International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

All this talk about weight got me thinking. Pulled Chester in to weigh and he's 6.6 lbs so 3 kg. At 6 months will he add 3 more lb to fit the proper weight when grown? Or do I need to be focused on heavy hens to mix him with?

His comb healed from his battle with frostbite with no intervention from me. By healed I mean his gorgeous comb lost points and waddles are about 1/3 the size. Looks silly now. He had the genes just we had a horrible week of weather and I didn't think bringing him in was a good idea. Lesson learned.

3Kg at 6 months sound normal to me . he ll add few pound before he turn a year old .

always select the biggest hen when you can

chooks man

 

[Old Man Tom]

Love my hens!!

 

[marchick]

View attachment 1257052 Love my hens!!

Beautiful! Love them!

 

[kcrandall]

View attachment 1257052 Love my hens!!

OMT,

The spherical shaped eggs at the top-right and bottom-left are the shape we should select for when breeding for dark eggs. I read an article by Dirk de Jong that a spherical egg (round) stays in the oviduct longer so it absorbs more dye before lay.

Keith

 

[OneMountainAcres]

My marans babies are getting very long and leggy! They're looking very much like little raptors! I'm going to have to get some new pictures soon.

 

[marchick]

What causes Marans eggs to be speckled? Is speckled bad?

 

[kcrandall]

What causes Marans eggs to be speckled? Is speckled bad?

Marchick,

I don’t consider speckled Marans eggs to be a bad thing provided the base color is at least a #4 on the color scale. I’m not sure what causes the speckling. My guess is that speckled eggs are more oval shaped (large & small ends) so they move through the oviduct more quickly so they don’t get an even coating of dye. My observation is that a Pullet that initially lays a speckled egg will tend to always lay a speckled egg. A Pullet / Hen that lays speckled eggs can have many other positive charactertics that make her valuable in the breeding pen (e.g., type, size, comb, tail angle/set, color, etc.).

Keith

 

[chickengr]

in my flock speckled eggs mean that the eggs will get darker. when they do they are no more speckled or not so much.

 

[marchick]

I have at least 2 hens giving me speckled eggs. One hen is a pure Bev hen. She starts out laying pretty dark eggs but then fades to a 4. Not sure which hens are laying these eggs.

 

[KF0002]

My pullet #8 as I call her is finally laying decent now. She sure took her sweet time. I do need a better name for her and Im thinking Dutchess is a good fit. I got this little beauty from her yesterday. Very proud of my babies! Dutchess is a line C pullet (line formerly referred to as FRF x LA) and is a mix of my two original lines I have.