International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Red Banks]

Very nice bunch of chicks! And I love your brooder! Dont fret too much over mossy chicks. Is it ideal? Well no, but no line is perfect and we're going to see them crop up. Mossy chicks happen, especially from well colored parents. We just have to cull mossiness if it persists into their plumage as they mature. Some people I have talked to recommend culling mossy chicks early on as they tend to produce overcolored or mossy birds. I think I will grow my mossy chicks out for now, even as culls they can still be useful as layers or meat. Tag them so you can record that they were mossy and you can watch them as they mature. You will have plenty of other birds to choose from as your select your next breeders.

Culling mossy chicks early doesn't make sense to me. I am not just saying this because I HAVE over colored birds. How is mossy worse than other faults? My mossy pullet chicks are not mossy as adults. My pullets are beautiful some even a little under colored on the hackle. I don't show so I don't know what carries the most weight when grading the bird. If you know, that would be interesting to me. Culling a good bird over color doesn't make sense. It seems we are getting away from the breeders mentality and adopting the show mentality. I just started laughing.... I thought what would Chooks man say?

 

[KF0002]

Culling mossy chicks early doesn't make sense to me. I am not just saying this because I HAVE over colored birds. How is mossy worse than other faults? My mossy pullet chicks are not mossy as adults. My pullets are beautiful some even a little under colored on the hackle. I don't show so I don't know what carries the most weight when grading the bird. If you know that would be interesting to me. Culling a good bird over color doesn't make sense. It seems we are getting away from the breeders mentality and adopting the show mentality. I just started laughing.... I thought what would Chooks man say?

I'm not a fan of culling chicks. Unless my chicks show vulture hocks, failure to thrive, or some other type of deformity I grow my chicks out. A theory behind mossiness is a throwback to the presence of wheaten way down the line, but I dont think that is always the case, however I am no genetic expert. I plan on test mating Zanitta, the hen that threw mossy chicks, for wheaten as soon as I get my hands on a RIR rooster just to see.

 

[chickengr]

my marans are spoiled. they know I love them

Made a pot roast in my instant pot for supper. It was oh so yummy! I got fancy and threw some wine in it and everything. Lol

View attachment 1349141 View attachment 1349142 View attachment 1349144
Sorry to go off topic!

thank you for this post. it reminded me I had a pot on my cooker. my new baby (german shepherd) passed through a hole and went to my solitaire naked neck cockerel's run. there she ate some corn and later vomited. I have cooked lamb/rice soup for her but totally forgot it. your god bless pot pic reminded me, lol.

 

[chickengr]

I don't know how the first line ended up there.

 

[Red Banks]

I'm not a fan of culling chicks. Unless my chicks show vulture hocks, failure to thrive, or some other type of deformity I grow my chicks out. A theory behind mossiness is a throwback to the presence of wheaten way down the line, but I dont think that is always the case, however I am no genetic expert. I plan on test mating Zanitta, the hen that threw mossy chicks, for wheaten as soon as I get my hands on a RIR rooster just to see.

It seems that many are always crying "Wheaten" (wolf). Who knows what is in these birds!

 

[KF0002]

I don't like seeing mossy chicks because usually my mossy chicks grow out to be overcolored and that is something I am trying to breed away from. I have mossy chicks from Apollo and Zanitta I am watching to see how they turn out, a pullet and a cockerel. I'm not going to cull them now but if they continue to look mossy or overcolored I wont use them unless I need an overcolored bird to balance out a bird with too much black. Overcolored birds can still be useful in the breeding pen even if they arent ideal by the standard. That is what Chooks man has always told us. Type is most important this year, so if I had to choose between a good typed bird with too much color and a bad typed bird with correct color, I would choose the bird with the best type.

cockerel

 

[KF0002]

It seems that many are always crying "Wheaten" (wolf). Who knows what is in these birds!

I get tired of hearing the wheaten thing too really. That's why I plan on test mating Zanitta for wheaten so I can disprove the theory. I don't think wheaten is responsible for the brown head spot or the mossiness, that's my non-expert opinion. Not always anyway.

I looked through my records and found that one of my Mashburn cockerels hatched with a brown head spot on their chick down. They are clearly NOT mossy, they are overmelanized so that kicks that wheaten theory right in the head.

 

[KF0002]

my marans are spoiled. they know I love them


thank you for this post. it reminded me I had a pot on my cooker. my new baby (german shepherd) passed through a hole and went to my solitaire naked neck cockerel's run. there she ate some corn and later vomited. I have cooked lamb/rice soup for her but totally forgot it. your god bless pot pic reminded me, lol.

You're welcome! It's a good she only ate the corn and not the cockerel. lol

 

[Magnolia Hill]

Very nice bunch of chicks! And I love your brooder! Dont fret too much over mossy chicks. Is it ideal? Well no, but no line is perfect and we're going to see them crop up. Mossy chicks happen, especially from well colored parents. We just have to cull mossiness if it persists into their plumage as they mature. Some people I have talked to recommend culling mossy chicks early on as they tend to produce overcolored or mossy birds. I think I will grow my mossy chicks out for now, even as culls they can still be useful as layers or meat. Tag them so you can record that they were mossy and you can watch them as they mature. You will have plenty of other birds to choose from as your select your next breeders.

Thank you, i got all the mossy chicks tagged ready to grow up under the micro scope, but i for sure won't be using any in with my breeders. Well it's a beautiful Saturday down here in south Mississippi and I'm about to go hit the flea markets and chickens swaps for the day.

 

[Magnolia Hill]

Made a pot roast in my instant pot for supper. It was oh so yummy! I got fancy and threw some wine in it and everything. Lol

View attachment 1349141 View attachment 1349142 View attachment 1349144
Sorry to go off topic!

Yummy!!