Author Topic: Copper black marans egg colour (Read 2770 times)

Stereo · « **on:** November 24, 2013, 10:57:26 pm »

Hopefully darkbrowneggs is around. We bought half a dozen copper black eggs earlier in 2013 and got 2 boys and 1 girl. The 2 boys seem to match the standard and so does Maranda. She's a lovely hen and has just come into lay. The eggs they came from were very dark. But Maranda's eggs have been pale so far. Now, I'm aware that it is late in the season and that these are her first eggs. It's not a problem what colour her eggs are but I'm thinking she picked up her egg colour from her father and the colour of the egg she hatched from is not important.

So, what does this tell me about her brothers? We were hoping to get some copper black hens to go with them next year. But does their sister's pale eggs mean that they don't have dark egg genes or is it just the time of year / her first eggs. They are really lovely boys. Not aggressive, stunning to look at and real characters. Unlike 99% of cockerels I have ever owned, I have never had a thought of ringing their necks there and then.

darkbrowneggs · « **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2013, 08:30:55 am »

How long has she been in lay?

Sometimes the first few eggs have a "veil" of calcium over them so they look pale. This is a stress factor and once she gets into the swing of laying should clear and the eggs show their true colour. The father of those hatching eggs if they were copper black hatching eggs you bought from me was hatched from an even darker egg than the ones you would have bought - so the genetics are excellent.

Having said all that many things then actually affect the egg colour. As I mentioned before stress of any sort will make for pale eggs and that includes illness past or present - so if you have pullet that had some sort of illness as a chick that could mean she will lay pale eggs all her life. Stressors such as foxes or other predators or even rats in the house at night will make for lighter eggs.

Blood sucking mites or feather lice, incorrectly balancde diet etc. All have their input. You cannot have dark eggs without good genetics but then the birds still need all the conditions correct to lay the sort of eggs we all want

Post some photos of what she is laying

darkbrowneggs · « **Reply #2 on:** November 25, 2013, 08:39:06 am »

PS - the fact that she is coming into lay at this time of year is an excellent sign. Most of the Copper Blacks are very poor layers, and flock who post on the Marans Club of France forum dont expect to get eggs from a pullet until late in the following spring

Then apparently they only get a very few good dark eggs before the colour tails right off.

Stereo · « **Reply #3 on:** November 25, 2013, 11:38:21 am »

Sorry, we didn't get them from you (I don't think anyway, my wife bought them), I just know that you know your stuff on this subject. She's maybe laid half a dozen eggs, starting at about 40 weeks we think. Not every day and she's one of our garden birds as she's so sweet and her brothers are in the main pen. Trouble is we have 3 other mid to dark layers in the same house! We think the speckledy eggs we are getting are hers as we know what to expect from the other 3. But unless all 4 lay in one day, we can't be sure she's laid at all. I'll see if I can get a photo if she lays again. Thanks for the advice.

darkbrowneggs · « **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2013, 11:52:16 am »

I would say that you should not judge the egg quality until she has produced at least 20 eggs, though it does sound like she may be some sort of cross or poor quality genetics.

Often people think it is best to buy unrelated males, and this should give increased fertility, hatchability and all round vigour, but it is a scattergun approach at best. They have discovered at least 13 genes which are responsible for the dark brown shell colour, so when you have 13 from the female and 13 from the unrelated male that does make for a huge number of potential combinations.

If you have a flock of female producing indifferent colour tinted eggs and you use a male from a good dark line then there will be a vast improvement in shell colour, but when you already have dark egg laying females it becomes that much more tricky to hold, let alone improve the colour.[size=78%] [/size]

And if she didnt come into lay until 40 weeks old then obviously only to be kept as a pet and same would go for her brothers. Certainly not worth keeping and breeding from - though all the info about what causes egg colour would still apply.

I would expect any laying bird to come into lay at around 24 - 28 weeks and anything much over 30 weeks would send the signal as a poor layer that should be discarded from the breeding pen.