Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

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Ok....I'm either very slow today...or perhaps just very dense...but I can't wrap my head around this........

Why not breed a Black Copper (produced from a Blue Copper) back into a pure Black Copper if the Black Copper produced is of nice type and meets the requirements of being a Black Copper?
In my mind...I cannot see why that BCM produced from a Blue Copper or Splash Copper would be a problem...it is still a Black Copper...it is not a Blue Copper....it is not a Black Copper that carries the Blue gene (if it carried the blue gene it would be blue) so how would using that Black Copper be a problem? I could see it being a problem if it had Wry tail, Squirrel tail, crooked toes, excessive white in the plumage upon maturity, yellow legs, roach back, pinched tail....etc..etc...etc.
Is the point that some Blues can be so dark that they can appear Black instead of Blue and be mistaken for a Black Copper instead of a Blue Copper?

 

[seabreeze]

Oh, nice babies!! I love that reddish colored one, it will be interesting to read what Village Chicken writes about it!

 

[berkeleysprings]

gosh sorry about your troubles math ,,,, and your loss , i am at a bumpy road also , my girlfriend of 4 years moved out , she thinks i spend to much time with chickens
go figure ,,,, after working 9 hours a day 45 min drive to work and 45 back i just wanna relax , mess around cleaning and feeding and mostly watching the chickens i am 50 years old and snugelling and holding hands with a perty girl is fun some times but chickens is forever. i am sorry about your loss math .... iv been boohooing all week over my girlfriend ...
hooda thought ,,, broak up over chickens
it would of been more respectable if i was cheating on her or something and got cought .....
my drinking budys are going to have a feild day with that
i think im gunna start a thred for the dumped people or chicken related devorce thred
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[pinkchick]

Lotsa~

They are adorable! I love the little odd colored one. I bet that chick is a blue something or another... no I don't have my blue glasses on either. Congrats!

As for the hobbles...you can take them off and see how the chick does with out them. If they are still splayed then hobble them back up. If the chick seems to do fine without them, leave them off. Sometimes it can correct the problem in as little as 24 hours and other times I have had the hobbles on for about a week and sometimes hobbles aren't going to work at all. Depends on the individual chick. Hope it does just fine for you.

 

[math ace]

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I'd give her some more chances. If this was a genetically determined thing, the broiler industry would have exploited it already to breed all male broilers (no tiny cornish game hens). How many eggs from her have you hatched and gotten all roosters?

first time 4/4, second time 5 out of 5, now I am not setting her eggs and trying the others. . . . .

 

[seabreeze]

Oh Berkeley, I can commiserate with you over a significant other leaving over critters. Many years ago, several boyfriends pulled that on me but with my dogs that I have had a lifelong love affair with since 1978 (same breed)!! I still have the dogs and the boyfriends are long gone. Accept me as I am and that means all my furred/feathered/haired baggage that lives and breathes!

Plenty more out there and if you don't find the right one, no biggy, the chickens are still there!

 

[math ace]

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BCM's from three different sources.

Add to that the drama of dealing with my dad and protecting my family from him. . . . .

I am still washing my hands trying to get the smell of those chicks off my hands

So TOTALLY not a good ending to a day that started off so swell!

 

[seabreeze]

Math, how in the world do you know which hen laid which egg? Mine are all free range and of course, they all pile into the same box to add THEIR egg to the growing collection in the one box!!

 

[VillageChicken]

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That's just a theory... it is debatable whether or not Mahogany always shows in chickdown. Salmon Faverolles are pure white or pale yellow when hatched, but they are eWh wheaten based. ER birchen is a whole different game with chickdown. Maybe it only displays in chickdown in homozygous form.

But that would be my best guess. Were these Blue Birchen x Blue Birchen?

There are other forms of red pigment enhancing genes other than Mahogany Mh. That's just the only one that has been identified. The others are just referred to as "autosomal red". Some may be recessive, so it could pop up in offspring from parents who don't display the trait but carry it. If these Birchen are just a generation or two away from Black Coppers, then it could be Mahogany or another autosomal red that crossed over. For example someone crossed Silver Birchen to Blue Copper to get Silver Blue Birchen.

( in principle, these are the kind of unknowns that I believe Don instinctively tries to avoid, though it does not apply to feather coloring in the blue/black copper debate)

 

[math ace]

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Thanks - - It has been such a rough day. I need to go feed the animals, but I just can't get motivated to do anything right now . . . .