International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[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.

that all what I m looking for proper copper without split .uniform rich copper colour SOP
tail we ll do some thing about it . same hen mated to 2 diferent rooster with oposit trait to balance they progeny .

some time a bird has them both 1 gorgeous trait and very bad trait .so we can t just cull him because he has a fault ,we have to make sure we have one to replace him in the trait he excel. if we don t find a replacement than we have to breed him/her so we can work with they progeny .

I will say it again .you need to keep cockerels with proper copper even if they don t have shoulder pattern . to balance Duke progeny .you don t want to be stuck with split hackle marking .

chooks man

 

[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.

great to hear .
working as group will help s .I m working with Liza s .Lucy s .Philips . Don s .Tony many breeders to solve a problem of marans in OZ

keep the cockerels safe .
now I know your cockerels .can you show me pullets and hens .
I know Queen /Malika very well now .need to know the other lines .
Xina s etc......... plus new pullets .

chooks man

 

[KF0002]

a lot pens .you and your man are reil chooks people .BRAVO

I start using Cup watering system I m in love with it .{ we don t have a freeze problem } .in the new pens I m building for the grown up will have fully automatic cup system .all hooked to the big water tank 45000 .will never do the watering again .

chooks man

We also have around 15-20 holding pens for Game cockerels that have to he penned when they come of age and start fighting. They are 3x3' pens. Then there are my 3 big coops/runs, the large outdoor chick brooder, 2 4x8 pens and around 50 or so barrels for gamecocks. There are chickens everywhere here! Lol.

You're lucky you dont have to deal with cups freezing. The automatic watering system would be a big help.

 

[BenTN]

here how my selection program work and how is devided ;
First selection @ 10 weeks . I mantionned it in the post before ,what I look for . this selection is for the best chicks from all the chicks I hatched .

Second step = @ 4 months old .when I separate cockerels/pullets .this selection will be bassed on =
correct mass = always keeping my eyes on mass ,very important .
Correct body marking ,pullets should have they hackle marking and cockerel should have most of they shoulder colouration .
Soundness of the legs .how strong and straight are they ,how is they movement in free ranging system with less intervention ,
comb type
this selection is called the future breeders ,thet will be selected from the best chicks selection .

Third Selection .@ 6monts cockerel .they should have a full body pattern by now ,other wise they have to go ,except if they where bred for different trait s .
Pullets selected after they lay they first 30 eggs .
this selection is for the keeper breeders .

@ 8 mnoths all the keeper chooks should be selected .

@ 9 month the breeders should be penned together for test mating

@ 10 months ,breeding the new stock will start .

No late bloomer for me .no time for them ,thing to do in each season and breeding program has to move in harmony .

I prefer to start my breeding a same time each year .but life is not prodectable .so I do my best .

chooks man

I think I am going to print this and study this until it’s memorized.

Maybe I will line my brooders with the prints...

Thanks again Chooksman!

 

[KF0002]

great to hear .
working as group will help s .I m working with Liza s .Lucy s .Philips . Don s .Tony many breeders to solve a problem of marans in OZ

keep the cockerels safe .
now I know your cockerels .can you show me pullets and hens .
I know Queen /Malika very well now .need to know the other lines .
Xina s etc......... plus new pullets .

chooks man

I will post pics ASAP. I know I have Perfect, and 2 out of the 3 show pullets I may use (with the exception of the brown eyed one). Then there is Duchess (Duke's sister) I could use.
Xena is retired and free ranging. She has a high tail and is frequently broody so I threw her out back in the summer. There are several other pullets free ranging that are potentials but are a bit too young yet to tell. Once the pullets begin laying I can tell more about their true tail angle.

 

[KF0002]

I think I am going to print this and study this until it’s memorized.

Maybe I will line my brooders with the prints...

Thanks again Chooksman!

I make lots of notes as well. I keep a notebook just for my breeding notes. Then I have a binder for my record keeping (wing band records). This thread is always a wealth of knowledge.

 

[KF0002]

that all what I m looking for proper copper without split .uniform rich copper colour SOP
tail we ll do some thing about it . same hen mated to 2 diferent rooster with oposit trait to balance they progeny .

some time a bird has them both 1 gorgeous trait and very bad trait .so we can t just cull him because he has a fault ,we have to make sure we have one to replace him in the trait he excel. if we don t find a replacement than we have to breed him/her so we can work with they progeny .

I will say it again .you need to keep cockerels with proper copper even if they don t have shoulder pattern . to balance Duke progeny .you don t want to be stuck with split hackle marking .

chooks man

I definitely dont want to lose the proper coloring, for sure. I'll work with high tail and find a nice lower tailed female to balance him out. I would like to take some nicely colored birds to show next year.

Duchess may serve that purpose but her hackle coloring is dark and sparse.

 

[KF0002]

yes Brown eyes .his is your best one for comb /copper quantity /quality , he is your way out of the hallo hackle .so I gave him the name .he has a lot work to do to fight the Melanizer . so has to be dark Angle to do that .hahahaaaaaaaaaaaa.

he will help you a lot .
no chooks is perfect ,we are only selecting who is the best of what we have .we can t just go and shopping { I just did that this year 2019 a lot money been spent to source all those blood line} but from now on no more buying .I ll breeding /fixing

chooks man

Lol Sounds great! And at least I can cull for brown eyes early in Dark Angel's offspring. I dont plan on buying any more Marans. I may infuse my line with marchick's birds but only because she has the same blood in her line. No more outside blood for me.

 

[Chooks man]

Lol Sounds great! And at least I can cull for brown eyes early in Dark Angel's offspring. I dont plan on buying any more Marans. I may infuse my line with marchick's birds but only because she has the same blood in her line. No more outside blood for me.

for us new /old /different blood is not important .what important to us at this stage of breeding is a good traits and bad fault .who is a carriers .
we are forming our chooks line ,so we don t have to keep any body line going ,is they line not ours .
we are working to create ours .so mixing a blood line is not bad for a moment as long as the chooks have a quality we are looking for .

all the chooks and fetile eggs I bought this year will be mixed up to create my future line .every thing goes at this stage .outcross .brother sisters . mother son . cousin every thing is allowed tell I start see a good chooks coming out of my hatch than I start forming famillies , it is too early to form any thing just importing the good and exporting the bad .

here a example of great pair .if put together will be stunnig .not going to happen ,just showing you what a foudation chooks look like to create line from them without adding any thing .
your hen Malika
and Marchicks BLC cockerel Nimbus .
if this pair are mated than greatness will be born . foudation pair . pair of Excellence .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I definitely dont want to lose the proper coloring, for sure. I'll work with high tail and find a nice lower tailed female to balance him out. I would like to take some nicely colored birds to show next year.

Duchess may serve that purpose but her hackle coloring is dark and sparse.

they name is Black copper .so we have to make sure we never loose copper other wise we breed some other varieties .
your older rooster Maximus If I remenber had a complete and correct pattern .high tail for sure .
selecting cockerel is more defecult than pullets because of the sex linked genes .
cockerel we have to have 2 different selection .1 for the body type and 1 for body pattern and quality of copper .
we don t cull a well coloured cockerel if he had any other fault except if we find a replacement ,another colourfull cockerel without a fault we are trying to get ready off .we have to keep the good traits .

chooks man