International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[marchick]

Hi, How old is too old to toe punch? I bought toe punches but lost them. Well my husband put them up. I thought what did I do with them! I looked all over the house many many times! Now my chicks are not chicks anymore. Can they still be done? Thanks

 

[KF0002]

Hi, How old is too old to toe punch? I bought toe punches but lost them. Well my husband put them up. I thought what did I do with them! I looked all over the house many many times! Now my chicks are not chicks anymore. Can they still be done? Thanks

We have toe punched them up to a couple months old. Getting ready to do a few here in a minute actually. You can also use a pair of sharp scissors and snip out a notch also. As long as the webbing isnt too thick for the toe punch to punch a hole there really is no age limit.

 

[marchick]

Awsome! Thank you, They are about 8 weeks old. My toe punches where lost for that long. lol I love the color of your Marans eggs. Very nice!

 

[KF0002]

welcome back!

we missed you and your nice chickens. sorry to hear about cooper

Thank you! I didn't plan on using him anymore for breeding after I picked out better breeders to replace him and Mud. Cooper had matured out with white under his hackle and some in his feet also. He was a sweet boy though. Now I just have to hope and pray that there is a decent cockerel or two among my grow outs to use next breeding season. My luck they will all have high goofy tails and be loaded with recessive white. lol. We have eaten a fair number of culls already. Expensive chicken dinner.. still tastes like chicken.

 

[KF0002]

Awsome! Thank you, They are about 8 weeks old. My toe punches where lost for that long. lol I love the color of your Marans eggs. Very nice!

Thank you! It is so satisfying finding Marans eggs in a community nest box among the white and tinted eggs. Collecting eggs in the evenings is never boring.. especially now that all the girls are free ranging. Everyday is like an Easter egg hunt because they can lay in some of the most random places (in the floor board of the side by side, in the dog house, in the flower beds, under the building where you can't reach them.. )

And one of my Cream Legbar pullets also finally started laying, so I get to add her pretty turquoise blue eggs to the egg cartons. When she isn't broody that is..

 

[KF0002]

Here is my next oldest cockerel. His tail and type looks good for now. Eye color is good. However, he has light grey under fluff and a slight halo. He also has some middle toe feathering and heavier feathered thighs/legs than I would like but that's not a huge deal. Easy fix as Chooksman says. I don't like the light under fluff though..

Still hoping there are better cockerels outside.. the rest still have a lot of growing to do.

*PS in the second pic (side angle) there is a blue copper pullet laying on the ground behind him.*

 

[chickengr]

Here is my next oldest cockerel. His tail and type looks good for now. Eye color is good. However, he has light grey under fluff and a slight halo. He also has some middle toe feathering and heavier feathered thighs/legs than I would like but that's not a huge deal. Easy fix as Chooksman says. I don't like the light under fluff though..

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Still hoping there are better cockerels outside.. the rest still have a lot of growing to do.

*PS in the second pic (side angle) there is a blue copper pullet laying on the ground behind him.*

light grey under fluff is not a fault!

 

[chickengr]

unfortunately all 3 of my cockerels have s-shaped combs. I am rehoming them and luna is not in my marans breeding program any more (for s-shaped comb). she will go to my tailed araucana boy for olive eggers. I am praying that the girls will not develop s shaped combs. 5 of them are not luna's daughters, but 2 out of 5 are black. I am not sure if there is a hope they get copper later as they are about 10 weeks old.

 

[KF0002]

light grey under fluff is not a fault!

No but that line of BCM are showing a lot of recessive white. Im thinking the light gray under fluff is related to the recessive white, correct? His father had it and Im doing my best to cull hard any birds showing recessive white. Its a danged if u do, danged if u dont kind of thing. The cockerel so far that doesnt show recessive white (yet) has a high tail. The other cockerel with a good tail will more than likely show recessive white. He reminds me a lot of the original cock bird when he was that age. I will breed for type and tail set first, then worry about the rest later. One thing at a time.

 

[KF0002]

unfortunately all 3 of my cockerels have s-shaped combs. I am rehoming them and luna is not in my marans breeding program any more (for s-shaped comb). she will go to my tailed araucana boy for olive eggers. I am praying that the girls will not develop s shaped combs. 5 of them are not luna's daughters, but 2 out of 5 are black. I am not sure if there is a hope they get copper later as they are about 10 weeks old.

If the cockerels have other good qualities (good type, color, etc) you might could disregard the S shaped comb unless you have nicer cockerels that is.

You can pair a bad combed cockerel to a nice combed female and correct combs in your birds. As long as the bird doesnt have a bad comb as a result from recessive traits. Is S shaped comb recessive?