Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding strategies...

[Lotsapaints]

Bev Davis was working on hers using the Salmon if I remember correctly. The GCMs I have look like they have wheaten or maybe btb but if it's wheaten the color is very dark on the hens which wouldn't be SOP so I don't really know but I am planning on using either mossy BCM or too dark Wheatens with mine to improve the egg color since I happen to have Wheatens that have very dark eggs and some of the hens I have are too dark for SOP......I'm working with what I have.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I wish whomever told me not to use wheatens or BCMs would see this. Ahhhhh- I know its somebody in Florida! Alexandra, I think.

Yep- I have some wheatens that lay really dark, and no roo. I would love to use them. Poor girls get passed around from coop to coop. Never the same roo for more than 2 months

 

[Hens and Roos]

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nice egg coloring, I agree with you on working with what we have and see what the outcome is, we have to start somewhere

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
Please, can anyone point me to answers or advise me? I am looking for info on cuckoo shank color. Has anyone ever seen
cuckoo shanks which are correct color, but with black or slate speckling on the shanks? If so, does anyone have breeding
strategies to fix this so the shanks are the proper color?
Thanks so much for any help you can give!
Best Regards,
Karen Tewart

 

[Lotsapaints]

It's the cuckoo gene that turns the shanks white without it they would be slate....males normally don't have any dark showing but the girls will as they only have one cuckoo gene and the males have 2 (cuckoo is sex linked...) now I don't know if I helped you understand or just confused you more

 

[3riverschick]

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Yes, thank you, this is a big help. So, knowing this, how do Marans breeders get white shanks on their female cuckoos? Or is it written in the cuckoo Standard that the females can have shanks which aren't totally white?
Thanks!
Karen

 

[Hens and Roos]

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Yes, thank you, this is a big help. So, knowing this, how do Marans breeders get white shanks on their female cuckoos? Or is it written in the cuckoo Standard that the females can have shanks which aren't totally white?
Thanks!
Karen

I looked at the couple of female cuckoo chicks that we are growing up and their shanks are white but do have dots of black pigment on them. At this point I think the US cuckoo standard is still being worked on, you might take a look at the French standard to see what they say about the shanks. Hopefully someone who has more information on where to find the answers will chime in.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I think most of mine have the splotchy white legs. Sometimes its hard to tell what are spots of pigment, and what are feather stubs. But I do think that what was said abotu the barring gene being an inhibitor is correct. I think I heard mottling can have some effect on shank color as well- I will have to look over my orps this morning.

 

[Raven1]

Here is a quick pic of one of my GCM girls from this year she hasn't started to lay yet so I don't know about egg color.

 

[HenThymes]

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Thank you for posting this. I too have a mix of GC and wheatens my eggs color looks about like yours and have been very happy with that for GC's, they actually won at our local fair this year.

I have some eggs in the bator now that had both my GC and my wheaten cockerel in the pen can't wait to see what color the eggs are when that group starts laying. I set only the darkest eggs from the group. I have one wheaten pullet growing out from the very same cross, she should start laying sometime late winter and will report back.

Here is a picture of the color of eggs that won. (not the actual eggs as they went on to another fair.)