Marans Breeding Colors?

[Cheeper Keeper]

Are there any Marans experts out there that can help me with color genetics questions? I currently have two French Cuckoo Marans hens and am looking to add a few unsexed chicks for either Blue Birchen or Black Copper. I'm ok with any roos as I'd like to have one for flock protection and for producing future Olive Eggers with my Whiting Greens and Blues. My question is, with the two varieties, what colors of birds would possibly result if they were also over my Cuckoo girls? Is blue Cuckoo a possibility?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm going to take a stab at this, from some of my breeding experience with black copper marans and other breeds, some barred. (I'm breeding for easter eggers, not Marans breed standard).

Your black copper with cuckoo girls will produce sex linking as the cuckoo/barred gene will follow the Z chromosome from the Cuckoo girls. You will get cuckoo male chicks with copper/red bleed through and black girl chicks with copper bleed through.

The blue is more problematic. Blue is a diluter of black. A black bird actually has no "diluter" so has full melanin in feathers. It is dominant, so one diluter will produce blue. Two diluters (2 genes) produces splash.

Following the punnett squares...that means you would be breeding 50% of the time diluter with the black copper which means 50% of the time you would be getting blue base (black with a diluter). The other 50% of the time you would get black with no diluter, so black base. I don't *think* that diluter is sexed linked (here I may be corrected by others who are far more expert than I in genetics).

The cuckoo/barred would follow again the Z chromosome and produce cuckoo males and cuckoo females, 50% blue and 50% black.

I'm not versed well in birchen to know how that would interact with cuckoo/barred, but typically cuckoo/barred is pretty dominant.

That's my expectation...let's see how rusty my genetics are. LOL.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I just checked my answers with https://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm#kipcalculator

Yep....black copper over cuckoo girls....barred boys, black base (I expect some red bleed through), all black girls (I expect red bleed through).

Birchen is not dominant over barred, so, as I thought barring will take over. The blue will produce 50% blue base and 50% black base (both sexes), the barring will produce barred boys (50% blue/50% black base) and blue or black girls. Again potential for some red bleed through (the copper).

Should be fun.

LofMc

 

[Cheeper Keeper]

Thank you so much for the info! So if I understand correctly, if I go blue birchen route, only resulting roos will be barred/Cuckoo with 50/50 on the base core being black or blue? Hens would be solid blue or black for the most part, is that right? So I can determine sex based on barring or no barring?

 

[NatJ]

Thank you so much for the info! So if I understand correctly, if I go blue birchen route, only resulting roos will be barred/Cuckoo with 50/50 on the base core being black or blue? Hens would be solid blue or black for the most part, is that right? So I can determine sex based on barring or no barring?

Yes, you are correct. You will get sexlinks (white barring on the males and a light spot on top of their head at hatch, no white barring or headspot on the females), with both sexes able to have a base color of black or blue.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes, if you use a Birchen Blue rooster over the Cuckoo hens...but only that direction....you can't take a cuckoo rooster over a birchen blue hen to get sexing.

And yes 50/50 blue or black, male and female, with males cuckoo on blue or black.

Blue cuckoos are really pretty, imho.

LofMc

 

[Cheeper Keeper]

Wonderful! Thank you both for the very detailed and quick explanation, much appreciated.