Is there a difference between a Black Marans from a BBS pen and a Black Copper Marans?

[Koko Acres]

Hi, I have Black Copper Marans hatching eggs from Greenfire lines under a broody hen. I also have 7 Blue (2), Black(1) and Splash(4) chicks in the brooder. The BBS chicks came from someone local who had a blue Marans roo and blue Marans hens together.

My question is, should these BBS chicks and the Black Copper Marans chicks be housed and bred together, or are they truly separate types that should be bred as their own type in separate pens? I truly don’t know if Black Copper Marans are the same type as the black of the BBS or if it would be as different as mixing, say, a Wheaten Marans with a Black Copper Marans.

Thank for any advice!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

They are different. Unless the BBS marans are black copper, blue copper, and splash copper, it’s a different pattern.

 

[nuthatched]

Bbs mean 'blue, black, splash.
I'd keep them separate.

 

[chickengr]

BBS can be housed together. they will hatch BBS. the only problem is you will not know what colour the eggs will hatch.

btw if you keep blue in a separate pen they will hatch mostly blue but also some black and splash.

 

[Koko Acres]

Thank you all for replying!

I understand the genetics of BBS and keeping my BBS Marans together to create more BBS.

I was confused about whether or not the “Black” version of the BBS Marans is the same or different from the Black copper Marans I have under my broody.

If that depends on whether my BBS Marans are “copper”, can that be determined from looking at a picture of the parent birds? I am not sure how to tell. The lady I got them from just called them BBS.

 

[wrathsfarm]

If the pics are from the breeder...those are BBS Copper.

Black Marans are a separate individual variety (All Black with no Copper or Silver) and sometimes gets confused with Black Copper when people omit the 'Copper' from the description.

Also it needs to noted that an (all black) Black Copper Marans is not considered a Black Marans. It's still a 'Black Copper Marans' just lacking copper..

 

[AinaWGSD]

Whether you keep them separate or not depends on your breeding goals. The rooster in the picture from the breeder is definitely a blue copper, so if you're breeding for BBS copper feathers it should be fine to mix them. But you may have other breeding goals that keeping them separated might work better for.

 

[Koko Acres]

Thank you all for your help. I am indebted!

Yes, these are the parent birds for my chicks.

The “breeder” I believe is someone who purchases adult birds and hatches chicks. I honestly think this was her first hatching from this group. I wouldn’t call her a breeder but a Hatcher. I didn’t realize this at the time of purchase. Sweet lady, nonetheless.

She told me they were BBS, not BBS copper. I will let her know what she has.

I am relieved that these chicks are BBS copper!

Thank you again!

 

[wrathsfarm]

Congrats on your Marans and hope you have a great hatch.
Both sets of eggs will play well together if housed together using the BBS chart posted above. And like said, depending on your breeding strategy you can separate to individual breeding pens to hatch separate lines ie... Blacks, Blues, and Splashes.

My BBS Silvers come from a breeder that's group housed together, so I don't know what's going to hatch from the eggs, add to that....there's recessive white in the flock, which is a 4th bonus color that I can either try to breed out or keep.