International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[wrathsfarm]

Yes, I started collecting eggs the day I culled the BCM rooster. I’ve got a dozen now.
The true blue rooster has been covering the BCM hens all week. So I guess they could be pure BCM or olive eggers.
Chicken math says since I’m incubating 12 of my eggs, I might as well get 12 from someone else to help fill the incubator. I’m picking up 12 mix colored eggs from a farm on Tuesday. They have some great colors. Here’s a sample pic
View attachment 3794955

That's a great assortment of color. The lavender ones are neat.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I am not an expert and these are my 2 cents:

1) you are not 100% sure what problem king has.
2) I guess no health issue is sex linked.

wait and time will tell. if you had 100+ marans, all different lines, you would have the luxury of culling hard.

Your right, I can't cull hard.
Being new to this I just worry about making mistakes.

I'm impatiently waiting on these ones to feather out. So curious to see what they grow out to, being Kong's first time being the sire.
Exciting....

 

[TexasBlues]

That's a great assortment of color. The lavender ones are neat.

I was impressed with the different pink/purple/lavender blooms she has. I haven’t really seen those available anywhere. She also gets some that are straight up gray looking. Almost like a potato. I’ll have to ask her about the different genetics involved in getting those blooms. I know there some fibromelanistic olive eggers mixed in.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I was impressed with the different pink/purple/lavender blooms she has. I haven’t really seen those available anywhere. She also gets some that are straight up gray looking. Almost like a potato. I’ll have to ask her about the different genetics involved in getting those blooms. I know there some fibromelanistic olive eggers mixed in.

Wow....impressive.
I'm really wanting some fibros in my mixed flock.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Happy Eclipse Day everyone...
Hope all our chooks don't freak out. I don't think we'll have a good view of it here but I'll be curious to see if the flock reacts to it.

 

[chickengr]

I was impressed with the different pink/purple/lavender blooms she has. I haven’t really seen those available anywhere. She also gets some that are straight up gray looking. Almost like a potato. I’ll have to ask her about the different genetics involved in getting those blooms. I know there some fibromelanistic olive eggers mixed in.

if I remember well a pink egger x blue egger will produce gray eggers. not sure about f2.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I got given a new small coop today with a built in pen. I’m going to extend it and then move my silkies in. This leaves the bigger pen they are currently in free for the Marans.

This means I can finally start a more rigorous breeding programme for my marans, including the Golden cuckoo English standards bred with French blood. I just need a few Dark Cuckoo hens, silver or golden would be better but I doubt I’ll find any.

Loki will be please to be in a pen where he’s top rooster again anyway, I think he’s getting fed up if his adopted brother Freddy.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I’ve got a few questions that anyone can answer, all input is much appreciated:

What is the best thing about marans?

What qualities do your favourite marans have that put them above the rest?

Outside the SOP, what qualities do you consider important for a good marans to have? This can be in terms of behaviour, personality, other less apparent physical qualities…

What separates marans from other breeds?


These are all things I’d like to have other peoples’ opinions on. When I breed my GCMs, I want to know which traits from each standard I should retain or improve upon to try and produce a good English counterpart to the marans of old Chooks man talked so fondly about.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I got given a new small coop today with a built in pen. I’m going to extend it and then move my silkies in. This leaves the bigger pen they are currently in free for the Marans.

This means I can finally start a more rigorous breeding programme for my marans, including the Golden cuckoo English standards bred with French blood. I just need a few Dark Cuckoo hens, silver or golden would be better but I doubt I’ll find any.

Loki will be please to be in a pen where he’s top rooster again anyway, I think he’s getting fed up if his adopted brother Freddy.

That's awesome

I got given a new small coop today with a built in pen. I’m going to extend it and then move my silkies in. This leaves the bigger pen they are currently in free for the Marans.

This means I can finally start a more rigorous breeding programme for my marans, including the Golden cuckoo English standards bred with French blood. I just need a few Dark Cuckoo hens, silver or golden would be better but I doubt I’ll find any.

Loki will be please to be in a pen where he’s top rooster again anyway, I think he’s getting fed up if his adopted brother Freddy.

What a good deal. Happy to hear you can get your breeding plans going, looking forward to hear what you end up with.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I’ve got a few questions that anyone can answer, all input is much appreciated:

What is the best thing about marans?

What qualities do your favourite marans have that put them above the rest?

Outside the SOP, what qualities do you consider important for a good marans to have? This can be in terms of behaviour, personality, other less apparent physical qualities…

What separates marans from other breeds?


These are all things I’d like to have other peoples’ opinions on. When I breed my GCMs, I want to know which traits from each standard I should retain or improve upon to try and produce a good English counterpart to the marans of old Chooks man talked so fondly about.

Man, some of these are hard questions for me. Being fairly new and only having my Black Coppers for 3 years and only having Black Coppers that's all I can speak of, but I now of course want Black Silvers and I'd like to get some Blue Coppers also. So really I can only speak about BCM's that original draw has opened me up to love the other varieties and an appreciation for their heritage.

Best thing about Marans?

The Black Coppers colors is what drew me in to start. Seeing a pic of a few hens milling around with their all black body with just the copper hackles but then that majestic rooster standing amongst them in full bold color and the darkest russet eggs making them an elite group highly sought after. I knew I wanted some immediately.

What qualities do your favorite Marans have that put them above the rest?

Above the rest of my birds or above others birds? I can't answer above others birds, I started with hatchery stock so I'm just working with what I have, but I do feel fortunate enough to have gotten lucky with a pretty descent colored roo and 1 hen that lays a pretty egg as far as the standard.
As they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" so I may see better qualities than someone else may in my birds.

Outside the SOP? Temperament and personality and their individual uniqueness. This really applies to all breeds I have, they each have their own personality and unique quirkiness about them.

What separates Marans from other breeds? I don't have a lot of experience here with this one. But just as the breed in general I love the way they are meant to be built, short stocky, chunky, wide stance and overall hardy majestic breed. I like that their feathered shanks and feet make them stand out among other breeds. I know there's other breeds of chickens with feathered feet as well, but the French standard of the Marans is a cool quality I enjoy, knowing you have a piece of that heritage in your yard.
And they lay awesome colored eggs also.

I'd like to hear others chime in also about their thoughts on their Marans.