International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[kcrandall]

kcrandall, thank you so very much for responding!!! I am super excited to find out that they are pullets! Now the search begins for a nice BCM rooster. I hope that Hazel will develop a little more copper on her hackles, but she has been the slowest to mature as far as color goes. She was also the chick with the most white on her wings when she hatched, she was from my darkest egg. Styx and Onyx are the most friendly. I may look into purchasing some more hatching eggs. It's just such a risk with shipped eggs. My hatch rate was not good. Was hoping for at least one male and female. Better luck next time maybe. Thank you for your kind response. I feel so dumb now that I thought Onyx and Styx were males. I guess it is safe to say I don't have the ability judge them by the feathering on the neck yet. I did notice that their combs were not large like other young cockerels in this forum, so it got me wondering if they might possibly be female. Once again I appreciate the knowledge you have shared.

You're welcome! Don't beat yourself up on judging the sex of your chicks - it takes time and experience. BCM Cockerels usually start showing their combs / wattles by 2 to 3 weeks.

It is not uncommon for a BCM Hen / Pullet to be all black. Hazel will still be useful in a breeding program especially if she lays a dark egg. You just need to pair her with a BCM Rooster that has nice copper ear tufts and a little copper on his breast to bring out the copper hackles in they female progeny.

Take Care,
Keith

 

[littlepeeps81]

good looking ladies, congrats!

males get red and bigger wattles at young age. that is the first sign they are male. then the combs start growing and getting darker red.

chickengr, thank you. This information will help me in the future.

 

[littlepeeps81]

You're welcome! Don't beat yourself up on judging the sex of your chicks - it takes time and experience. BCM Cockerels usually start showing their combs / wattles by 2 to 3 weeks.

It is not uncommon for a BCM Hen / Pullet to be all black. Hazel will still be useful in a breeding program especially if she lays a dark egg. You just need to pair her with a BCM Rooster that has nice copper ear tufts and a little copper on his breast to bring out the copper hackles in they female progeny.

Take Care,
Keith

kcrandal, thank you so very much! You have been extremely helpful!!!

 

[Old Man Tom]

I just heard back from Brian and he said they are Little Peddler line. This a good thing?

I am just a new person to chickens. My wife has had a few laying hens forever. We have been married for 43 years. When I retired I decided that I would like to have some chickens, too. I bought BCM chickens from craigs list and drove 3hrs one way to pic them up. Healthy chics looked good. When I got home I started to research BCM's on line. The chics matured and I ended up with 9 roosters and 3 hens. One hen laid a dark egg. I culled all the roosters and gave the hens to my son. They all had yellow legs and the rooster had coronation combs. I ordered chics from Brian Parks after reading this thread and others. I started with 28 chics and now have 12 hens and one cockerel. They are 8 months old. Three of them lay nice eggs. It looks like I will cull the last cockerel, also. I have a new batch of chics to work with. I am convinced that you could buy, hatch or bred 1,000 of these birds and maybe get a few good birds. These breeders have been at it a long time and there are still a lot of faults or DQ. Buying a dozen birds and starting a good flock does not look possible. Just my thoughts. Thanks for listening

 

[chickengr]

I just heard back from Brian and he said they are Little Peddler line. This a good thing?

congrats! you got one of the best lines. LP marans have been imported directly from the best french breeder.

 

[Chooks man]

luna mated both mario and marco. as I had 1 pullet only I could not risk to get infertile eggs.

marco has better colour, more copper that's why I think he is the father of the chick with copper hackles. although mario could be as well. luna's mother had little mahogany in her hackles and luna has a bit more coloured hackles and it is copper. that means that mario fixed it. mario is luna's father and marco her full brother. I will separate them in the future breedings. I plan to keep 2 luna's sons and breed them with luna and marco will get luna's daughters only, maybe some of the 5 girls from my friend's eggs. I must see first if the young boys will be good cockerels. at the moment all 3 of them have nice copper in their hackles (5 weeks old). I like their eyes while at least 1 girl has a bit darker eyes. the chicks from my birds have lightly feathered legs while the other 5 girls have heavily feathered legs. I am sorry but I cannot take any pics at the moment.

My dear friend chickengr .
Penning a hen/pullet with 2 roosters does not increase the fertility .but will stress them ( hen/pullet).
let the little chicks do some growing than we ll see how they turn up .
it is nice to have a heavy feathering shanks type and the light one too ,help to balance the strain .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Received 15 BCM 2-day-old chicks today from Frasier Creek Farm. Had to cull one and another looks weak and small. So I may end up with lucky 13.

The owner has a very honest description on his website regarding the difficulty of breeding for conformation while retaining dark egg color. (Link if you want to read it)

I will do my best to try and breed for conformation, while retaining dark egg color.

Here are a few of the chicks.

This is a very long thread. I’ll do my best to read all pages. Any advice/recommendation/observation/comments/criticism would be more than welcomed.

nice looking chicks . good color hatch down .
the first 2 I think are pullet
the last one is a cockerel .good head on him and well colored /feathered shanks .

all the best with them .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Just wanted to show y'all some of my birds. All different ages.
View attachment 1035989 View attachment 1035990 View attachment 1035991 View attachment 1035992 View attachment 1035993 View attachment 1035994 View attachment 1035995

they are very nice .lovely body type and great feathering .
love they thick head and flat long back
they are well colored .love they rich copper .

I like the first cockerel .well chunky and colored , he is keeper for sure

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

View attachment 1036746 View attachment 1036747 Eggs from Brians hens Hens are now 8 months old. It does take a long time to get that first egg. The large egg was 96 grams and a double yoke. TOM

lovely color /shape and sheen

8 month old for the first egg and 96g double yoke .is a sign of late maturing strain and over weight pullets .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Hi everyone, sorry I have been gone for a bit. I know I have missed out on lots of interesting marans topics. I wanted to post a few pics of my black copper marans. I was lucky enough to get three LP marans chicks to hatch. They are now around two and a half months old. I am an amature so I was wondering if the seasoned marans breeders would chime in and let me know if I have anything good to work with. I am hoping for at least one hen. I think I have a hen and two roosters, but sometimes I think they may all be roosters. The marans I call Hazel seems to have lesser leg feathering, and the copper feathering on the neck is coming in much slower. I thought the neck feathering on this bird may be less pointy, but I just don't know. They were named as eggs, so a female may be sporting a traditional male name and visa versa. Anyway, I just love them. They are all three very friendly, and I am enjoying watching them grow and mature. Thank you everyone for any imput. Chooksman, your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

you have a 3 great BCM pullet there .you should be well pleased with them .
they have evry thing I ll look for in a marans pullets .
great type
nice flat long back .
great tail .angle /shape and form
2 have a nice coppery hackles .very nice
well colored eyes

love every thing about them .

it is well green where you live . good for the chooks .

chooks man