International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Mwhit]

They will either be black marans or highly melanised copper marans. Do you plan to breed them? If so we can all help you plan a breeding programme to improve this.

That would be great! Egg color would be my biggest priority for them. I bought one cockerel from one breeder and two others from a separate breeder.

I plan to keep the best looking of the group. Right now they’re all around the 14-16 week mark.

The mother of the pullets lays eggs like this:

 

[Mwhit]

And here are the 3 cockerels:

 

[wrathsfarm]

That would be great! Egg color would be my biggest priority for them. I bought one cockerel from one breeder and two others from a separate breeder.

I plan to keep the best looking of the group. Right now they’re all around the 14-16 week mark.

The mother of the pullets lays eggs like this:

That's a pretty egg color congrats.

 

[Mwhit]

That's a pretty egg color congrats.

Thanks, hopefully the pullets lay the same color.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Hey everyone. I bought a trio of copper marans that are close to 16 weeks now. The pullets don’t seem to have the “copper” necks at all. The hens and rooster they came from looked legit. Here’s a few photos. What could be going on?

View attachment 4050645

My original 5 BCMs from 2021 are 2 boys and 3 girls.
One of my hens is pitch black and the other 2 have very little copper hackles. They originally were with my rooster that has no copper in his chest and I was getting pullets with little to no copper in hackles.
In late 2023 I swapped in my other rooster who's over colored in his chest and started test mating by this time 7 of the 9 hens I have.
I'm now getting pullets with full hackles.

Short answer...
An over colored rooster mated to hens with little to no copper will produce proper hackles in the pullets.

 

[wrathsfarm]

It's early still and need more pics but I like the guy on the right.

 

[Mwhit]

It's early still and need more pics but I like the guy on the right.View attachment 4051316

The one on the right does seem to have the best tail of the group. He is also the smallest and least vigorous of the bunch. I plan on waiting until they’re 6-8 months before I make a decision. I’ll post up some more pics today

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

It's early still and need more pics but I like the guy on the right.View attachment 4051316

I agree, the other one looks like he’s going to be over-melanised, so would only strengthen the all black hens.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

We had an issue on the delivery for the SCMs (Silver Cuckoo Marans), trying again this week. I’ll give a photo dump when they arrive.

Just a question if anyone else has an answer: how reliable is breeding leg feathers out by gradual breeding, rather than breeding in genetically pure clean legged birds?
@Bantambird , am I right in saying some of your marans have been clean-legged, just because you always choose the least leg feathers?

 

[wrathsfarm]

The one on the right does seem to have the best tail of the group. He is also the smallest and least vigorous of the bunch. I plan on waiting until they’re 6-8 months before I make a decision. I’ll post up some more pics today

I normally try to get good all around pics of every angle for 1st selection for breeders around 18-20 wks as that seems to be prime butcher age in my area.
Just pointing out that's a good age to start seeing first indicators and selection point for butchering if that's an option..

Not saying you have to, especially if you have the space to keep them.

I grew out a lot of boys last year and needed the space as early as possible. I'm down to 7 total now.