International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

Judith #2, lovesong and Bella Luna
are kept for their dark eggs.

This year, from the pullet line pen, I only kept chicks from the darkest eggs and a couple for their egg shape. I think there are maybe 20 chicks in the brooder. I will count them tomorrow.

Once they are sexed, I will know my total numbers of pullets.

Because not all hens are laying dark, I do not have progeny from all of them. Is this a problem?
Should I do another hatch?

I will be sure to take photos of the hens in question. Thank you @Chooks man .

can you tel me please what are other quality these hens have other than laying dark eggs ?
can you post photos of them when you have time .
those 3 hens they will be your future foundation for dark eggs laying line s .
chooks man

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

No it is not a problem if you did not hatch eggs from all your hens.
I just want to make sure there is not a hen there with a great body type but she doesn’t t lay dark eggs maybe you must . That all .
In my breeding programs I always know the mothers of all my chicks . It is very hard to do but very important and efficient .
Maybe you noticed by now . Each time I post photos of my chooks I always mention they name/ name of they sire and name of they mothers. They are pedigree chooks . I make sure they stay that way .
Chooks man

How do you keep track of who’s related to who? Do you just know mentally or is it worth having some sort of diary?

 

[Chooks man]

How do you keep track of who’s related to who? Do you just know mentally or is it worth having some sort of diary?

I have note books for every thing I do .
pedigree note books has all the chooks I m working with .what linesand breeders they come from .
incubation book has all the eggs I incubated since I started 10 years ago .
I take notes and photos of all my chicks from the day they hatch ,so I can always go back and see how they did perform or looked like as chicks .
I write everyu thing about any thing I do .
chooks man

 

[Punkybrewster]

You have done great.
We have 3 hens laying dark eggs . Judith#2 , LoveSong and Bella Luna. We are keeping that enough number to breed from next breeding season with a young cockerels you are growing now .
Nice you kept chicks from dark eggs ( pullets line)
There is any hen who lay lighter eggs but has a stunning body type .
From all your hens witch one have a correct body type . We only need one or 2 hens that all even if they don t lay dark egg .
Are Judith . LS and BL cockerels dam s or pullets?
Chooks man

I was hoping you would agree with what I've done so far.

I have to start penning hens to find the ones laying light. This is going to take a while. Ugh. I like to do it after they have been laying for a couple of months.

No good having a dark layer in the beginning and getting very light after just a few weeks. This is why I kept BL, Love song, Judith2. They lay dark far into the season.

So I will start with egg color, check their body type.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I know a few Marans breeders around the world they practice group breeding . They only know the chicks by they sire only . They dismissed the dams . Now after 12 to 15 years of breeding they lines they run in inbreeding depression ( loose of fertility . Low hatch rate . Dying chicks just before hatching and a lot mutation )
I told those guys to give importance to the chicks dam s . They thought it is very hard to do . They preferred to select just from the eggs much simpler . They mark the eggs from the oen they come from and who is a rooster . Very bad practice for a long run.
This guy I know he been breeding for 13 years . Managed to breed great line but know he can t continue he is looking to introduce new blood to fix his problem .
This thing will never happen in my farm with my breeding programs .
I m not having a go at any body just sharing my knowledge .
Chooks man

We did exactly this. Luckily for me I only had the 3 and they all lay different eggs. Joannie our broody lays consistent, dark, shiny, regular eggs. Jett lays torpedos but the color fades off. Betty lays dark, pretty consistent, but dull sheen regular eggs.
When she went broody we shoved eggs under her. So now that the 3 pullets have been laying I'm guessing who the dams are. I did notice yesterday 2 dull eggs in the nest box so I've prolly got a Betty baby in there.
I really need to trap nest them and leg bands are a must get if I go any further. This year is a bust with the move but next year I must get serious with the program. Unless I get another broody then that ups the importance. Notebook, trap nest them and leg bands. And I really need an incubator.
Oh and Black Silvers, and more coops and pens. Ha ha.

Awesome.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Oh and just because i dont have enough to do we got this little trio saturday.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I know a few Marans breeders around the world they practice group breeding . They only know the chicks by they sire only . They dismissed the dams . Now after 12 to 15 years of breeding they lines they run in inbreeding depression ( loose of fertility . Low hatch rate . Dying chicks just before hatching and a lot mutation )
I told those guys to give importance to the chicks dam s . They thought it is very hard to do . They preferred to select just from the eggs much simpler . They mark the eggs from the oen they come from and who is a rooster . Very bad practice for a long run.
This guy I know he been breeding for 13 years . Managed to breed great line but know he can t continue he is looking to introduce new blood to fix his problem .
This thing will never happen in my farm with my breeding programs .
I m not having a go at any body just sharing my knowledge .
Chooks man

This is what I am doing this year. 2 pens.

Cockerel pen (jr) with 10 hens with good copper,

pullet pen with good comb rooster and 10 hens with not good copper.

I am trying to find who lays what egg now. It is so confusing!

I will put it all on my notebook as I did last year.

This way will have to change from what you are telling me.
I do not plan to bring in any new lines.

 

[Punkybrewster]

can you tel me please what are other quality these hens have other than laying dark eggs ?
can you post photos of them when you have time .
those 3 hens they will be your future foundation for dark eggs laying line s .
chooks man

Somewhere on this thread are pics of them when selecting last year.

I will get more photos this week.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I have note books for every thing I do .
pedigree note books has all the chooks I m working with .what linesand breeders they come from .
incubation book has all the eggs I incubated since I started 10 years ago .
I take notes and photos of all my chicks from the day they hatch ,so I can always go back and see how they did perform or looked like as chicks .
I write everyu thing about any thing I do .
chooks man

I do the same.
Keepers to grow out get a wing band and recorded in my book and notes written about them. Sometimes a colored leg band too.

I don't have the mental capacity to memorize them all like chooks man does though. He has an amazing mind.

But I can refer back by looking up the wing band #.

 

[Punkybrewster]

When checking who lays what egg color, the hen is penned, I look at her wing band #, look her up in my book which tells me egg color she hatched from, hatch down quality, sire and any other details I wrote about her.

Then I add the egg color she lays and her type/size, hackle color, any other details I find relevant.

My organization in my book is awful. Notes all over the place.
But it works for me. As the years go on, I am sure I will become more refined in how I do this. I hope.

An now that chooks man has addressed the downfalls of pen breeding, that will be my next step to madness! Haha