good Traits - nice copper hackles & saddle feathers, good copper ear tufts, nice red shoulders, good amount of copper on chest, good orange red-eyes, nice light gray shanks and feet with pinkish undertones, and nice leg feathering. Hard to tell about tail angle from the pics.

Bad Traits - average body type, comb is ok but not great (too many points) and I see some white fluff at base of tail (should be black or dark gray - white is hard to breed out).

Breed #1 to your 2 black pullets - he will improve the hackle color and eye color in his female progeny and the pullets will improve the type and comb in their progeny.

Body color and eye color comes from the Cockerel. Cockerels with copper colored ear tufts and copper flecking in their chest will add copper hackles to their female progeny. Type, mass, tail and comb comes from the hen / pullet.

Cockerel #2
Good Traits - good comb, good type, nice copper ear tufts, decent copper hackle (slight gold halo - not desired) and saddle feathers, good tail angle and nice leg feathering.

Bad Traits - lacking sufficient red color in shoulders, black / brown eyes (indication of too much melanin (black) which is a nightmare to breed out), dark gray shanks and feet (another sign of too much melanin).

I would not breed this cockerel unless he is my only option. The best trait of the BCM cock / cockerel is his color - better to breed a Colorful BCM cock / cockerel (like #1) than breed a BCM cock / cockerel with better type, tail, etc. and poor color (#2).

Cockerel #3
Good Traits - good orange-red eyes, very good type, good tail angle, nice red shoulder, nice copper saddle feathers, nice light gray shanks with pinkish undertones and decent leg feathering (slightly heavy).

Bad Traits - Bad comb (not a huge deal), dark ear tufts, poor hackle color - large gold halo, and lacks color flecking in chest.

Breed #3 to your pullet with the copper hackles. This pullet will give you the best chance to improve the comb and reduce the halo effect on the hackle in their male progeny. You should probably hatch 25 chicks and cull heavy.

I hope you find my observations helpful and good luck with your chooks!

Keith

 

[kcrandall]

Two new pics of Pinky Pie. His tail is a little fuller/longer, and he has a little bit more copper. For some reason, his saddle feathers look a lot lighter than his hackles in this pic. He's a very good roo who takes perfect care of his girls. He has this strange thing about shoes, though, and if I wear anything other than my muck boots, he tries to attack them, lol.

Hey Winterhorses, Pinky Pie is like fine wine - he gets better with age. An absolutely stunning specimen of a BCM Cock!! I know you're proud as well you should be. Keith

 

[chickengr]

These are vulture hocks, yes?


I am not an expert but my brahma's vultures hocks are totally different. I think this cockerel is ok. handsome too.

 

[harmesonfarm]

Hi there! Trying to catch up on pages of posts...loving the BCM pics and also all the beautiful dogs!

I've finally got some of Pinky's eggs in the 'bator and am hoping that he can improve my sad little pullets. The 3 BCM chicks I got from another farm all turned out to be boys, and 2 are definite culls. I'll have to try to get pictures to make sure I'm not totally off base, but both have a ridiculous amount of copper on their chests.

I'm really excited about my project Lavender Marans. I've got 2 cockerels, 2 pullets, and 2 black/lav split pullets. I love the diluted hackles on the splits. They almost look silver. I think one of the boys has vulture hocks, but he's the sweetest chicken I've had so far, so he's staying for sure.

These are vulture hocks, yes?




Here are a lav pullet and a black/lav pullet at the waterer. (It's the only place they'd stand still!)





In addition to my Lav Marans, I'm getting together a group of Lav Ameraucanas to add to the 2 Lav OEs I already have. This is my sweet LA, Floppy. He loves jumping up on my arm or shoulder to hang out or eat treats. Only problem is that he does it ALL the time. I've got nail marks all over me, lol.

wow!! I absolutely LOVE the lav. & lav/black marans, just beautiful birds!!! congrats!

Hmm...did you breed these yourself as a result? if so how? I'm in canada, so i'm already wondering if it's even possible that i'm able to get a hold of their variety. lol

 

[raisechickens]

Thanks to those that took the time to evaluate my bcm's and give me their guidance. I have learned a lot and will get started with the breeding process.

 

[baunlee]

Pinky has to be one of the most exquisite BCM cockerels I have ever seen. Toss him in a box and ship him to me immediately. lol

I hope he gives you many beautiful chicks that are just as lovely as he is. Absolutely stunning! You could show him as he is and win many ribbons in my opinion.

I SECOND THIS

 

[KF0002]

Thanks to those that took the time to evaluate my bcm's and give me their guidance. I have learned a lot and will get started with the breeding process.

Anytime! Welcome to the group. Share lots of pics when you hatch and grow out babies! That's the best part.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I'm going to have to get an updated pic of my mossy chick for you guys. His little feathers are starting to come in on his chest now and they are copper. I hope he doesn't mature too overcolored but I'm starting to think he probably will.

 

[KF0002]

I'm going to have to get an updated pic of my mossy chick for you guys. His little feathers are starting to come in on his chest now and they are copper. I hope he doesn't mature too overcolored but I'm starting to think he probably will.

He may still be useful if you have any overmelanized pullets. Like Keith said in an earlier post, overcolored cockerels can balance out the excess black on overmelamized hens to put better copper in the hackles of the female offspring. The excess black on the hens will balance out the excess copper of the cockerel at the same time. If you have room for several different breeding pens that is. We keep extra cockerels in 4x4' stag pens. We also use the small 4x4 pens to single mate as well.