International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

So, do you guys think he won't have very good coloring since he hasn't any color coming in yet, anywhere but his neck? Or can Roos be late bloomers and still end up being pretty adults??

They are still young and will change a lot. if 2 of my chicks end up being boys I won't pick one until closer to 6 months. And then I'll know what the girls will be looking like too so I'll have better feedback on how to work with them.
 
Well.... I have had a real mystery going on for the last couple of weeks. I have 9 hens and 8 pullets. Every night I lock up 16 pullets/hens. One is missing..... but every day I have 17 at the morning scratch fest. I have definitely lost one because I used to have 10 hens and when the pullets go to roost there are only 7. You know how you count over and over and you just can't keep track. Well... this morning I found one of them, I think it is the pullet but can't be sure. She is surrounded by pullet eggs. Possibly the first lost hen because she seems stuck on the site now. She didn't come to morning scratch. I was walking to the coops and there she was in the tree line along the fence.
We have had hard rains for a week, these eggs have been washed many times. There are 11 eggs there. All pullet.
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So should I wait until they are fully grown to pick my "keeper"?

If you look at the SOP and the diagrams of correct body type, I think you would choose the second cockerel. In this case I don't think you have to wait but if it is not a problem to wait then you might want to take the time and cost of chicken feed and grow them out. If you look at the second bird you can see the rectangular body that is important to type. Also the nice reach of neck. Correct eye (will change from green to orange), correct beak (horn colored), feathered legs, etc.
 

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