Also check for split wing and other DQ's while you have them in your hands. Even if you dont plan to show, you dont want to breed those types of traits if you can help it.
International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP
- Thread starter Red Banks
- Start date
I know all of them have some white under fluff under the hackles. Some are worse than others. Someone has a white feather on each wing tip. How hard is that white to breed out?
It can be difficult and frustrating to eliminate. The white underfluff seems to correlate with halos and lighter colored hackle copper. Breeding for darker copper seems to help eliminate white underfluff. The white wing feathers can be difficult to breed out (parasitic white as chooks man called it). If you have a nice bird without white in the wings I would breed him but put type first. I have struggled with making those decisions myself, but I try to keep in mind that type and tail angle are first and foremost, then color and all that. Type and tail angle are the hardest to get right so always keep that in mind.
One good tip is never double up on faults. This means that if your rooster has a white wing feather, make sure none of his females do, or vice versa. Mate a cockerel that has white underfluff to darker hens with the least copper. They will darken the hackles of their sons and darken the underfluff. If you have to use a rooster with white, breed for better male offspring and replace him when you can. I had to use cock birds with white underfluff last year, but replaced them this year with cockerels with dark underfluff. You arent going to fix everything in one generation. My best hen, Queen has a white primary feather in her wing but despite that fault she is my best female still, even though her amount of white would DQ her in show. Her type and tail angle is amazing though and her white wing feather wont stop be from using her.
More than 1/2 inch of positive white on one or more feathers is a DQ if you plan on showing. White underfluff I think gets points deducted but is not a DQ best of my knowledge but is still a major fault that most breeders encounter.
Here is one of my cockerels with good grey underfluff. No white on this bird anywhere. I havent named him yet. 
View attachment 1470275
Here is white underfluff under a cull's hackle and parasitic white of the wing. This bird would be DQ in show.
You have to look closely at the underfluff of birds. White is usually easily spotted, but light grey underfluff can be mistaken for white.
You have to look closely at the underfluff of birds. White is usually easily spotted, but light grey underfluff can be mistaken for white.
Hensndoes
Songster
- Jun 18, 2017
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Thank you for your posts! I can't help with naming your new roo. It drives me nuts trying to think of names. I know you battled the parasitic white for so long so happy to see a cockerel without it!
I'm going to have a closer look at the new girls. They haven't grown up yet but there are some white feathers I'd like to see molt out.
Nearly a year. Around 11 months old. They dont typically grow out of white underfluff at that age. If they have it at this age they will have it year after year. His is due to his halo and lighter copper in his hackle.
I have found that is really only true for juvenile feathers in young birds that havent matured. The pointy primary wing feathers can have some white at that age. Once the mature feathers come in at around 6-8 months old, those are the set they'll have until their next molt at 18ish months old. At 6-8 months of age you dont want to see white in the wings, tail, or anywhere on a black or blue copper.
Sometimes a white primary will molt out and come back black, sometimes not. You can pull a white feather and see if it comes back in black.
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