Opinions about these Marans?

[erinem]

If this is the wrong place for this, lemme know


3 months ago I hatched some mail order BBS Copper Marans eggs. Out of the 5 that hatched, 4 are cockerels . They are all very sweet, and I’d like to keep one or two with the hope of getting some olive eggers out of my Ameraucana hens and maybe for breeding some Marans at some point. These are my first ever Marans, and I don’t really know enough to pick out a good one from an ugly one. I’m wondering if some of y’all could chime in and tell me which of these boys looks the most like a proper Marans and why. Or tell me it’s too early to know, or that they’re all ugly and I need to sell this batch and get some new ones
I don’t necessarily need show quality birds, but I do try to have birds that are noticeably better than hatchery quality so that when the urge to hatch strikes me, I’ve got good, healthy pet quality chicks that I can feel good about selling to others.

Here are the eggs they came out of (with a white egg for comparison):

Cockerel #1

Cockerel #2 still hasn’t grown a tail. Is he just a late bloomer or is this a defect?

Cockerel #3

Cockerel #4

 

[chickenlittle21]

Cockerel 4 looks sick (notice the foggy eyes). Cockerel 2 is probably part arucana (because he has no tail). Cokerel 1 looks the most proper.

 

[erinem]

Sorry, that was just a bad picture. His eye looks weird bc I caught him mid blink. This was one of the only pics I got where he was standing still

 

[jolenesdad]

Does he have no tail or just tiny feathers? 12-ish weeks old? They’re going to go through another molt soon or now-ish so I would wait and see on those feathers. They also may have been plucked out by a brooder mate.

Honestly looking at the other tails, I kind of think it’s just a slow feathering line.

I think the blues look better to me than the blacks.

 

[annageckos]

I really know nothing about Marans, but I like the first bird best.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

4 is the best so far to use.

 

[Criticalicious]

1 and 2 are black CM and 3 and 4 are blues, obviously. If you're considering which to keep as in, which look closest to the type for copper marans, you will need to wait until they are at least 6 months or older, for their full feathers to grow in. It is possible for them to take that long or longer to grow in all the tail feathers. In fact, you WANT slower growing tail feathers, because it means they may be better looking. If the tail feathers were picked out, they'll need to go through a molt before you see them again. You also want a broad/wide back (they're dual purpose as in potential meat birds) - maybe these need to grow more, but I'm not seeing that in these pictures. In terms of stance or carriage (how the bird carries his tail) again it may be the angles of the pictures, but from here, #1 looks best for that. Another feature you can look at is feathering on the feet. The outer toes and legs should be feathered, the middle and inner toes should not, or very few.

 

[Gray Farms]

Way to early. Grow them out to at least 6 months old.

 

[Chooks man]

Way to early. Grow them out to at least 6 months old.

X 2 .
from now on they change a lot .wait tell they are old enough and select the best one .

all 4 of them have a correct marans body type .
#2 is just late bloomer , some marans do carry a slow feathering genes ,

chooks man

 

[erinem]

Ok, I took another round of pics a month ago and I’m just getting around to updating y’all. I should probably go get some new pics because they’ve filled out quite a bit in the last month. Their sister started laying a couple weeks ago and I love her egg color Cockerel #2 never grew a tail, which is a shame because I love his coloring; his blue is a lot darker than than the other two blues. I’m assuming the tail thing automatically makes him unsuitable for breeding?


#1