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I have not hatched any out of my first flock of BCMs and have probably hatched a hundred chicks from them. BUT....when I bought the parent stock I was told that a yellow chick would hatch from time to time and indeed it did. One out of every 100 or so chicks would hatch yellow. Thanks to all the great information on this thread, I've since identified the roo, in the parent stock, that is partial Wheaten (based on a partially brown wing triangle) and removed him from the breeder pens. Since then, I haven't hatched any more yellow chicks.
I personally don't think it's fair to blame all faults on a single line. Many "breeders" who started with any BCMs, regardless of line, only bought a few and inbred them or mixed lines. I've heard rumors about faults with every line. I've heard about fused toes and deformities (I've never hatched any of those). I've heard about Black Coppers who have NO copper (I actually bought some of those from a well known breeder, who shall remain nameless - now those birds just run around my farm - you couldn't ID them as a Black Copper if your life depended on it - no copper, no feathered shanks - BIG reputation as being a TOP breeder (and I'm not talking about the Jeane line). In my opinion, repeating rumors, does NOT help this breed at all. Each "breeder" needs to stand on their own two feet, with pictures of their birds, eggs, offspring and offer them as their own line and stop taking credit for others' work or blaming others' before them for faults. I've found it's a No Win situation. If I say they are so and so's line, I'm told "no, you can't prove it", if I say they are my line and they win something or someone comments on how nice they look, then I'm told "no, they are so and so's line and you should give them credit". One minute the "line" is junk, the next minute the same line is "great".
This is a new breed in this country and there are many working to help "perfect" this breed and promote it. It's about time to stop naming "lines" and start taking the credit or the blame for what your own "line/flock" produces. I will say, like I have so many times in the past, that there are many, many people out there who just want the pretty birds and eggs and I think some of the "show" people do tend to forget that. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with selling BCMs to people who state they don't care about APA standards, they just want the birds and eggs. Why should I kill off hundreds of birds if there are people out there who want them? Personally, we don't eat our birds, just haven't worked up to being able to kill them (tried it a few times, just can't do it) so my "culls" go to homes who may or may not eat them.
To be clear, I never referred to recessive wheaten in a black copper line as a fault - it's just how the line was made. It's history, wrong or right, and that doesn't make them any better or worse than another line. The last time I hatched some, I purchased 12 hatching eggs from a good breeder, 2 hatched wheaten. They were beautiful, and I was lucky they were both pullets. Someone actually purchased them and is using them in his black tailed buff project (yes, I told him the history of the birds). I haven't gotten in touch with him to see how he's doing with them, and I should! Thanks for the nudge to do so!
