Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[marquisella]

Quote:
Thanks, my plan is to put the younger one with less copper in with my hens that have good copper hackles, an
d the older, more colored boy in with hens that need more copper.

They both have great bodies, nice & big, and came from dark eggs. I can't wait to see how their chicks turn out. This darn cold weather here in NY is driving me crazy!

Sue

Their bodies are great IMO, nice size! I love the bigger bodies birds, both the females and males, just something about seeing this them navigate those big ol' butts around so gracefully the way they do, just adds to the overall charm of the Marans.

Do you breed the Blue Coppers as well as the Blues?

Yes, I have 9 blue copper hens. Right now I have them in with 2 black copper roosters to see if that gives me more hackle color in the pullets. I am gettinng better color in the roos now, but the girls hackle color still needs improvement.

 

[pinkchick]

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Were you going to post new photos or are you talking about the photos that you previously posted of the chicks?

Also curious about why two have black feathering on their shanks, and two white feathering

Some will have darker shank feathering than others, it has been my experience with the chicks with white or lighter gray shank feathering change as they mature, mostly to black or in my case Blue or Splash/white. Also, in my experience, shank feather color is not indicitive of any gender specific traits that I know of, or at least I have not noticed it being of any use trying to help me determine gender.
Oh and disclaimer here about the sex of these babies........they will change alot and I may be way off course, they really are still young and we sometimes get a sneaky pete in the bunch, I say post more photos of them as they age so we can watch them with you and hopefully help you positively identify them instead of just going by my one assumption. I may say I don't see any roo-ism 'tude being tossed around now, but that could end up not being the case.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Their bodies are great IMO, nice size! I love the bigger bodies birds, both the females and males, just something about seeing this them navigate those big ol' butts around so gracefully the way they do, just adds to the overall charm of the Marans.

Do you breed the Blue Coppers as well as the Blues?

Yes, I have 9 blue copper hens. Right now I have them in with 2 black copper roosters to see if that gives me more hackle color in the pullets. I am gettinng better color in the roos now, but the girls hackle color still needs improvement.

Bev and I were discussing some time last year about noticing the best hackle color for females on the somewhat lighter blue coppers hatched with the lightest colored heads and a lack of copper in the darker headed females hatched upon maturity, have you noticed this as well?

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Yes, I have 9 blue copper hens. Right now I have them in with 2 black copper roosters to see if that gives me more hackle color in the pullets. I am gettinng better color in the roos now, but the girls hackle color still needs improvement.

Bev and I were discussing some time last year about noticing the best hackle color for females on the somewhat lighter blue coppers hatched with the lightest colored heads and a lack of copper in the darker headed females hatched upon maturity, have you noticed this as well?

Mornin' Pink! Does that theory work for the boys too?? I'm still trying to figure if Blue Butt will be a Blue Copper or just a blue. I know I'm impatient, the two are only 3 weeks old

, but his head is very darkly colored. Bump

the other chick is colored the same.

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
Bev and I were discussing some time last year about noticing the best hackle color for females on the somewhat lighter blue coppers hatched with the lightest colored heads and a lack of copper in the darker headed females hatched upon maturity, have you noticed this as well?

Mornin' Pink! Does that theory work for the boys too?? I'm still trying to figure if Blue Butt will be a Blue Copper or just a blue. I know I'm impatient, the two are only 3 weeks old

, but his head is very darkly colored. Bump

the other chick is colored the same.

Yes, I have noticed that. I have a few blue hens that show no copper at all. And usually they are the best laced. here is my first blue hen without any copper.

I have a few of her daughters and they also don't have any copper. I wish I had a pure blue rooster...8-(

Sue

 

[pinkchick]

Morning Debbi!

This is what I have noticed on the boys. My boys that show a darker head, overall darker blue body, and alot of darker blue feathering in the wing bow area have shown less copper in the wing bow and less copper in the saddles upon maturity, with most showing no copper in the wing or saddle, but replaced with dark blue, though they tend to show copper in the hackle, I have noticed these boys have, IMO, too dark of copper. I do notice that the boys that are of lighter blue color and heads, do show better copper in all three respective areas, but again just as with the Black Coppers you can get some that have a nice but somewhat slightly darker copper hackle and saddles and show no copper in the wing bow. Then there is the other hand....I have had some that have nice wing bow copper and saddles but then be a little too light in the hackle. Like the Black Coppers, the Blue Copper females also need improvement in the hackle color dept., if that is what ones goal is. I will also say this about the blues, just as in the Black Coppers it seems the ones that are darker and have a few faults, lay the darker eggs.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Mornin' Pink! Does that theory work for the boys too?? I'm still trying to figure if Blue Butt will be a Blue Copper or just a blue. I know I'm impatient, the two are only 3 weeks old

, but his head is very darkly colored. Bump

the other chick is colored the same.

Yes, I have noticed that. I have a few blue hens that show no copper at all. And usually they are the best laced. here is my first blue hen without any copper.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_blue_hen.jpg
I have a few of her daughters and they also don't have any copper. I wish I had a pure blue rooster...8-(

Sue

I find this very true too! Now to get the copper into these hens that are so nicely laced

 

[pinkchick]

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Congratulations! Can't wait to see her!

 

[Debbi]

Thanks Pink! I can see Blue Butt will be more of a (your) "Bill-like" color. Dark head, wing, and back feathering already. Bump too, but he will be a freezer camp boy or a bug eater when he gets older.

Thought the woman that replied to my ad for the two cockerels had lost interest, but she e-mailed me last night asking if I still had them.

Two cockerels gone would reeeaaalllllyyyy help out here! Too much testosterone flying here these days!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Thanks for the tip - - - Maybe the LARGER shavings would be better in the beginning so that they wouldn't eat it ? ? ?

Hi Lisa,

I bought the last bag of shavings from a different source, and noticed that they were larger chips. I think the difference is, that these larger chips are "green", as in not dried out or aged. I don't like them, and they have a real strong pine smell to them. Good for the coop, NOT so good for the brooder where the chicks might be more sensitive to the smell. Just my opinion.