International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[KF0002]

hope your dream will come true .and you ll find all those marans eggs .
I don t know about marans X dog what are going a get out of them .
I have done that crossing yet .HaHahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

chooks man

Hahaha!! The cross probably wouldnt work out! The chickens have laid in the dog house before, but usually the dog eats the eggs before I get to them.

They do lay in the flower beds also sometimes, I have to make sure to hunt and find the eggs quicky so I dont have eggplants popping up amongst my roses.

 

[KF0002]

yeah she look chunky to me .if you tell me her exact age and exact weight I can tell you what will be the weight ( mass ) of her progeny ?
any marans pullet who reaches a 2.5 Kg at 6 months when she start laying is a good specimen to increase the mass on her cockerels progeny .

chooks man

I will have to get a scale and get back with you. She is nearing 6 months and will hopefully start laying soon.

 

[Red Banks]

he was selected for that reason .and the richness of his copper .
his mama Norway has a true marans type body , and dark oval eggs too .her mama passes 3.6Kg , his grand mama 3,5 Kg and his grand grand mama Scandinavia 4.2Kg
they are not light weight those chooks .but they still have they own faults .
no perfect chooks in my farm yet ,all work in progress .I ll get there one day .

SELECT THE LARGE HEN IF YOU WANT TO INCREASE THE MASS OF YOU CHOOKS

chooks man

Does a big heavy bodied rooster contribute to the offsprings mass or is that totally on the hen?

 

[KF0002]

Took a quick pic of this cute little fella today. He wouldnt stand still long enough to get a good full body shot, but he looks to have the best comb so far. He is one of Apollo and #60's chicks. Looks like I have 5 or 6 cockerels from them and at least that many pullets.

 

[KF0002]

Does a big heavy bodied rooster contribute to the offsprings mass or is that totally on the hen?

I have been told size comes largely from the hen. I was wondering about this myself today though. I was out looking over the pullets with Maximus and when I got them all in my hands, one at a time, one of them (the lightest hackled pullet) is a lot smaller in weight than the others. The others are big, solid, plump girls. They feel good in my hands and have great mass. The lighter hackled one is leaner and lighter in weight, similar to Gretta. She isnt sickly or "skinny," just lean. I wonder if I should throw her out of the breeding pen? They are all round about the same age, give or take a few weeks. I want to improve mass, not go backwards.

 

[Red Banks]

He kinda does look like him, except Antionio's comb and color were way better than Griffin's. Lol

When I had all those young cockerels I didn't look at Antonio at all, as a matter of fact I had made my mind up about him and was going to give him to my chicken eating friend down the road. I was looking at Claude and a couple of others. Then Chooks man started giving me lessons and changed my eye/thinking. Of course, Chooks man was stuck on Claude but if he could have seen him in person he would not have been. Claude was small. Now Antonio is such an impressive rooster wide and gives the impression of strength but not overdone. That is what I see in Griffin so you will have to keep me posted on how he turns out.

 

[Red Banks]

here my splash pullets 8 selected . all gorgeous
I love this variety
nice rectangular body type .
RedBank go made for those marans body type .
enjoy my friendView attachment 1170005
View attachment 1170007 View attachment 1170008 View attachment 1170010
those pullets are the future breeders of a new blue copper line .
chooks man

So beautiful. I am crying over the long backs and nice tails!

 

[Chooks man]

That sounds like a great idea! How do u make a trap nest? Or do u buy one?

yea you can buy them in few places .
if you want to build one .they are easy ,just google it . you ll see a lot on you tube .

they are the best thing to have when you want to do a proper breeding .
I use a plastic turkey transport crates to catch mine , my pens are larger and I m always there ,
when one of them is in I shut the door . this method only work if some one is there all the time .
trap nest box are better .
there is 2 type .
the small type .just a nest box with a shutter door . this type is designed for the people like me who are in the farm all the time .
2nd type are larger , they have a feed and water plus a space ,so the hen can stay there for a longer period .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Does a big heavy bodied rooster contribute to the offsprings mass or is that totally on the hen?

yes the rooster will contribute as well ,but very small portion .
the hens dictate the size of the egg ,the egg will dictate the size of the chick.

using a big rooster over a big hen is good ,that will keep the size stable . all the progeny will be big chooks . true big chooks , they ll bred true for this trait.

small rooter over a big hen ,most of the progeny will be big chooks . but they do need some back crossing to they big mama hen ti reinforce the trait .

big rooster over a small hen does not work well . take years to see the improvement .

the salmon marans ariety had this problem in France , the hens where small , so they could not be accepted by French SOP .
the french breeders did not want to cross the variety to any other marans variety to increase the size . they wanted to do with a pure strain and using they big rooster witch they where heavy enough . . took the over 10 years to get the size of the hens from 2.2Kg to 2.8Kg

long time

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Took a quick pic of this cute little fella today. He wouldnt stand still long enough to get a good full body shot, but he looks to have the best comb so far. He is one of Apollo and #60's chicks. Looks like I have 5 or 6 cockerels from them and at least that many pullets.

View attachment 1170474

watch the second point there is a dent there in the front .
my White storm had a the dent like that when he has young ,lucky did not grow as a double point or the M point .but still there .
rather than that it is actually good comb .

chooks man