Coopers update

Thought you all might like to see how the project is coming along.

The cockerels are BIG boys. They have grown fast and are at the really awkward stage at the moment. All the cockerels have some feathers on their shanks.
As you can see some appear to be staying straight blue and some are showing a fair amount to red.

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Some of the pullets. They are quite feminine looking. Not much red showing in them, just a bit so far. I am liking the body shape of them. I would like a more stern brow on them, but I can work on that. The pullets are showing very little shank feathering.

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I am looking forward to seeing the egg colour from them. That is what I will be working on the most in the next few years now.

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I don't see any red in my coopers but I do have a white one.

Bckev, that white one would be a pure Marans and would be splash I imagine. Does it have a single comb?
I had a Blue Marans hen in with the Splash Marans rooster.

Well, lookin' mighty fine I would say, funny the red on the cockerel eh?  Things to work on for surely I guess, but hey you like playin' in that sandbox, so play your little heart out and get them as you would like them.  The four pullets that I got are very nice, growing like bad weeds and way bigger than the barnevelder females that I kept.  I wanted some extra laying hens around for extra eggs, and these will all lay a darker egg than my light brown laying hens.  Perfect for me, I like the sleek look of the Coopers and their personalities are turning around to be quite nice too, the skitziness is not prevalent now and they are mingled with all the others about the same age and enjoying life.   Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Cynthia you got all of the pullets, I am heavy on roosters.

They look nice! Would the red leakage mean someones carrying autosomal red? And what do you call that comb, a modified cushion? I'm curious because I have a red/blue EE hen with something similar.

Flicker Chick wrote:They look nice! Would the red leakage mean someones carrying autosomal red? And what do you call that comb, a modified cushion? I'm curious because I have a red/blue EE hen with something similar.

Flicker, I am still getting a HUGE variety of combs but I am aiming for a cushion type of comb when I am done.

I believe it could be Autosomal Red, but remember that I started with Black Copper Marans, which basically are Birchen.  I expected red in the males and to keep the red throats on the females I like I will need that red in the males.  They will be purdy I think!

You hen may have a single comb lurking in there.  Remember I have added a single comb to this project 2 times now and I am still not seeing true singles from the crosses.

bckev wrote:Cynthia you got all of the pullets, I am heavy on roosters.

  She waited until they were older because all she wanted was females!

Glad they are settling in for you, CynthiaM.  I am surprised how big the males are.  They are really long and lanky though.  Will be a while before they fill out.  They are so klutzy right now!!

Looking good Coopslave!  Hats off to you for your progress.

coopslave wrote:

Flicker Chick wrote:They look nice! :)Would the red leakage mean someones carrying autosomal red? And what do you call that comb, a modified cushion? I'm curious because I have a red/blue EE hen with something similar.

Flicker, I am still getting a HUGE variety of combs but I am aiming for a cushion type of comb when I am done.

I believe it could be Autosomal Red, but remember that I started with Black Copper Marans, which basically are Birchen.  I expected red in the males and to keep the red throats on the females I like I will need that red in the males.  They will be purdy I think!

You hen may have a single comb lurking in there.  Remember I have added a single comb to this project 2 times now and I am still not seeing true singles from the crosses.

Right, that makes sense. Blue and red feathers are some of the purdiest.  What gen are you on, F2?

And yeah, you're right on the money. Her great grandmother was part Cochin, part Brahma.

I am on the second generation.  Took the F1s and bred them back to a Splash Marans.  I will generate a couple more F1s with a CopperxPChant again and then just use the blues and F1 ones I have to keep breeding to what I want.  May go back Marans if I need to for egg colour but I am going to try not to do that to much.  I like the shape and feather of the Chant and I don't want to lose to much of that.

Got a few more years ahead of me to really be able to call them 'Coopers' but I got tired of saying 'winter hardy dark layers' all the time when I talked about them!    (had to use one of the new ones!)

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Yes Tara, it seems to work that way. 
When I improved my Barnevelder egg colour (seems so long ago now), I always kept cockerels from the darkest eggs.  So the roosters are the best to improve it but you have to make sure he comes from a very dark egg to begin with or there will be not improvement.

Soooo, keeping young men from my darkest eggs to help things along.

I will have a look at the link, haven't been there for a while.

I lied, I checked this morning and one of  the roosters is starting to show some red. The maran is a rooster of course, and a single comb.