International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Hensndoes]

I will be able to move birds into the future breeder coop tomorrow! Still have to do some aesthetics like roosts trim and stain but it's habitable. For this coop we built a high ledger and laid a full hardware cloth floor. I'll backfill with deep litter from the woods. We also went with a clear roof which is flimsy so needed extra 2xs because it's in such a shaded area. Babies will be out of the brooder box and in the big run tomorrow and we can take our time integrating the layer flock with our existing.

 

[KF0002]

View attachment 1414702 I will be able to move birds into the future breeder coop tomorrow! Still have to do some aesthetics like roosts trim and stain but it's habitable. For this coop we built a high ledger and laid a full hardware cloth floor. I'll backfill with deep litter from the woods. We also went with a clear roof which is flimsy so needed extra 2xs because it's in such a shaded area. Babies will be out of the brooder box and in the big run tomorrow and we can take our time integrating the layer flock with our existing.

Wow I am very impressed at your workmanship!! Very nice coop! I may have to use your design for my next coop. Great job! Cant wait to see pictures of it once you have all your chooks in there.

 

[Hensndoes]

Wow I am very impressed at your workmanship!! Very nice coop! I may have to use your design for my next coop. Great job! Cant wait to see pictures of it once you have all your chooks in there.

Thank you! But I can't take all the credit. My man is a carpenter and I'm constantly reminding him it's just a chicken coop and cutting corners on square /level/plumb is okay. Drives him nuts but I want chooks out of the brooder box (which he built and had to be square and level and chit). We would have done a skirt but pretty much anywhere we picked has maple roots to deal with so he thought of this floor. I use deep litter in our big coop and the birds love it - and bonus I clean out the coop and run maybe every 6 months. No odor issues and the gardens he the perks.

 

[KF0002]

Thank you! But I can't take all the credit. My man is a carpenter and I'm constantly reminding him it's just a chicken coop and cutting corners on square /level/plumb is okay. Drives him nuts but I want chooks out of the brooder box (which he built and had to be square and level and chit). We would have done a skirt but pretty much anywhere we picked has maple roots to deal with so he thought of this floor. I use deep litter in our big coop and the birds love it - and bonus I clean out the coop and run maybe every 6 months. No odor issues and the gardens he the perks.

That's awesome he is a carpenter! You're a lucky chicken lady and will have the nicest coops in your county I bet! Lol

 

[KF0002]

We just got finished butchering a bunch of cull cockerels. We butchered my Mashburn cockerel too unfortunately as he ended up having a crooked keel bone. I sure hope he doesn't pass that on to his offspring. He was being used in a project crossing with my line A hen Sheraz to deepen the copper and darken the underfluff so I will just look the offspring over closely for crooked keels.

Here is one pic I took of one of the cockerels as my neighbor plucked him. I was the scalder, she was the plucker, and then I gutted and cut up the birds. Good times.

The cockerels are definitely not as pretty when they're naked!

 

[Hensndoes]

We just got finished butchering a bunch of cull cockerels. We butchered my Mashburn cockerel too unfortunately as he ended up having a crooked keel bone. I sure hope he doesn't pass that on to his offspring. He was being used in a project crossing with my line A hen Sheraz to deepen the copper and darken the underfluff so I will just look the offspring over closely for crooked keels.

Here is one pic I took of one of the cockerels as my neighbor plucked him. I was the scalder, she was the plucker, and then I gutted and cut up the birds. Good times.

The cockerels are definitely not as pretty when they're naked!

View attachment 1414757

Crooked keel bone? Never even thought to check that stuff. (As I google what is a chicken keel bone) Excuse my ignorance- but how did you notice that? I'll be on a small scale and I want to make sure I take all things into consideration when a pick a cockerel. I'm still betting #1 is a boy and I'm going to have to pick (until next year when my hunny builds me another coop)

 

[KF0002]

Crooked keel bone? Never even thought to check that stuff. (As I google what is a chicken keel bone) Excuse my ignorance- but how did you notice that? I'll be on a small scale and I want to make sure I take all things into consideration when a pick a cockerel. I'm still betting #1 is a boy and I'm going to have to pick (until next year when my hunny builds me another coop)

The keel bone is the breast bone that runs down the center of the bird's chest and abdomen. You find it by feeling for it while holding the bird. I wish I would have taken a picture now so I could show you. The keel bone should be straight down the center, not curved or crooked.

I honestly should have found it well before mating the cockerel to Sheraz but I didnt notice it. I pulled him from the pen as soon as I found it. If the offspring inherit it, I will keep a close eye out and cull any with it.

It's an undesirable trait, and is something I want to cull hard for because I dont want it popping up time and again. Especially with dual purpose birds used for meat, because let me tell you it was more difficult to fillet the breast meat off the keel bone when it's as crooked as a dog's hind leg.

 

[Red Banks]

Anybody selling chicks? How much should I charge for chicks?

 

[Red Banks]

We just got finished butchering a bunch of cull cockerels. We butchered my Mashburn cockerel too unfortunately as he ended up having a crooked keel bone. I sure hope he doesn't pass that on to his offspring. He was being used in a project crossing with my line A hen Sheraz to deepen the copper and darken the underfluff so I will just look the offspring over closely for crooked keels.

Here is one pic I took of one of the cockerels as my neighbor plucked him. I was the scalder, she was the plucker, and then I gutted and cut up the birds. Good times.

The cockerels are definitely not as pretty when they're naked!

View attachment 1414757

Did you butcher the "unusual" cockerel?

 

[KF0002]

Did you butcher the "unusual" cockerel?

He wasn't big enough to be worth the trouble of butchering. He was half the size he should have been and underdeveloped. We humanely culled him today. You were right that not even extra calf manna could help him. He definitely had some kind of genetic abnormality because he never started crowing and he should have been at that age. Freak chickens happen. We have a line of gamefowl that threw a rumpless cockerel once.