Judging future color and conformation in Black Copper Marans chicks?

[angusb]

I have a bunch of black copper marans chicks that I got today, and I am splitting them with somebody. The thing is, I am trying to judge which of these chicks I want to keep. They are all beautiful and lively feather legged chicks, but some of them are darker than others. A few are mostly black with only a little bit of light down, and many are black with a yellow belly and highlights, and two of them have much more yellow, with yellow on their faces all the way around their eyes. Is it possible to judge from this what these chicks are likely to look like in the future?

I have seen BCM hens that are pretty much solid black, with only a little copper highlighting, and I have seen some with a black body but a fully copper neck and head, all the way down to the shoulders, similar to the rooster's normal coloration, but without the colorful saddle and tail. For the lighter birds, are those likely to be more colorful and less dark? Will the black chicks turn out to be pretty much black as adults? And for the birds that are mixed, does that infant coloration mean that they are more likely to develop the copper colored neck and head? I am only interested in the pullet's coloration, since I figure the roos will be plenty colorful in any case. And of course, I'm just doing my best to guess which are pullets and which are roos at this point!

Thanks in advance for any advice anybody can offer!

Angus

 

[onthespot]

Hi angus. Welcome to BYC!

I have raised a few of the Copper Black Marans and sometimes they can look solid black around their neck when they get their first feathers, but then next moult they get copper. I would avoid any that are yellow hackled or "gold" looking. Somtimes they will get darker orangeish colored but not right copper color later on. Don't worry about white wing tips. Those usually go away. Good luck picking! If you post pics I am sure you will have more advice than you could ever process!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I don't know but I would like to. So thanks for asking!