My BLACK Copper Marans is BROWN. When will he develop proper coloring?

[Sparklee]

Real quick. Bought 6 Black Copper Marans eggs off eBay. 8 were sent and incubated. 1 hatched. (My own layers' eggs had a 70% hatch rate during that same incubation.) At around Day 2 it was obvious that the edges of the wing feathers were brown (chick was black/little bit gray) and the head had a brownish cast to it also.

Now at almost 5 weeks (this Wednesday), the chick has brown wing feathers with black barring. I think it's a cockerel.

This has to be normal because I bought from a well-known breeder and member of the Club (US).

Will these feathers fall out and the bird get to be the right colors? When does this usually happen?

I got a second batch of BCM eggs and had a better hatch rate, but I'm not seeing that brown cast to the head nor the brown edges to the wing feathers. I fact, these new hatches have white edged wing feathers. So that got me wondering.

I'm doing a lot of reading on chicken genetics. Honors Biology didn't prepare me for this at all!

 

[Randy]

I bought marans from three different breeders on ebay. Birds are about five months old now. I looked at the sellers feedback, looked close at the pictures ect, tried to make sure I was getting good stock. All the pictures showed nice leg feathering and just the right amount of coppering in the feathers.

Well I don't think I have but maybe one or two birds that are "right". I've had some with yellow neck feathers, clean legs, totally black birds and a couple of them look more like dark blue that black.

I guess I'm lucky I didn't end up with webbed feet as I've been reading it's showing up in some peoples marans.


Had even worse luck trying to get blue coppers. Got some from north west AR that were total muts.

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Marans seem to change there look alot mine had white feathering on the wing tips but as adults they are fine not 1 white feather...
As for the brown on the wing that will go away too..Just give them time..
The only thing I had a problem with was to much color ont he chest I had to cull 2 seperate lines to get that beautiful black chest I hate seeing red or straw color featers in the chest...

 

[onthespot]

I had a chick like that. He grew up like this. Too much copper on his chest, but useful for hens with too little copper in their hackles. Give it time if you have the space. He may surprise you.

 

[blackdotte]

Photos of these chicks would be useful.
No Brown-Red (Black copper) should have barring,sounds like a cross.
The cockerel shown looks to be carrying recessive Wheaten,not uncommon in the US
David

 

[Sparklee]

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Am working on it. Trying to figure out the photo upload here and then take a photo. Probably Tuesday sometime. Afternoon more likely than a.m.

Am enjoying the helpful replies. Thanks to all.

 

[Sparklee]

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Well, that's no good. I don't know that much about it, but I'm beginning to understand why they cull mercilessly. It would also mean that what pops out of the eggs they sell to us should be heavily culled, too. So if the ad says, "We cull extensively," I suppose that would mean that if we hatch out their eggs that we will be getting a high percentage of chicks that should be culled--that is, if we can even get them to hatch. Hatch rates of mailed chicks can be deplorable.

 

[Sparklee]

That's a pretty bird, onthespot.

I hadn't thought of using a bird for what you mention. I'm not a breeder (other than I'd like to maintain the breed through the ones I own and use for layers) so comments like yours are instructive and helpful. Thanks.

 

[geebs]

I am having the same trouble... I have birds that are from a very reputable source and the colors don't make sense.... I may take some photos and get some advice.. maybe someone out there can tell me the colors. Thanks

 

[Sparklee]

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Did you see this thread? It's about 3000 posts long and includes all Marans, not just Black Coppers. 3000 photos is more than I've had time to go through, though. 3000?! 3000?! Is that a day's worth of loading and looking? Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I read somewhere that since Black Coppers are not standardized yet here in the States that we need to be patient while the kinks get worked out of the BCMs. That sort of would explain why the chicks are so varied in their colors. It sounds like they're not breeding true (to French Standards) as often as some other breeds. That's something that I didn't understand until just yesterday and I didn't understand the implications for my chicks and how they might be colored.