Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding strategies...

[KF0002]

I have a question. Do u all sell chickens you've culled from breeding? I have some mossy BCM pullets I hatched and some regular clean legged cuckoos that were given to me from a friend that I dont plan on using for breeding and that I dont really need. I was thinking about selling them as layer quality only. What price would be right for started pullets (1 month old +) on up to near POL aged pullets?

 

[Chooks man]

Hi Blarneyeggs nice to hear from you.
I m sorry you had to get ready of your best White cockerels but it s a nice move no deed agressive rooster.
So maturing a a trait passe down from parent. your line is slow maturing that all. It s not related to variety ,it s related to line breeding.
To fix that cross them with your Black copper ( if you are hapy with your BCM) = you will get F1 Black copper ( Split White C/c+ ) than Cross your best F1 rooster to his sisters/half sisters = you will get the F2 and 25% of them will be White New blood line.Select from them the early maturing and the dark egg layers.

I think your plan to keep them with a cuckoo in the same pen is good and will work because the silver cuckoo are silver bassed chooks very good gene to keep the white feathers pure.

BRAVO for your BCM pullet Best of the breed and reserve of breed.
Breed here with your white cockerel that will work.what egg does she lay?

That exactly what i done last year I crossed my white 1) Birchen maran ( I m expecting a good type from this cross)
2) Silver cuckoo maran.( I m expecting a pure white plumage .pure white chooks and dark eggs)
3) Wheaten marans ( type and dark egg laying )
4) between them selves ( to keep the line pure for a futur back crossing)

So this year I have 4 different crosses to work with Happy man.

 

[Chooks man]

Hi kfelton0002 I do sell my cockerel to the pet shop ,they sell them to the Indian they love them
I do sell my culling pullets to the same shop as backyard layer.they pay a good money for them.

I do give a lot for free too the schools .

 

[KF0002]

Hi kfelton0002 I do sell my cockerel to the pet shop ,they sell them to the Indian they love them
I do sell my culling pullets to the same shop as backyard layer.they pay a good money for them.

I do give a lot for free too the schools .

Cool, thats nice of you! I will probably have a ton of cull cockerels and layer pullets. Hopefully I can sell them easily. I hate to kill perfectly good meat/egg quality birds. I will keep some roos myself for meat but I already have plenty pullets and hens in my layer pen. Thanks!

 

[KF0002]

I found a pic of eggs the breeder I bought my French Cuckoo eggs sent me when I inquired about purchasing some. These were some of her most recent eggs from her hens at that time, not a pic of her darkest she said as her hens were in various parts of their laying cycle. They are not near as dark as the Black Copper hatching eggs I bought and hatched, but I loved the Cuckoos and had to have some. Also the French variety seems fairly hard to find. They are at least 4's best I can tell with some being even darker. A few of the eggs she sent me were at least 6's but it never occurred to me to take a pic of them for reference. What do you all think about the egg color? I would love to hear your opinions.. good or bad!

 

[Chooks man]

they are marans eggs for sure .mixture in there ,

 

[Chooks man]

I always take picture of the eggs I m going to incubate plus I number them. so when they hatch I ll know witch chicks come from witch egg. very easy to catch a good cockerels coming out of dark egg because they are marked. so I can keep ( this cockerels from dark egg) as my future breeders. MY COCKERELS HAVE TO HATCH FROM A DARK EGG MINIMUM NUMBER 6 TO BE KEPT AS BREEDERS .

for me breeding for dark egg color is a priority that why I hatch a lot eggs and do a lot culling.

 

[KF0002]

I always take picture of the eggs I m going to incubate plus I number them. so when they hatch I ll know witch chicks come from witch egg. very easy to catch a good cockerels coming out of dark egg because they are marked. so I can keep ( this cockerels from dark egg) as my future breeders. MY COCKERELS HAVE TO HATCH FROM A DARK EGG MINIMUM NUMBER 6 TO BE KEPT AS BREEDERS .

for me breeding for dark egg color is a priority that why I hatch a lot eggs and do a lot culling.

Yeah and that is a big reason I like the little roo with the lighter head because I know he came from a darker egg. I know because he was one of the last to hatch and he looked lighter than the rest when he was born.. a dark gray/silver color.

 

[KF0002]

I will take pics and do the numbering thing from now on. Thats a really good idea!

 

[Chooks man]

your cockerel is double factor on Barring gene if he hatched dark grey/silver color down. keep your eye on him .important subject.

Tagging a chicks with different color tags and numbers help me a lot .

here how I do my eggs befor they go to the incubator. Fertile eggs sheet ;
1) egg color
2) egg weight
3) egg shape .
4) egg number.
5) parent stock names Exemple; ( Walker BCM X Jasmine BCM ).

this sheet help me a lot to know each bird of my flock.

Breeding is fun