Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[desertmarcy]

Here is my Blue Copper Marans cockerel No. 2. This one is middle in age. I have lost track, I am guessing 6 months. What I like about him is his general conformation, I think his tail looks nice and his blue is nice. I don't like the multi-shades of copper and the lightness of his hackles. He also has brown eyes. He also rushes the front of his cage at me, being Mr. tough guy, but he's okay once I get him out.

 

[desertmarcy]

And lastly, here is my Blue Copper Marans cockerel No. 3. This is the youngest one, I think hatched in April sometime, so 6-7 months old. I like this one's color the best. The biggest thing that bothers me about him is his size. He seems healthy, but when I pick him up, there is no meat there. He is a feather-weight. No meat around his breast bone at all. And the brown eyes. Are any of these 3 worth breeding, or should I just breed my best Black Copper to 1 or 2 of my best Blue Coppers and try again?? Thanks for looking.

 

[Debbi]

Just me, but if you have a better roo in Black Copper, I would go that route. You already see the things you don't like, so why perpetuate it? The last boy is a definate no, not enough of him. Use a good BCM with good color, type, frame, comb, eye color, shank/toe feathering and see what you get. Someone else may see something I'n not, so take my opinion as you will. Two of my biggest pet peeves with this breed, (if all else is good), is dark eyes and funky combs. Always breed for type and size first, then get picky.

 

[snowbird]

Just wondering what standard everyone is using to breed the Blue Copper. The proposed standard on the Marans site is really liking in details and will be changed before acceptance. IT would be nice if the Marans club would updates these details so folks trying to breed them would have some guidance.

 

[snowbird]

Just one more thought on the males. These are perfect example of the mixed up colors when you breed the Black copper and Blue Copper and do not know the proper combination to use.

 

[gilavina]

Hey Don,

I'm glad you are on here. I need to get you some update shots on my birds around here. I believe I will be holding back 4 Black Copper, 1 Splash Copper (in my avatar), and 1 Blue Copper males for test mating this next spring. You've seen all of them before at various times, but need to get you a shot of that young blue copper. I like him quite a bit, but know he still has quite a bit of growing to do. He was the youngest in that pen, so its taken him a while to get to growing like the others.

My question for you, because you were used to doing lots of test mating, I'm assuming you also rotated your females or males as well? I'm just wondering if you had a method or system that worked well for you as far as a time table for how you did your matings and how many eggs did you collect on average from each one?

 

[gilavina]

Well, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I received my first Silver Marans egg today, little spots of color, so hoping it will even out and color in more. The bad news, I no longer have my incubator on. The eggs from the show were no good. I could see that two had started to develop but stopped as their growth was much less than it should have been by now. The rest of the eggs were all clear. Needless to say, I'm bummed.

 

[vebyrd36]

Thank you. Luckily I have a sportsman to hatch multuple eggs at ome time. I have some of Lark rise amd heritage RIR from Rosilyn Pickins.

 

[vebyrd36]

Oops multiple

 

[DMRippy]

Well, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I received my first Silver Marans egg today, little spots of color, so hoping it will even out and color in more. The bad news, I no longer have my incubator on. The eggs from the show were no good. I could see that two had started to develop but stopped as their growth was much less than it should have been by now. The rest of the eggs were all clear. Needless to say, I'm bummed.

Sorry... that really sucks. When will you fire it back up? Look on the bright side.... The eggs will be bigger and the babies will be too....... no having to brood babies over these cold cold winter nights. And you will have more to hatch in the SPRING RIGHT????

What color is it????