International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Punkybrewster]

Here is my first chicks of the season! There is only 2 but I have more in the incubator. They both came from a #7 colored egg.

Nice chicks!

I have a question.
I have seen this yellowing of the white down before in marans chicks and wonder what causes it.

Is it from the incubation, genetics or something else?

My gut says it has to do with incubation and egg yolk. But that may be totally wrong.

 

[Chooks man]

I have a non marans question if anyone can help.

I have just hatched 5 chicks from a barred pekin hen and a white roo. he must be recessive white (I don't know his background). all 5 chicks are black. 1 solid black, 3 black with solid yellow spot on the head and 1 with a sort of triangle shaped non solid yellow spot. I guess a solid black is a girl. are all the others boys or there is a chance that those with solid yellow spots are girls?

cuckoo hen if mated to a no cuckoo rooster will give dark cuckoo cockerels and no cuckoo pullets .
so all the chicks with a white/yellow dot are boys . black chick is a girl .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Good to know.
So this will be my plan. Then.
I have 3 or 4 that I am keeping my eye on that are still laying a dark egg. They are the ones I will test breed with waylon after I move.

I have been catching up and penning the girls to document their egg color.

I did it when they first began to lay and now at 3 months in.

I am discovering that I should probably keep them penned for maybe 3 laid eggs instead of letting them lay one and then release back to the flock. Sometimes the egg color changes daily.

Soooo,
I am going to start again today penning them for an extended time to get a true egg color range per bird.

I keep my pullets penned for at lease 2 weeks to have a proper idea what exactly a shape and color of they eggs are .
don t get your self mixed up ,there is no only dark eggs breeding , we must breed for type and other thing as well .
for your future dark egg layer line breed only from pullets that are laying dark eggs at the end of they laying cycle .
don t dismiss pullets because they do lay dark eggs .big mistake . breed your marans hens to the trait they exile at .what ever the trait ,all needed to breed a correct marans chook .
need up date photos of your flock please .
how is Georgia eggs color ?
chooks man.

 

[Chooks man]

I am very happy everything has gone well this breeding season for you.

May this group you have now bring you great sucess. You have worked so hard for this for many years!

thank you .my work with marans never end . all paying off now . been long and hard 8 years ,all worth it .
now I have some stunning marans . true dark eggs layer and well conformed to SOP . still a lot work to be done ,building families and breeding all the faults out .
the chicks that are hatching now are of the highest quality .well pleased with them . looking forward to see them grown .
some nice BCM cockerels .many of them ,that is a true gift .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Nice chicks!

I have a question.
I have seen this yellowing of the white down before in marans chicks and wonder what causes it.

Is it from the incubation, genetics or something else?

My gut says it has to do with incubation and egg yolk. But that may be totally wrong.

yellow tint come from the hatcher .
the white part of BCM chicks is not really white it is bit yellow by they genetic make up .BCM chicks are golden based , they shouldn be white { talking about the white part }
Birchen chicks should exhibit more pure white because they are silver based .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Let me guess here.
You are predicting vulture hocks because of the over feathered legs and feathers on the middle toes?

Is this correct?

yes .
marans chicks should have less feathers on they legs .they are not Brahman .
middle toes should be free from any feathers . I like the upper part of the shank to be free from feathers as well .
marans have only one gene of leg feathering Pti 1 . light leg feathering ,that what this gene stand for .
Brahman have double legs feathering genes Pti2 .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I am very happy everything has gone well this breeding season for you.

May this group you have now bring you great sucess. You have worked so hard for this for many years!

breeding great marans will take life time work . they are the most complex chooks to work with . many traits to balance .
chooks man

 

[chickengr]

cuckoo hen if mated to a no cuckoo rooster will give dark cuckoo cockerels and no cuckoo pullets .
so all the chicks with a white/yellow dot are boys . black chick is a girl .
chooks man

thank you. I needed only 1 boy. there is another solid chick, sort of grayish. if the chicks are black and blue I guess my white roo is genetically black. I don't think pekin can be black with a load of parasitic white so that black chicks look blue. 8 out of 8 hatched by my 8 mo pullet - today 8 is my lucky number, lol.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I keep my pullets penned for at lease 2 weeks to have a proper idea what exactly a shape and color of they eggs are .
don t get your self mixed up ,there is no only dark eggs breeding , we must breed for type and other thing as well .
for your future dark egg layer line breed only from pullets that are laying dark eggs at the end of they laying cycle .
don t dismiss pullets because they do lay dark eggs .big mistake . breed your marans hens to the trait they exile at .what ever the trait ,all needed to breed a correct marans chook .
need up date photos of your flock please .
how is Georgia eggs color ?
chooks man.

Okay. Thank you.

I am going to get Georgia today.
She is one that I have not penned @3mos lay yet.
I have Negan in with them because of limited space. He is protective and wants to get me.I hope when I have space to separate him he will calm down.
So right now, I grab the girls when they are in the nest boxes.

I will try to find time to photograph each one. I should have been doing it when i pen them. I will from now on.

I will also get pics of the little ones too. They look very nice to me. I love the fast growth.

 

[Chooks man]

my roosters are in the end of molting .they new feathers are stunning ,deep colors . next month I ll be doing my final selection ,after they finish molting and show they final pattern . half of them will go for sure . only keeping the best one because have new young cockerel of this year coming on ,they need space .

Shiva Shanti .sired by Day Walker over Shiva .
genetically very complex rooster .plus he is stunning will be bred this winter to Splash copper hens .
chooks man