International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[bullets]

you seem to have a good strain .great

what do you mean about his second generation? is he now over his daughters?

for me I don t incubate only the dark eggs .bad practice ,instead I incubate all the eggs from the best hens/pullets except the deformed ones .

the reason I do that because the fertilization on the eggs and the transfer of the genetic information happen before the shall formation .the first egg of the week is always darker than the last one ,but the have a same genetic information .

I breed from the hens not from the eggs .

lazy layer lay darker eggs than they sisters a good layer , doesn t mean they are better than them .

chooks man

"I don't only incubate only the dark eggs. bad practice...lazy layer lay darker eggs"

This got me thinking. I would think that we should set only the darkest eggs. At least toward the beginning of the laying cycle for similar aged pullets/hens. I agree that a pullet who doesn't lay as often should have darker eggs but considering the process it takes to make a dark brown egg dark brown, shouldn't one still only set the darker eggs all things considering? When you think of a tan egg layer breed or a light brown egg layer breed, they have the same process of tinting the eggs. Doesn't the lighter brown laying breeds have less tinting applied to the eggs? It surely doesn't mean the lighter brown laying breeds just lay more often, does it?

 

[bullets]

Okay here is some updated pictures of my Blue cockerel. He's 25 weeks old and finally getting more copper since last time I posted.

Unfortunately he has a white stripe in one of his tail feathers, shown in pic below. Is this an automatic cull trait? Was hoping to breed him to Lady Olivia as they are my only two mature Marans. Or should I wait to breed my pullet until my hatchlings mature and can be evaluated?

Also, my pullet laid her first egg today. Small, as expected for first egg, at 38g. Not very dark :[ Maybe tomorrow's will be better. I've seen others post pics of their 1st marans egg vs a few eggs later and they've gotten darkee. We will see..

 

[dvoice]

you seem to have a good strain .great

what do you mean about his second generation? is he now over his daughters?

for me I don t incubate only the dark eggs .bad practice ,instead I incubate all the eggs from the best hens/pullets except the deformed ones .

the reason I do that because the fertilization on the eggs and the transfer of the genetic information happen before the shall formation .the first egg of the week is always darker than the last one ,but the have a same genetic information .

I breed from the hens not from the eggs .

lazy layer lay darker eggs than they sisters a good layer  , doesn t mean they are better than them .

chooks man

Yes the Roo is over his daughters. Is it acceptable to keep a cockerel from these eggs to breed to the pullets/ hens from the same batch? These eggs are from about 8 different hens so wouldn't be full brother to all of the new chooks.

 

[baunlee]

whoo! yes they will get darker. Mine just started also and they are already much darker by the time the third egg comes.

 

[chickengr]

Thanks, I will notate this in my mind bank.

Ya know, I saw an interesting thread about sexing chicks by comb at hatch or within a few days. An old timer had suggested to one of the members on BYC that you can get a better understanding of male or female by how far down the beak the comb starts. He said that if the comb starts at the top or before the nostrils it is a pullet. if it goes to the bottom of the nostrils (toward the point of the beak) or past then it should be cockerel. This of course could just be one of those wives tales but I found it interesting. Maybe we can all test this out with our hatches?

possible. when I posted a pic of a 5 days old chick (jupiter) on the french forum monique said immediately he was a boy.

 

[chickengr]

Okay here is some updated pictures of my Blue cockerel. He's 25 weeks old and finally getting more copper since last time I posted.


Unfortunately he has a white stripe in one of his tail feathers, shown in pic below. Is this an automatic cull trait? Was hoping to breed him to Lady Olivia as they are my only two mature Marans. Or should I wait to breed my pullet until my hatchlings mature and can be evaluated?


Also, my pullet laid her first egg today. Small, as expected for first egg, at 38g. Not very dark :[ Maybe tomorrow's will be better. I've seen others post pics of their 1st marans egg vs a few eggs later and they've gotten darkee. We will see..

I wouldn't cull him for 1 white feather.

the egg is nice. it will get darker. my #5 layer laid her first egg #3 with spots.

 

[chickengr]

the chicks are due today but I don't see any movement. again bad luck with hatching?

 

[Chooks man]

the chicks are due today but I don't see any movement. again bad luck with hatching?

don t say that .

my last 2 hatch come out at day 23 .cooler temperature .

are they day 21 ?

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Yes the Roo is over his daughters. Is it acceptable to keep a cockerel from these eggs to breed to the pullets/ hens from the same batch? These eggs are from about 8 different hens so wouldn't be full brother to all of the new chooks.

if the Roo is over his daughters than his progeny will be F2 ( 75% roo genetic ).

from this f2 progeny select the best pullets and a best cockerel .
next breeding season . mate the F2 pullets to they father ( grand father ) to produce a true F3 and mate the F2 cockerel to his mother and ants to produce a pullets line.

you will end up with 2 breeding pens of the same line ,but they will be different of each other, each year you breed them .

this method is called Felch Graphic .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Okay here is some updated pictures of my Blue cockerel. He's 25 weeks old and finally getting more copper since last time I posted.


Unfortunately he has a white stripe in one of his tail feathers, shown in pic below. Is this an automatic cull trait? Was hoping to breed him to Lady Olivia as they are my only two mature Marans. Or should I wait to breed my pullet until my hatchlings mature and can be evaluated?


Also, my pullet laid her first egg today. Small, as expected for first egg, at 38g. Not very dark :[ Maybe tomorrow's will be better. I've seen others post pics of their 1st marans egg vs a few eggs later and they've gotten darkee. We will see..

he is nice type a little darker that all .
yeah breed him to Lady Olivia ,hatch few chicks and select from them

the parasitic white feathers are a international phenomena . no many breeders put enough work to breed it out .
it is possible ,but take a lot generation .

chooks man