Well Kim, you are not the only one with the stupid comb thing going on! 
Of the four pullets I have that are my F1s, and will be 16 weeks tomorrow, ALL but one has a carnation comb! 
Three weeks ago, three of them looked normal, and now they have sprouted overnight it seems. I tell you, it was all I could do to keep from losing my cookies! Went back and looked at my notes on them, and these were the babies that could've been from the left overs of Fuglee being in the pen. I sure hope this is the case! While Fuglee did not express the carnation, one of his sisters/hatchmate pullets did. So if he and the other pullets without the stupid combs each had one gene for carnation, the pairing would explain why now three of these babies have it! GEEEEEEESSSSS! The fourth baby in that bunch does not have a carnation, but still would carry the one gene for it, so now all of these pullets are destined to be culled out.
Don ~ Did any of your birds from the Jeanne/Presley breedings ever show up with sprigs or carnations?? I sure hope not, as that would mean that Clyde and Roy would carry one gene for it, as neither one expresses it. I want this problem gone!! All I can see lately are the combs! 
That said, when the Fuglee soldiers were well out of the mix, I had three more chicks produced. One has a huge carnation comb, but I am assuming that this boy came from the hen that has the carnation herself. The other two chicks, one pullet, and one roo, don't have the carnations. Talk about depressing, it was enough to make me want to quit this breed. I suppose I could use the pullets for layers only, but without another pen yet, that will have to wait. I think I'd rather just cull them all off the place altogether. Soooo depressing!
Debbi, To be honest with you I believe most all BC Marans will produce a Sprig and if we do not single mate our Brood stock you will never be able to pin point where the sprig is coming from. If you single mate a few then the matings that are clean you can then put the sisters in a pen and breed them together if you would like.
Talking about the Carnation Comb I have never seen any research on whether you have to have the gene on male and female side. From my experience I would say that just one copy of the gene will give you Carnation comb.
The over Brown male that I experimented with the later half of the breeding season did not produce any comb problems, I hatched out over 400 and all were culled with major color faults and shank feathering.
The four Dark males I ended up with from last year I hatched out over 400 and had about 10-12 with sprigs. I still have the four males and one hen and two pullets that got away when losding them.
I have never had a sprig or carnation comb in the Wheaten or White. I bought a dozen wheaten eggs this spring from Wisc. and two of the males had Carnation combs so culled all of the shipped egg chicks. I believe there are more Marans out there with Penne influence that Marans breeders will admit. I still have most of the young Wheaten as the buyer never showed up for them.
Don,
We are seldom as great in the eye of others as we are in our own mind.. Look at the photo section at the album and see pictures of my setup. Plan on adding a few pictures shortly.
Don,
We are seldom as great in the eye of others as we are in our own mind.. Look at the photo section at the album and see pictures of my setup. Plan on adding a few pictures shortly.
