International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

He is very handsome! There were some cuckoo Marans shown at the show on Saturday. I wish I would have taken some pictures. I love the cuckoo pattern!

That big white cockerel is looking very wide in his rear view. I love seeing that in grow outs. They are looking very good!

it is the most important trait I look for when they are young .chunky and wide front to back .
if they don t have those 2 traits ,they will not be fitted with a leg ring .not keeper s .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

@kfelton0002
Malika is stunning .complete bird
Agree with you cockerel #2 is her son

he look s exaclty like her .trimed ,sleek ,best body shape and plumage .

so now we know Malika can produce a perfect marans .she luck the copper quatity . we need to find a best much for her. recording to her genetic make up .
she is senssitive to a split hackle marking .so the cockerel has to have a perfect copper .and not relatted to her .#4 dark ey is the best mach .eye it easy to spot and to cull early .

they will throw great progeny to balance out what will come from Queen{ GDam X Duke s }. body pattern will still need work but not the copper quality .comb will be great .body type and plumage great. just watch for the eyes .only select the orange eyes . easier than dealing with SW . My personle opinion .

don t loose the copper quality in your flock .
Duke is solving a problem but he is adding his own problem ,hard to deal with .

chooks man

Breed Malika only with this cockerel . name him Dark Angel .
I don t see any other cockerel will do the job of adding body colour without adding many extra faults .he is the best one .

breeding her with her son is good too ,you will produce black pullets but you will free them from the Hallo hackle genes they inherited from Duke . other worl you need to breed Duke fault out and keep the best thing he left .long back and nice tail .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

@kfelton0002
now #1 is going this guy has to stay . doens his hackle free from any gold . look good on the photo .
need to understand what I m looking for .a colourfull cockerel without split hackle marking .regardless what other fault he has .we trying to work on colour ,not tail etc......... each trait has it own breeding method .let no mix the thing up .

chooks man

 

[KF0002]

it is the most important trait I look for when they are young .chunky and wide front to back .
if they don t have those 2 traits ,they will not be fitted with a leg ring .not keeper s .

chooks man

Sounds like a very good rule of thumb. At what age do you decide who gets a leg band for mass in your grow outs?

 

[KF0002]

who is a big guy .

chooks man

Big Guy is the narrow cockerel that didn't have as much body color.

 

[KF0002]

@kfelton0002

deep in my heart I like this guy more than all the cockerel you bred .I just can t find a way to work with him .
he is not a body colour breeder for sure .but MAN body type ,head and tail ,he is inbeatable .
you can forget about a body colour in this line and contenue working perfecting they body type ,feathers type .tail type ,head type .
Malika penned with this guy .line breeding for correct body marans body type . they will be black or almost black but correct .

we still need a well coloured cockerel no hallo to mate him to Malika so we can work on the body colour differently . that is a cockerel I m after .
DARK EYE WILL FIT THE BUIL can you post more photos of him from all different angle .I really want to see every thing .I really mean it .every angle possible .

chooks man

PS = get eggs from @marchick they are your way out . they are similar to your on they body type { both correct} they have a complete body pattern , correct copper quality and quantity .and correct comb .you only need cockerels .
if you guys think shipping eggs is not that great ,than let @marchick hatch and raise 2/3 cockerels tell 10/12 weeks and ship them to you .

chooks man

Thank you for the feedback and input. I like Malika's son too. He and my other 2 for sure keepers (brown eyes and high tail) are in the maximum-security area of my property. They are in the fenced-in area where my dogs stay. No predators will take them in there. And the dogs pay them no mind, they are chicken guard dogs (Pyrenees).

I will get pictures of the brown eyed cockerel and Malika's son on my days off. marchick and I have been discussing the best way for me to obtain some of her birds. Chicks may be the best bet? Shipping chicks probably wouldn't be as expensive as shipping grow outs, as the shipping rates have recently sky rocketed. Eggs are generally a flop as the hatch rates are terrible. We will discuss it further as we near breeding season.

 

[KF0002]

@kfelton0002
now #1 is going this guy has to stay . doens his hackle free from any gold . look good on the photo .
need to understand what I m looking for .a colourfull cockerel without split hackle marking .regardless what other fault he has .we trying to work on colour ,not tail etc......... each trait has it own breeding method .let no mix the thing up .

chooks man

I'm fairly certain he doesn't have any gold. I think the sun in the pic was making it appear that way. I will take better pictures of him as well ASAP. It may take me a few days as my child has been sick. Some days I look at "high tail" and his tail is sky high, and some days like yesterday when he was more relaxed it looked fine. I had actually had him up to condition for show as he was my favorite out of the bunch, most mature and best colored. Once I saw his tail creeping toward 90 degrees I threw him out. He is a very handsome bird regardless and I don't mind keeping him and single mating him as long as I have other single mated pairs to work with so I'm not going backward in the tail department. My husband has promised me several single pens for the upcoming breeding season so I can work with my birds the way I need to. I just have to figure out who will go with whom.

 

[KF0002]

Which bird are we referring to as Dark Angel? The brown eyed one? @Chooks man

I like the name. It suits him.

 

[marchick]

How big do you make your single pens? How do you guys do the watering so it's not such a chore?

 

[KF0002]

How big do you make your single pens? How do you guys do the watering so it's not such a chore?

We have around 35 4x4' pens we use for single mating. Hubby will be building more for me. We can trio mate Games in the 4x4s but for larger birds like my Marans, a pair is just right. Watering is a chore here no matter how you try to swing it. We have 1/2 gallon-sized water cups on each 4x4 so it takes many trips back to the faucet to refill the watering cans we use to water the birds. I have known people to use an automatic watering system but that seems like a chore in itself as the watering system can freeze and bust. We just do it the good ol' fashioned way and carry the water all over the property to water the birds. I order my watering cups from ebay. Pinnon Hatch Farms is the merchant on there I use. His ebay ID is brucejones. Here is a link to his ebay store:

http://www.ebay.com/usr/brucejones?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2754

I have always been satisfied with his quality, customer service, prices, and fast shipping.