Marans Sex Link

[twsfarm]

I have a blue copper marans rooster and 2 blue copper marans hens and 1 cuckoo marans hen. One of them is hatching eggs and I'm wondering if I can tell the chicks apart.

From what I understand, the cuckoo would produce a sex link chick per https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/227851/cuckoo-maran-sex-link

Can you tell a black copper marans and a cuckoo marans sex link chick apart? Here is a picture of one of the chicks in question which looks just like the BCM pictures I find online but I guess it could be a sex link hen?
Thanks!

 

[donrae]

I think the only one you'll be able to tell apart are the males from the cuckoo hen. The females from the cuckoo hen are going to be identical to the blacks.

 

[twsfarm]

That's what I was thinking. I guess any blue or splash will be 100% BCM.

 

[twsfarm]

That's what I was thinking. I guess any blue or splash will be 100% BCM.

Well I guess there could be blue ones. The only for sure ones would be cuckoo males and splash BCM. When we mix B/B/S and cuckoo I get confused....

 

[donrae]

Your blue rooster over your black cuckoo hen will give you black or blue offspring, so you could get a blue sex link hen (solid, probably with some copper leakage) or a blue barred (cuckoo) rooster.
Or black, of course. So, you're not going to be positive on the females unless they're splash. But, does it really make a difference? I guess if your cuckoos lay a significantly lighter egg than your coppers, you could tell when the pullet started laying who the momma was.

 

[saltandpepper2]

I have a blue copper marans rooster and 2 blue copper marans hens and 1 cuckoo marans hen. One of them is hatching eggs and I'm wondering if I can tell the chicks apart.

From what I understand, the cuckoo would produce a sex link chick per https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/227851/cuckoo-maran-sex-link

Can you tell a black copper marans and a cuckoo marans sex link chick apart? Here is a picture of one of the chicks in question which looks just like the BCM pictures I find online but I guess it could be a sex link hen?
Thanks!

Ok, well if that's a cuckoo marans mix, then that's a pullet! Also, ( don't get your hopes up) It has been MY experience with Marans That the cockerals almost always have more white on them then the pullets. This has worked for me every time- the darker chicks have always been pullets. Just a thought

 

[twsfarm]

What about feathered legs? The cuckoo is clean legged and the blue copper are feathered. One of the chicks has feathers all the way down the leg and toe and the other one has feathers just on the leg.

 

[saltandpepper2]

What about feathered legs? The cuckoo is clean legged and the blue copper are feathered. One of the chicks has feathers all the way down the leg and toe and the other one has feathers just on the leg.

The mix would have some feathering on the legs, but not much

 

[donrae]

What about feathered legs? The cuckoo is clean legged and the blue copper are feathered. One of the chicks has feathers all the way down the leg and toe and the other one has feathers just on the leg.

good point....feathered legs are dominant, but like an incomplete dominant, so one feather legged parent plus one non-feather legged parent makes offspring with lightly feathered legs, so that could be a clue.