Way back in 2003 I got birds like this from my Cuckoo Marans flock. Barred Columbian. And these inspired me to try to make the Columbian Marans in the first place. At the time I didn't know all the genetics. Later I discovered that Columbian, as in the Light Sussex, is based on Wheaten. But was reluctant to cross breed anything into Marans. Finally just bit the bullet. And made that one time breeding of Sussex to Wheaten Marans in 2008. To breed up to the Columbian Marans I have now.

A few of my F1 Columbian hens.

F2 eggs from the Silver Wheaten, back in 2010. They have pretty much maintained this color since. I need to put updated egg photos up from what's laid this spring (2015), just not all are laying yet.
Feather color has nothing to do with egg color genes. It's all in how you breed them and never back breed to the non-Marans (in this case Sussex) line. Ever. When transferring a feather color gene. A one time breeding is all you need.

Mitilda, my Barred Columbian Marans hen from 2004. Note the buff-ish tint to her back. Autosomal red. Never used any of these odd ball barred Columbians in the current Columbian Marans flock. Because was unable to identify what was crossed into them to make them in the first place. Other unscrupulous breeders messed them up before I got them. So other then her, all were eventually sold off.

Way back in 2003 I got birds like this from my Cuckoo Marans flock. Barred Columbian. And these inspired me to try to make the Columbian Marans in the first place. At the time I didn't know all the genetics. Later I discovered that Columbian, as in the Light Sussex, is based on Wheaten. But was reluctant to cross breed anything into Marans. Finally just bit the bullet. And made that one time breeding of Sussex to Wheaten Marans in 2008. To breed up to the Columbian Marans I have now.

Silver Blue Wheaten Marans hen. She should be cleaner as well, no black in the neck hackles. Coloration is very pale in comparison to the gold Wheaten.
All these project birds need some tweeking yet. But out of all of them these Silver Wheaten lay usually the darkest eggs. 5's or 6's usually.

Silver Wheaten Marans Rooster. Silver Wheaten in the males should be a clean black and white. But I kind of prefer the autosomal red in the shoulders.

These are some of the F3's from a ways back. Bird to the far left is a Buff Columbian. Middle bird is a wheaten/Buff Columbian incomplete. Bird to the right is a incomplete wheaten/speckled. I found out that someplace in the Sussex genome I used that Speckled Sussex genes were there. These F3's are three generations removed from the one time breeding Marans to Sussex. So proves that hidden genes and modifiers, put in, can still come out generations later.

Way back in 2003 I got birds like this from my Cuckoo Marans flock. Barred Columbian. And these inspired me to try to make the Columbian Marans in the first place. At the time I didn't know all the genetics. Later I discovered that Columbian, as in the Light Sussex, is based on Wheaten. But was reluctant to cross breed anything into Marans. Finally just bit the bullet. And made that one time breeding of Sussex to Wheaten Marans in 2008. To breed up to the Columbian Marans I have now.

Winterwolfbane
Jan 30, 2015

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