Black copper marans from MPC?

[TeePants]

Still doing research on what breed we’d like to keep in our small, inner city flock. We have enough space for a 50sqft run with an additional 50-75sqft of fenced yard for them to enjoy, supervised. Yes, it’s small, but here in Seattle we are just lucky to have a yard at all!

We’d like to get a trio of hens. We were originally looking at Hollands and Barred Rocks, but the first only come straight run from a small farm and the second I guess we’d be getting hatchery sexed birds, of unknown quality.

The kids got a kick out of the poultry show at the local fair this summer, and I noticed that My Pet Chicken has the following note on their Marans: “For those of you interested in showing, these birds originally came from Bev Davis and Wade Jeane lines.”

So my question is, is it likely that these birds will be of decent conformation? I’d prefer to order sexed chicks (we have ordered from them before and had a good experience) because, while I have processed quail, I’ve never had to do a whole chicken, and the only processors I know of in my area only do larger animals like beef and hogs.

Thanks for any info!

 

[CHlCKEN]

Here is mine for reference if you’d like to be a judge yourself lol. All my birds from them were sexed correctly.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Here is mine for reference if you’d like to be a judge yourself lol. All my birds from them were sexed correctly.View attachment 3979863View attachment 3979864View attachment 3979865View attachment 3979866View attachment 3979867View attachment 3979868View attachment 3979869

If you want my opinion, I’ve always thought the coloring of her hackles is pretty disappointing and it bothers me that there is almost zero feathering on her feet and shanks. But, she’s got a great temperament and lays wonderful dark brown eggs- one of my best layers actually.

 

[TeePants]

Here is mine for reference if you’d like to be a judge yourself lol. All my birds from them were sexed correctly.View attachment 3979863View attachment 3979864View attachment 3979865View attachment 3979866View attachment 3979867View attachment 3979868View attachment 3979869

I love how they always look like they’re trying to remember if they’ve left the oven on…

I…admittedly don’t know much about breed conformation and need to research, lol. Do you find they lay well and have good temperament? It’s ok if they’re not super layers; I am hoping to get birds that lay well but not so much that they’ll be “done” within a couple years as they’ll be pets.

Oops, just saw your second post!

 

[nuthatched]

Mpc gets their birds from meyers, I believe

 

[CHlCKEN]

I love how they always look like they’re trying to remember if they’ve left the oven on…

This made me laugh out loud- describes her too well

Again, she’s a great bird. One of my favorite breeds for sure.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Mpc gets their birds from meyers, I believe

Yep. My original BCM was ordered from meyers directly, but that chick died within just a week. Meyers themselves were out of stock for the breed so I just reordered from MPC since it’s basically the same stock.

 

[GaryDean26]

I haven't had any Marans since 2015. Hard to believe it has been that long. There weren't any perfect Marans then and I am sure that they breeds is in about the same place now as it was then. I had some pure Wade Jeanne line birds and some mixed Bev Davis line birds. The old lines would be my preference if I could get some, but I am pretty sure they are all mixed now and mixing lines resets the gene pool to zero resulting in average birds. It takes multiple generations of line breeding to get anything more than average. I personally would get lines that are productive and lay good quality eggs over prettier birds.

 

[wrathsfarm]

My original 5 BCM were purchased thru Meyers in 2019. I've gotten serious within the last year with breeding towards SOP and darker eggs and am up to over 30 Marans now in my flock thru test mates. I feel fortunate enough that I got 1 decent darker layer and my main roo has good copper and is producing progeny with more complete hackles that lay darker eggs than their dams so it's been nice seeing forward progress altho its slow progress.

I'm looking to get a separate line started next year with better quality birds from a breeder and hopefully can fix some the faults in my flock I'm dealing with.