Is this BCM info true???

[jeaucamom]

http://blackcoppermarans.org/


They are one of the rarest chickens in the world?

And NO ONE would eat their eggs because they are so valuable?

Am I missing something???

 

[tinychicky]

ummmm they're rareish but not that rare...

 

[Illia]

No, Black Copper Marans are in fact becoming more and more popular as of late. You can find at least 20 breeders per state, I would bet.

As for the eggs. . . That's another no.

Marans in general are NOT a rare breed.

 

[snowbird]

The real good BC Marans are rare indeed, I don't believe there are 25 real good BC Marans Males in the entire USA. For some reason the males are not very good for the SOP and I have seen and own lots of good BC Female. So why is this happening ? Don

 

[jeaucamom]

Where are the standard posted online? Just curious...

 

[flgardengirl]

DH and I ate several marans eggs this morning. We had Marans egg and bacon burritos. Good stuff

 

[Debbi]

Check out this link for Marans info in this country. This is the "parent" club for the breed in obtaining APA recognition.

http://www.maransusa.org/

 

[rockyspringsfarm]

I agree with Don's assessment of the Black Copper Marans males.......I am seeing some really nice females in type, color, etc nearly every where I look......at least two or three in a flock.... but the males are not nearly as good. I don't know about how few or how many good ones there might be in the country but I know that I have looked at a whole lot of males and I can't find one that truly suits me....I thought the cock and cockerel divisions of every show I have gone to, including the Newnan show, were weaker than the hens and pullets. Having raised many other types of livestock over the years this situation isn't much different......we always had problems finding top notch breeding males. One thing that always seems to be pretty true is that the best breeding male will not necessarily be a good show animal.

I personally believe that it may be required to double mate as the old poultry breeders did in order to produce truly good males and females on a consistent basis. I could be wrong....Lord knows I am no expert here but, from what I am seeing it just looks more and more like it to me...especially with the Black Coppers and Wheaten.

I have 6 BC males and none of them carries everything I want.....each has a very strong point or two.......(1) This is a truly good rooster in type, tail set, beautiful comb, shank color, eye color......lacks a bit in size, is too lightly feathered on the shanks, too mahogany in the hackle, has black ear tufts which results in a lot of solid black pullets and is clear black breasted with no red at all......Some of my best hens are solid black or have just a bit of hackle color so using him on them does not help the hackle color although the hen size does help compensate for him not being as large as I would like.....I hatched quite a few chicks from this particular cross and have now switched roosters to see which cross might work the best.......(2) Good size, full breasted, stout, good shank color, good eye color, great feathering on the shanks,....comb isn't the best, is showing a bit of mottled white in a tail feather or two as he ages, again too mahogany on hackles, black ear tufts, clean black breasted and tail set is too high.....(3) Excellent hackle color, eye color, copper ear tufts, comb, good feathering on the shanks, just a bit of red in the breast.......but, shank color could be better, saddle color could be better, tail set not too bad but could be better and I would like him to be a bit bigger......I have put this rooster with the good black hens to see how this works in regard to hackle color.......the other 3 males run along about the same.

My intentions are to cross pullets and males from Rooster #1 and the good hens to pullets and males from rooster #3 and the same hens.. I strongly believe in the importance of good females and line breeding in a breeding program. It may be a wreck but I don't think so. The hens are so uniform in size and type that they should have a strong influence on things. However, the hen only influences her own chicks while the rooster influences every chick in that breeding....that's the trick !

Sorry about the long post. I started out to just agree with Don about the lack of good males but got carried away. Have a great day!

Peggy

 

[HarmonyOaks]

First, the Black Copper Marans is not the rarest variety of Marans. Neither is it as common as say, a RIR, EE or Barred Rock.

I think I might have difficulty "eating" a true #8 egg. I would want them genetics to yield fruit in hopes that dark egg gene was passed on. That said, I think there are many Marans fans out there claiming to have #6, 7, or 8 eggs, who have at best #5s. Believe me, I have bought and tossed my fair share of these. A true #8 is a sight to behold, but even a #4 is impressive, if you have Australorps or Wyandottes to compare them too, especially if they have the ruby overtones.

I have egg clients who will swear that the Marans have a richer egg. I think I have a pretty good palate, and my opinion is that a fresh, free-roaming egg is going to taste richer than a commercially reared egg off the grocers shelf. I do not see or taste a difference between my Marans, Ameraucanas, Australorps or Wyandottes.

As to Peggy and Don. I am much more familiar with Solid colored Marans, as this is my preference and where I started. However, working with Wyandottes and reading about color genetics also leads me to believe that the quickest and most consistent way to present a bird truely marked/pigmented to Standard, will require so called double mating... in that you will need to have a pen set up to breed Exhibition Males, and a separate pen to breed Exhibition females. This is required for many Engish strains. If you look at pictures of Exhibition Partridge Wyandottes in England, there is little parallel in color to the Partridge Wyandottes shown here in the States. Four types of birds are required for correct birds in England, and mating the two types of Exhibition birds will get you nothing but freezer camp candidates.

I suspect this is one of the underlying concerns of those opposing the proposed color standards for the BCM. I believe it is necessary to write the standard in terminology the APA judges are familiar with. I do not know, but I do suspect, that by randomness, intuition, or intention, Marans in France are selectively bred in ways very similar to this double mating process, and to the same end, by breeding to "correct" color faults the Americans are doing the same. Call it what you want, but if you are trying to balance color and are maintaining separate pens to do this, you are in fact double mating.