International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[BlueTheBrahma]

I had chosen a Birchen Marans Roo - based on nothing except I like silver. I canceled the order though. What Marans Roo would you choose? I am open to suggestions! Currently brooding some Cream Legbar males and I will be using the best one ... For an olive egger experiment. Some say the dark won't pass from a hen - the roo must be from a dark line. I'm waiting to see what the eggs from these girls look like. Any day now. . In my future flock for years to come - I'd really like to have barred and laced hens. So I also love wyandottes and have a few colors of those. I love the shape of the marans and wyandottes. So pretty.

If you only want a small flock, stick with your legbar for now, you’ll get some lovely barred birds, they will be golden cuckoos, blue cuckoos or similar a to legbars in colour. Get a feel for how breeding them works, understand your marans Chooks and see which colours you become fond of. If you get a Marans rooster, I suggest you pick your favourite variety and focus on that rather than breeding lots of colours as mixing them can ruin the perfect examples of each one. Someone will have to correct this, but I think you shouldn’t breed wheatens with birchen/coppers as they become quite messy. I don’t see why you couldn’t breed coppers and Golden cuckoos, just know that some roosters won’t be fully cuckoo.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Beautiful!

I absolutely agree...

 

[wrathsfarm]

Hi there,
just curious if any of you can point me in the right direction.
i am looking to purchase either hatching eggs or chicks from a good quality breeder of BCM.
i am in texas, so distance is important for both the shipment of eggs and/or chicks. The closer to me the better.
instead of taking my chances on eBay, I was hoping one of you could point me in the right direction.

Look in the for sale ads here on BYC ? Start a thread?
Post in your state thread also...
Do a search for BCM breeders thru Google and Facebook/Craigslist?
Just some suggestions, sorry I cant be more help.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Today was a rough day. My favorite "Americana" (EE) was dragged around the yard to the point of death by my 10 month old Great Pyrenees. I had to finish her off. Brutal. Have never seen my dog do this before the introduction of a recent cockerel to the flock. New cockerel's introduction did not seem to bother them much but it has spurred the death of 2 laying hens which were my favorites. The first was Pearl.. a black sex link hen with a lot of copper on her neck who laid a darker speckled egg every single day without fail. The second was Sweetheart .. the most reliable sky blue layer with a silver neck and partridge pattern. She always wanted in my lap. I am really MAD at this dog and not sure about the cockerel. At this rate, my entire flock will be destroyed in anther week. The problem is - they never wanted to escape the run before and now they want to get away from the teenage boy cockerel... but the dog is free all morning. I normally swap them in the afternoon - free range chickens and put dog on runner/in kennel. I am really bummed that my only blue layer is gone. Bad dog.

Can you crate the cockerel separate from the hens? But still in the run?
Small dog kennel/cage? Something like this....

 

[Chooks man]

Maybe some day I'll get to show them. Hopefully the judges would like them too. My daughter took some to the fair, she did alright. Had that pullet and she got third in her class.

I do not trust judges .most of then don t know great deal about marans .
I could be wrong maybe the judge in your area know some thing
all the best .
your marans can win in the international marans show if the judges are honest and don t take the frensh side ,
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Hi there,
just curious if any of you can point me in the right direction.
i am looking to purchase either hatching eggs or chicks from a good quality breeder of BCM.
i am in texas, so distance is important for both the shipment of eggs and/or chicks. The closer to me the better.
instead of taking my chances on eBay, I was hoping one of you could point me in the right direction.

hope some one can help you .in very very far away from you for sure ,totaly different country .
good luck
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

If you only want a small flock, stick with your legbar for now, you’ll get some lovely barred birds, they will be golden cuckoos, blue cuckoos or similar a to legbars in colour. Get a feel for how breeding them works, understand your marans Chooks and see which colours you become fond of. If you get a Marans rooster, I suggest you pick your favourite variety and focus on that rather than breeding lots of colours as mixing them can ruin the perfect examples of each one. Someone will have to correct this, but I think you shouldn’t breed wheatens with birchen/coppers as they become quite messy. I don’t see why you couldn’t breed coppers and Golden cuckoos, just know that some roosters won’t be fully cuckoo.

agree with you wheaten do not breed well with BC ,they do breed with a Birchen silver black if you want to breed silver wheaten ,but they need few generation of breeding to get the pattern alright .
BC and golden cuckoo actualy give great result will keep the copper on the golden cuckoo darker other wise will be delutted by the barring gene .
chooks man

 

[bigsurfwaves]

Can you crate the cockerel separate from the hens? But still in the run?
Small dog kennel/cage? Something like this....
View attachment 3630672

I did that at first but he's been a good boy with the hens! Really good.

 

[bigsurfwaves]

If you only want a small flock, stick with your legbar for now, you’ll get some lovely barred birds, they will be golden cuckoos, blue cuckoos or similar a to legbars in colour. Get a feel for how breeding them works, understand your marans Chooks and see which colours you become fond of. If you get a Marans rooster, I suggest you pick your favourite variety and focus on that rather than breeding lots of colours as mixing them can ruin the perfect examples of each one. Someone will have to correct this, but I think you shouldn’t breed wheatens with birchen/coppers as they become quite messy. I don’t see why you couldn’t breed coppers and Golden cuckoos, just know that some roosters won’t be fully cuckoo.

That was my thought. Thank you so much. Waiting until next year to decide on Marans Roo. May end up getting more Marans in spring. Do you think the olive egger experiment will work with the Marans hens x Cream Legbar roo?

 

[bigsurfwaves]

sorry for your losses. I feel your pain. I rehomed a puppy I wanted to keep as her mother taught her how to kill a duck and eat her. my dogs are tied at daytime now.

Thank you. If a dog eats birds - it won't stop right?

I didn't believe my neighbor who said my pup ate a few of his chickens. But this time - as a last resort - I tied the dead bird onto her neck and she ate what she could reach in a few hours. So that crazy plan didn't seem to work. Anyone tried that?