International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[kfelton0002]

beautiful, I hope she is a girl.

Thank you!

 

[kfelton0002]

@kfelton0002
She's a beut!!

Thank you!
This chick along with Muds chicks will be banded with a number as keepers. Any chicks with excessive middle toe feathering and a lot of parasitic white will be culls.

 

[baunlee]

blade is really handsome so it's hard to count him out. Though the coloring on his chest seems spotty and I'm not sure how difficult that is to work with.

Cooksman:
- does the tail on copper fit the standard more compared to blade? I am a novice trying to learn but copper's tail seems high? or no?
- also as the poster mentioned his feet are not feathered but I'm not sure if that is easy to breed-in with your feathered foot females.


basically it seems you are in the predicament of having too many good looking roos. If you didn't have pinky, I would say keep cooper and blade. But unfort. for blade, you already have a first round draft pick, and a second.

 

[Chooks man]

Blade ( love the name .I m going a use it in the future .) any way .

his problem is his comb . double point ( M ) the second and the third point are joined in the middle .his tail is high but not open .

so if your hens have a nicer comb faultless ,than he is your best .
Because his is a bigger type

all the 3 cockerels have a high/ open tail . So they are the same on this point .all of them need to be mated to a hen/hens with a thin /pointed tail .to have a good result .

Copper

great body type too even if you said he is smaller than blade .

his comb is sublime ( it is a asset to you ) plus his copper is rich red ( hard to get) his two trait take more work to fix.

his faults are
;his tail ( not only high ,they all have a high tail )
and his shanks are featherless . take one generation or two to fix not a big deal .specially if you have hens with a lot feathers on they shanks.

to breed you don t need to pick the one you like .
you have to pick the one who compliment the hens you have.

I m only describing what I see from the photos .

photos of the hens will help us see witch rooster is better for your flock .

for me personally I can not separate Blade and Copper .they progeny will compliment each other very well .

all the best .

Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

blade is really handsome so it's hard to count him out. Though the coloring on his chest seems spotty and I'm not sure how difficult that is to work with.

Cooksman:
- does the tail on copper fit the standard more compared to blade? I am a novice trying to learn but copper's tail seems high? or no?
- also as the poster mentioned his feet are not feathered but I'm not sure if that is easy to breed-in with your feathered foot females.


basically it seems you are in the predicament of having too many good looking roos. If you didn't have pinky, I would say keep cooper and blade. But unfort. for blade, you already have a first round draft pick, and a second.

Spotty chest is a great thing to have . that mean his progeny will be well colored even over a black hens .

I never count Blade out .he is a stud rooster

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Pinky Pie has a best tail -
Angle ( at 45 Degree ..what the standard call for )
Shape ( well put together not all over the place like Copper
Form ( does form a Pyramid when look at from the rear )

Chooks man

 

[winterhorses]

you all ready made your mind witch one you are keeping .
hard for us to tell you when the mind is set .

any way;
the Best of the 4 OR the more complete of the 4 is Copper .
great type
great body pattern
great rich red copper
Great comb
great shank color ( greyish /pink )
great eyes

what he need is very easy to find .
a hen/hens with well feathered shanks and a small pointed tail .

Good luck

chooks man

I definitely haven't made up my mind! The only thing I was feeling rather sure about was that ShyGuy wasn't one I wanted to keep. It didn't help that he has such a flighty personality.

I like Copper the most, but I wasn't sure if his smaller size, larger tail, and lack of feathered feet added up to be more negatives that Blade's faults. That's why I asked for feedback.

I think I'll hold onto both Copper and Blade through the summer as long as their occasional fighting doesn't get much worse. It's one of my Lavs that gets picked on the most, so my plan is to move him out as soon as I get a new pen built.

 

[Chooks man]

Thank you! I have at least 3 dozen more of Cooper's eggs in the incubator so I was thinking I will have enough from him to cull through. I am currently cleaning out my LA pullets so I can move Mud back and forth between coops every other day or so. He will have 3 black coppers in the LA pen to cover and 1 black copper (FRF), and 3 splash pullets to cover in the other coop. I have been moving all of my layers to their own separate coop.

3 dozen is a good number for you to select from .

focus on Mud and see how he do

good luck

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I definitely haven't made up my mind! The only thing I was feeling rather sure about was that ShyGuy wasn't one I wanted to keep. It didn't help that he has such a flighty personality.

I like Copper the most, but I wasn't sure if his smaller size, larger tail, and lack of feathered feet added up to be more negatives that Blade's faults. That's why I asked for feedback.

I think I'll hold onto both Copper and Blade through the summer as long as their occasional fighting doesn't get much worse. It's one of my Lavs that gets picked on the most, so my plan is to move him out as soon as I get a new pen built.

that is a good chose .

keeping both and hatch chicks from them .that will give you a better chose to select from .

can you weight Blade and copper to see exactly how heavy are they .? if possible .

Shy guy can not be compared to them .they are far superior .

chooks man

 

[baunlee]

thanks for elaborating on the points of these birds chooksman. I really do appreciate this!!. It is helpful to understand for those of us still learning. Also thanks to the original poster for such good photos of each bird that allow us this learning opportunity.