Marans rooster selection

[greathorse]

I have a few Black Copper Marans roosters. I will be keeping one primary and one back up. My very best rooster (type wise) has feathered shank but just barely. In my mind he is head and shoulders above my second selection except for the feathered shank. My second rooster has great feathering a lesser comb and not as good in terms of general body type.

Do I go type first in this breed or is feathering so important that I should go feathered shank first?

He does have feathers just not a lot. The pullets he will be on have great feathering.

Thanks

 

[onthespot]

If your hens have poor feathering too, you may want to use both roos in rotation until you hatch the sort of chicks you want. If your hens have good feathering, use your favorite rooster. I would MUCH rather see a handsome rooster with less foot feathers than GORGEOUS feathered shanks and feet and a so-so body type.

 

[greathorse]

Thanks the females have awesome feathering. The less feathered roo has tremendous type just less feathering, none on the toes but some up the shank.

thanks for the help

 

[blackdotte]

Culling on Marans cockerels starts with the egg their mothers laid. Select from the darkest eggs. Otherwise follow what has been stated.
Marans are a sparsely feathered shank/foot breed, feathering should only be on the outer side of the shank & the outer toes.
David

 

[ginasmarans]

That's what I was going to say,too. In selecting the rooster,the feathering should be light and on the outer toe.

 

[Byrdj]

I agree as well with what was said. My dilema is that I have to decide between one that has great form, size, comb, and an almost solid black breast, but too much yellow/gold in his neck hackles and one that also has great form, size, no yellow in his neck hackles, but side sprigs in his comb and a little too much copper in his breast for my liking. I know that too much yellow/gold in their neck hackles is a serious defect, but I wonder if I should use him on hens that are colored perfectly to get another rooster with all his positive attributes without the yellow/gold hackles. I guess my question is which is worse ore harder to breed out, comb side sprigs and too much copper in the breast or too much yellow/gold in the neck hackles?

 

[JewellFarm]

Post pics. I would love to see what you have.

 

[Byrdj]

The roo in the first picture is 5 months old and the yellow/gold in his neck hackles is a little worse than it looks in the picture. The roo in the second picture is only 14 weeks old, but you can see the excessive copper in his upper breast.

 

[blackdotte]

They are both really too young to go by plumage but side sprigs are a major fault and very difficult to get rid of even with extensive test mating as they are caused by the interaction of two genes.
David

 

[Byrdj]

Thanks David. I'll wait until they get their final adult plumage before I decide. Will that be at around one year old? Also, are comb side sprigs harder to get rid of in a line than yellow/gold in neck hackle feathers? I'm hoping that if I keep the roo with the yellow in his hackle, that I can breed it out by breeding him to very black hens. I just hope that the yellow isn't caused from recessive wheaten genes. If I do a test mating with him over a Rhode Island Red and he is carrying a recessive wheaten gene, 25% of the offsping will be wheaten right?
Jeff