International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[kfelton0002]

I am only breeding my darkest egg layers. I have 6 hens that lay dark eggs. So it takes 21 days to hatch, most of the time 50% cockerels. Only getting 15+ eggs in 7 days, for hatching! Only half of those were fertile! Now you wait 6 months to find egg color for pullets. 16 to 18 weeks to process cockerels. $120 a month for feed. Waiting to see what I get when I cross these pullets back to their sire. Looks like about 5 years to see if anything good hatches from my choices! MAN I LOVE THIS GAME!! TOM

Lol apparently I love the game too, otherwise I would lose my mind. Keep up to good work Tom! The breed needs dedicated people to stick it out through all the frustration so we can do our beloved Marans justice. Breeding them to SOP is no cakewalk, but its fun to work with them amongst such a great group of people.

 

[Magnolia Hill]

Thank you! And yes those high tails haunt my dreams! lol Sometimes I can't fall asleep because I'm pondering up my next move. I hope that doesn't sound too crazy. I'm hoping and praying I nip them in the bud this year!

Not crazy at all, i just scrapped with birds with way higher tails, I'm talking they looked like scorpions. So i know the pain they cause and the loss of sleep that is accompanied with the high tail.

 

[kfelton0002]

Re-homed 3 more Marans hens today to make room for the birds Im currently raising. They were culls from my line C so it was a little sad but the friend that took them wanted some Marans as layers and they will have a good home and live their lives free ranging and happy. Culling and thinning of the flock is part of it.

 

[kfelton0002]

Not crazy at all, i just scrapped with birds with way higher tails, I'm talking they looked like scorpions. So i know the pain they cause and the loss of sleep that is accompanied with the high tail.

I know what you mean. I have had a couple with the scorpion looking squirrel tails you mentioned, and those birds go into the soup pot. I have many Marans hens/pullets free ranging as layers with high tails but I am culling hard on my breeding stock in pens and only keeping the birds that will move me forewards and not backwards.

 

[Red Banks]

I am only breeding my darkest egg layers. I have 6 hens that lay dark eggs. So it takes 21 days to hatch, most of the time 50% cockerels. Only getting 15+ eggs in 7 days, for hatching! Only half of those were fertile! Now you wait 6 months to find egg color for pullets. 16 to 18 weeks to process cockerels. $120 a month for feed. Waiting to see what I get when I cross these pullets back to their sire. Looks like about 5 years to see if anything good hatches from my choices! MAN I LOVE THIS GAME!! TOM

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[LilJoe]

@Magnolia Hill and @kfelton0002

These are the best (although not very good) pictures I have of his side.
His tail was still growing some feathers there. I can get some more recent pictures of him, but he lost his points to frostbite.

 

[Hensndoes]

@Magnolia Hill and @kfelton0002
View attachment 1369974
View attachment 1369985

These are the best (although not very good) pictures I have of his side.
His tail was still growing some feathers there. I can get some more recent pictures of him, but he lost his points to frostbite.

He's handsome. I'm a bit of a novice but wouldn't mind taking a stab. The elders will correct me. Nice long back and tail angle. nice comb too. If anything maybe it hangs a bit far on the back of the head - you'll have to ask the veterans. Chooks may have said something about the fold in the waddle. Color is beautiful with no leakage on the breast. A bit sparse on the leg feathers but an easy fix. He's a stunner.

Where are his spurs?

 

[chickengr]

Some of my best birds have white in their wings too. I feel your frustration there! Lol White in the adult plumage is not good, but just to clarify in case there are new members that dont know, white in the wings of chicks and juvenile birds is normal as long as the white molts out before the bird's adult feathers come in. Any white after 6-8 months old usually shows the bird will have parasitic white as an adult but that isnt always the case. Sometimes a white feather can occur as a result if a damaged follicle as the feather grew. Bev Davis claims this so I trust her experience. A white feather that is present at 6-8 months old can be pulled out to see if it returns white. If it does, the white will remain throughout the bird's life. I have talked to breeders that have seen a bird have a white feather at 8 months old, go through its adult molt and have no white, then the white returns the next molt. Talk about frustrating!

my marco is all white next to the skin. he is 2 yo and hasn't molted yet. he is the only bird that has never molted.

I hatched some chicks he might be a sire. they all had good hatch down. I still don't know if marco has parasitic white or it is due to stress/health issues. he grew up stressed (his sire didn't leave him alone).

 

[Red Banks]

This was written by Curtis Hale and is on the MOAC website. Excellent information.

Some of my tips that I have collected over the years are:
1) a high tail on a cockerel can see improvements in his sons if the hens has a low tail.
2) if you want larger hens breeding a your largest cockerel to average sized hens won't work and will produce average sized hens, but breeding your largest hen will make for larger hens (even if not breed to your largest cockerel).
3) In a pairing it is more important that the cockerel's color be perfect than for the hen's color to be perfect
4) in a pairing it is more important for a hen's type to be perfect than for a cockerel's type to be perfect
5) combs tend to be passed from the hen in a pairing
6) A short shanked hen and a long shanked cockerel produce correct proportions while two short shanked birds will
have offspring that are dumpy and two long shanked birds will have offspring that are too lanky and upright (even if
the parent are with in what is acceptable just on the bottom or top of the spectrum)
7) White under coats on the BCM can be carried by the hen, but only show up in the cockerel
8) Dark Egg color can be restored successful in a line that has lost it with use of either a cockerel or a hen (both
carry all the genes).
Well that is a start for discussion. The best thing really to do is to pedigree your flock and keep good notes. Your
Marans may be built on a different portion of the available gene pool than someone else's flock and what they find in
their flock may not hold true for your flock.
Curtis Hale

 

[Red Banks]

A good read -
http://www.maransofamericaclub.com/uploads/4/0/1/8/40183925/13e06a03.pdf