🐣🐥Black Copper Marans and Whiting True Blues. Lots of videos🎥

[TexasBlues]

 

[TexasBlues]

Here’s a pic of the black fibro chick. I think the first one is all black. The others have some gray feathers or pink toes. The last one is a BCM.
Unfortunately I lost one BCM chick and the gray chick from the gold colored moss egg. I’m really not sure what happened. I’m guessing it got into the alley and a cat grabbed them. 19 chicks free ranging in the yard has been hard to keep them all accounted for.
They do follow me around some and they return to the big coop at night. Atleast they’re already integrated with the main flock.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Here’s a pic of the black fibro chick. I think the first one is all black. The others have some gray feathers or pink toes. The last one is a BCM.
Unfortunately I lost one BCM chick and the gray chick from the gold colored moss egg. I’m really not sure what happened. I’m guessing it got into the alley and a cat grabbed them. 19 chicks free ranging in the yard has been hard to keep them all accounted for.
They do follow me around some and they return to the big coop at night. Atleast they’re already integrated with the main flock.
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Are these cell phone pics? Super crisp

 

[TexasBlues]

Are these cell phone pics? Super crisp

Yes they are. Thanks!

 

[TexasBlues]

Oh man, sorry to hear about your girl. Hopefully she recovers fully. She looks pretty good in that last pic for what she went thru, but I know they hide it well. Sardines and tuna in water are super good for them in need if you didn't know...

And of course the babies are cuteness x 1000 !!

She has recovered completely. I had to keep her penned up in a dog kennel for almost a week and put neosporin on the wounds daily. I did give her sardines as well as scrambled eggs.
The first day I let her back out the cockerel mounted her and tore open her wounds, but I kept treating her and she’s great now and lays a very light blue egg almost daily. I don’t think she will be a breeder due to her light colored egg, but I’m happy to have her around.
Here’s a pic of Magic the 6 month old true blue cockerel.

 

[wrathsfarm]

She has recovered completely. I had to keep her penned up in a dog kennel for almost a week and put neosporin on the wounds daily. I did give her sardines as well as scrambled eggs.
The first day I let her back out the cockerel mounted her and tore open her wounds, but I kept treating her and she’s great now and lays a very light blue egg almost daily. I don’t think she will be a breeder due to her light colored egg, but I’m happy to have her around.
Here’s a pic of Magic the 6 month old true blue cockerel.


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That's great to hear and I understand we do get attached especially after an injury or illness, I've been saying all along I'm not sure if I'm cut out to be breeder, I get attached to all of them ...and Magic is stunning, he's got a lot going on with all those colors and barring.

Do these WTB breed true? ( I know nothing about them). Will a darker blue egg gene Cockerel darken her light blue gene?
What about mating her to a BCM male for Olives?


It's been a minute, how's the 19 littles doing? It's a mad house here with the 2 broodys and their babies, the grow outs and then Raven is due next week.

 

[TexasBlues]

Thanks for asking. The 19 has unfortunately gone down to 14. I lost 4 about 3 weeks ago and then another 1 last week. I never saw what happened to any of them. They have been slipping through the chain link and getting into the alley and I think are getting snatched by neighbors’ free ranging cats. I’m pretty sure 4 of the 5 were marans also. It looks like I have 4 BCM pullets and 1 cockerel left.
I’m leaving for 3 weeks this summer and am pretty stressed about taking care of the birds. There’s a lot to do before I leave. I’m framing a run to attach to the coop. I’m not sure how big yet. Probably 50’ of fencing.
How many chicks do you have right now with the broodies?
Here’s some of the BCM a couple weeks ago. I don’t have any current pics of them.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Thanks for asking. The 19 has unfortunately gone down to 14. I lost 4 about 3 weeks ago and then another 1 last week. I never saw what happened to any of them. They have been slipping through the chain link and getting into the alley and I think are getting snatched by neighbors’ free ranging cats. I’m pretty sure 4 of the 5 were marans also. It looks like I have 4 BCM pullets and 1 cockerel left.
I’m leaving for 3 weeks this summer and am pretty stressed about taking care of the birds. There’s a lot to do before I leave. I’m framing a run to attach to the coop. I’m not sure how big yet. Probably 50’ of fencing.
How many chicks do you have right now with the broodies?
Here’s some of the BCM a couple weeks ago. I don’t have any current pics of them.
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Sorry to hear.. hope you get your run done before you leave. I'm under the gun to get the coop bigger, myself.

I have 10 chicks with the 2 broodys, 5 a piece. One more broody due to hatch next week but them are shipped eggs.

 

[TexasBlues]

That’s exciting in the shipped eggs. Those are the BBS marans?
Here’s a pic of the chicks right now taking a siesta inside their large chicken wire playpen. I have to keep them in here for the majority of the day and then let them free range for 2-3 hrs in the evening. The dog can only protect them if they stay in the confines of the yard.
The older birds have smoothly accepted the chicks and they even are roosting on the roosts at night. I’ll try to get a pic tonight. It’s pretty cute seeing the little ones all lined up in a row.
@wrathsfarm so you think marans generally have a bullish temperament? The whitings are all sweet and accepting of chicks but the marans only really get along with each other and the cockerel.it would make sense that they are in the dominant position, they are the oldest and largest.
If everything goes well after vacation, I will hatch whiting true blue x marans and pure whitings.
You asked about true breeding. They only have one trait that is stabilized. That is the blue egg. All birds should be homozygous for the blue egg gene, but that doesn’t seem to mean they will all lay the same shade of blue. Some are almost white and some are darker blue.
They also have a modified pea comb which I believe is consistent in the breed. The pattern or color can be anything and they can have beards or clean faced.
I’ll try to breed my cockerel which is something of a single barred golden duckwing to the duckwing hens. I like the natural camouflage and the beautiful patterns. With selective breeding in a few generations they could all be barred wild types and potentially autosexing. I’m probably over simplifying.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Cute pics... That first pic is adorable. I've been calling them BBS but I guess the correct term might be BBS Silver. There should be Black Silver, Blue Silver, Splash and possibly White Marans in these eggs. I'm super excited for these to get hatched..
I don't let my Marans run with the mixed flock but before I had to separate my roos, I did notice that dominant behavior. And I've read from others that the Marans do tend to want to dominate the other breeds.

And my limited knowledge on the blue egg gene I've read there is a tie to the pea comb somehow when searching EE's blue egg genes for example also. Don't know the genetics of it, just picked it up from reading.

Hopefully you get a good cockerel this batch of BCMs. If you want another...