International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[NanaK]

Like I said for a backyard flock it's fine. They are nice looking birds for sure.

They should at least be called what they are. A sexlink or Marans Hybrid.

I am raising 6 feedstore chicks now that were simply labeled Marans. They very much looked like BCM chicks, but I do not know that they are not some of the hybrids?? I bought them to add some brown egg layers to my flock. If they lay dark brown all the better. But for me it does not matter because I only breed for my personal flock.

Chickens are not like dogs and cats. They do not have a registered pedigree. It's sad some people will take advantage of that to make a dollar.

 

[marchick]

I wing banded my first batch of chicks. I have been in and out all morning trying to catch everyone laying. I have 3 BC and 2 blc in that pen. One Bc is not laying now. I now know who lays 3 of the 4 eggs that I am getting. So I will know which chicks come from which hens. It will get a little more complicated when the third BC hen starts laying and we add another blc hen from the other pen.

 

[Chooks man]

Random photos.
They are not friendly like cockerels. Very timid, so it is hard to get good photos. They hide.
Hardware cloth in their run is in a corner to prevent them from sleeping there.

We had a very bad storm and I was sure they would be dead in the morning because of sleeping out in the open. They were very wet but lived. This batch is just not smart.

They are 4 weeks of hatching so there is a difference in ages.

I see good hackle color and feathered shanks on all of them to some degree.

I hatched only the darkest eggs so these are a mix of only 3 or 4 hens, Mr. Good Comb sire.

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They look great . Some of the have a long body type and low angle tail. I will look at the this evening on my lap top bigger photos.
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I started reading at the beginning of this thread last night, and also read some on a French Marans website. Wow, attaining perfection is complicated!

The reason I got the pair of BCMs was so my hatchery quality barred rock pullets would eventually lay fertile eggs that the hens could brood, or I could incubate, and that would provide me with new laying birds and meat birds.

After I brought the cockerels home I learned that crossing a BCM rooster with a barred rock hen created Mystic Marans, or Dominant Copper Marans, or Copper Rock Marans. I guess they are all the same thing. But I don't think they are actually a recognized breed, are they?

It will be interesting to see what the pairing will produce. There's quite a bit of variation in the coloring of my pullets. Some are very light colored with light colored, white ear tufts. Some are mostly black with black ear tufts.

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That will work . You will get some sort of golden cuckoos. Some work need to be done. No they are not recognise there are just backyard cross.
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

My thoughts now are that if they are decent layers (color not that important but dark would be cool), grow to a good eating size, evade predators and forage well, have decent personalities and are not prone to disease or other ailments, I could care less what they look like. I guess I'm looking for a good, utilitarian dual purpose chicken.

I know that already exists, but I'll work with the birds I have and see what happens. Maybe I'll end up with a good barnyard mix chicken that fits well into the local environment.

You can do that but you have to hatch a lot chicks so you can select the one they have the traits you are looking for .
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

A barred rooster will pass the barring gene to all progeny. All chicks will be barred. So this cross does not make sexlinks.

You are correct .
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I wing banded my first batch of chicks. I have been in and out all morning trying to catch everyone laying. I have 3 BC and 2 blc in that pen. One Bc is not laying now. I now know who lays 3 of the 4 eggs that I am getting. So I will know which chicks come from which hens. It will get a little more complicated when the third BC hen starts laying and we add another blc hen from the other pen.

We will find out when they are fully grown they will look different if they come out of different hens.
We are breeding the rooster traits this round next year if every thing is good we will breed the hens traits.
Chooks man

 

[kfelton0002]

Wanted to pop in and say hey! Sorry for the hiatus from BYC. Covid was rough at the hospital where I work and I kinda put chickens on the back burner and went into survival mode with all the OT and chaos. I'm sorry I lost touch with BYC. Everything is better now that Covid has fizzled out and I wanted to get back to this forum. I don't really breed my Marans to SOP anymore. They are all just free ranging in the yard living their best lives. I hatch enough to maintain a little layer flock of Marans and that's about it. I hope all is well with you all! I've recently went BACK to school AGAIN to get my masters in nursing as a nurse practitioner, so that is tying me up quite a bit. I'm either a crazy or a glutton for punishment, or both. I've also ventured into turkey raising, so we'll see how that goes. lol

 

[marchick]

I spent all day watching to try and figure out who was laying which egg. I am thinking now all 5 of them have been laying. I got 5 eggs today! Two eggs look really similar. So no way of knowing. I do know on the 2 blcm. Their eggs are the only round eggs.

 

[Chooks man]

Wanted to pop in and say hey! Sorry for the hiatus from BYC. Covid was rough at the hospital where I work and I kinda put chickens on the back burner and went into survival mode with all the OT and chaos. I'm sorry I lost touch with BYC. Everything is better now that Covid has fizzled out and I wanted to get back to this forum. I don't really breed my Marans to SOP anymore. They are all just free ranging in the yard living their best lives. I hatch enough to maintain a little layer flock of Marans and that's about it. I hope all is well with you all! I've recently went BACK to school AGAIN to get my masters in nursing as a nurse practitioner, so that is tying me up quite a bit. I'm either a crazy or a glutton for punishment, or both. I've also ventured into turkey raising, so we'll see how that goes. lol

Wow wow wow look at who turn up . We missed you dear friend.
Welcome back
So happy to see you back. You made my day
Chooks man