The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Rosemary on April 20, 2008, 03:35:11 pm
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We bought Copper Black Maran eggs on Ebay four weeks ago. Six of the eggs hatched (out of 10) on Wednesday. Two of the chicks are noticably bigger than the other four and have distinct copper heads. Is this significant i.e. are they male and the others female? I know some breeds have different markings depending on sex.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks
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Did you find out what sex they were?
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Hi, HM
I did - at least I looked at some photos of adult birds and the females are black and the males are brown with copper heads. I have therefore deduced that I have four females and two males. They're lovely - the girls are black and cream and the two boys have very distinctive copper heads. Today's plan is to keep a breeding trio and sell one.
Tomorrow, they go from our spare room to the garage, thence to the garden once they are fully feathered.
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hi rosemary...........black/copper marans are local birds wher i live........they produc wonderfull brown eggs and taste good too.....dont be too quick to sell off your excess stock......3 hens and 1 coq are a good setup try to pick birds of similair size...............good luck tell us how you get on please
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I have some female marrans black with brown feathering on their heads, very pretty, lay an almost pink egg.
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Our six seem to be doing fine - growing well outside now. Size wise they're all much the same. I'll certainly hang on to them until they come into lay. If the fox takes any more of our layers, I'll certainly need them.