I have a question about breeding as we are new to it and are excited to learn!
Besides the small flock we already have of mixed birds, we just received 2 Black Copper Marans hens and 1 Black Copper Marans / Silkie Rooster. We were told by the owner that the rooster carried the dark egg gene (the hens are his "aunts" so they have the gene also). So here's the question...can we breed the Silkie out of our flock so to speak and keep the dark egg gene to eventually have more dark egg layers?
For example, if we took one of the Black Copper Marans hens and the mixed rooster and hatched a batch the chicks would be 3/4 Black Copper Marans and 1/4 Silkie. If we took one of those roosters and one of the hens and had another batch, they would be almost all Black Copper Marans??? The rooster himself is not very attractive and he is very small. We aren't necessarily wanting to keep him around unless we can get the egg color out of him. I hope that all makes sense.
We do happen to have 2 other roosters (another 1 that is a Black Copper Marans and 1 Blue Copper Marans). My guess though is that we won't know if they carry the gene until we get a batch of chicks out of them and then wait to see what color eggs they lay....is that accurate?
I hope this isn't a crazy question either as I've been reading all over the internet about this breed of bird. I have read the standards in multiple places for coloring, eye color, body shape, etc... do those attributes have any effect on laying habits, fertility or egg color? For example, I keep seeing that if the chicken has black eyes, you should cull it. It seems odd to me though that the black eyes have anything to do with the egg production. Are the "standards" more for just showing the birds?
I have a million more questions, but I will save those for another time.
