International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[BlueTheBrahma]

13, the Duke of Wellington. Fattening up well, very wide at the front and hips. I have a feeling he’s going to be a big, chunky cockerel. No sign of a high tail thus far, so fingers crossed.

 

[Mwhit]

Question for everyone: I have a group of marans I’m growing out and the cockerels have yellow shanks. Other than that they’re super healthy and doing much better than any other marans I’ve had.

Can I eventually breed out the yellow green shanks if I cross them with my other group?

 

[Mwhit]

Question for everyone: I have a group of marans I’m growing out and the cockerels have yellow shanks. Other than that they’re super healthy and doing much better than any other marans I’ve had.

Can I eventually breed out the yellow green shanks if I cross them with my other group?

Here are some photos for reference.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Question for everyone: I have a group of marans I’m growing out and the cockerels have yellow shanks. Other than that they’re super healthy and doing much better than any other marans I’ve had.

Can I eventually breed out the yellow green shanks if I cross them with my other group?

Yes, yellow shanks are a recessive allele so it will take some work and test mating, but it’s certainly possible.
My only concern is that pure marans shouldn’t have yellow legs (though some of my original ones did), so checking for purity may be in order.

 

[Bantambird]

I did have it crop up a few times in my original group as well. Be sure to cull heavily for it once you start being able to. I realize that when first starting, you have to use what is available. Judge your positive traits against your negative ones, and you will be able to start tipping the scales as your program progresses. Using birds with negative recessive traits could be considered risky, as you are sort of guaranteed someone will inherit it even if they don't show, so go forward with that in mind and select heavily later on.

Here are some photos for reference.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Notifications stopped so needed to catch up. Hope all is well with everyone.

 

[Mwhit]

Yes, yellow shanks are a recessive allele so it will take some work and test mating, but it’s certainly possible.
My only concern is that pure marans shouldn’t have yellow legs (though some of my original ones did), so checking for purity may be in order.

Is there any way to check for purity?

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Is there any way to check for purity?

Mostly just see how they breed. Eggs should be consistently dark and they should have good Marans type, no other recessive alleles. It’s mostly things you discover as you breed them.

 

[wrathsfarm]

A few pics of the BBS Silvers and Legbars at 6 wks old....

 

[Mwhit]

I did have it crop up a few times in my original group as well. Be sure to cull heavily for it once you start being able to. I realize that when first starting, you have to use what is available. Judge your positive traits against your negative ones, and you will be able to start tipping the scales as your program progresses. Using birds with negative recessive traits could be considered risky, as you are sort of guaranteed someone will inherit it even if they don't show, so go forward with that in mind and select heavily later

Mostly just see how they breed. Eggs should be consistently dark and they should have good Marans type, no other recessive alleles. It’s mostly things you discover as you breed them.

Sounds good. I’ll plan on crossing the yellow shanks with my darker egg group and see what happens. Hopefully it makes them a bit larger.