Marans - SOP discussion thread

[laughingclown]

I am so glad someone asked about the outer toe. I meant to but keep forgetting. I have some blues that have the smaller toes. Wouldnt you know they are the ones with the most leg feathers. Now if I could just get their eyes to change color!

 

[LaLobaBlanca]

I would personally not want to say much about these birds, as the pictures are not the best to see conformation issues. What I CAN see is color and shank feathering, both of which look good to me. That said, there is TOO MUCH color on them. Males should have a solid black breast; I believe a male CAN have some copper in the breast per the SOP but should not have more than 10% if I recall correctly. The female should be solid black, with copper hackles. It looks like your females have copper feathering in the chest, which wouldn't fly for a breeder. The last picture of the cockerel looks as if his tail angle is high..again, that's a tough one, as he could have been "spooked" during the time the pics were taken. I like to view eye color, and the 5th picture looks as if they are light; however, they do change as they mature, so this may not be an issue. Another thing I see is that the shank coloring is lacking...it should be slate over pink, and yours appear to be solid slate (dark gray), which indicated they are overmelanized, but again, I sure couldn't be sure based on the pics.

It also looks like you may have some comb issues, such as waves in the females, and lack of a back blade on the males, but again, I can't see well enough to be sure.

If you can get better pics, it would be helpful. Taken from the side, so you can see the bird's body shape. What I like to do is go into the run with them and sit right down on the ground - on a feed sack (

) and then just take as much time as I need to get good pics as they walk around, and as they are comfortable.

Here are some more pics that may help. I tried to get different points of view but the birds were very interested in my camera and wouldn't stand still. I really appreciate you looking at my birds.

 

[Wynette]

LaLo, I'm sorry, I just really can't tell anything further from these pics. I know it's really tough to get a good conformation shot - you're looking for this in a picture that is the most helpful for us to see the type - this is not a Marans, but I wanted to post this pic so you have an idea on a way you can get them to stand still. I use hay bales (and in this picture, there had been a quad cover hanging on the wall behind the hay, so I draped it over the bottom hay bale - which didn't turn out so great, obviously, as it's too shiny - but it just gives an idea of how you might be able to get one to stand still for a conformation pic):

 

[ashandvine]

On the other hand if they start laying silver or gold eggs I want to know...

My girls are still my favorites here. I don't think the other chickens can tell. I have yet to get another cockerel or rooster. There was a woman in NH who had a few advertised on CL but it looks like I am going to have to wait this out. I met a woman here who has nice birds but she won't have any more for me till spring.

 

[blackbirds13]

Quote:
I am not expert at all but I agree - there is no blade and is that a line of sprigs on the side of the comb? I culled my fave juvie because of a sprig...pained me to do so but everyone said it was super hereditary and (no offense) I wonder if this is an example of that? Can someone who knows comment on this, I am very interested.

ETA - Also on the over-melanized legs being dark slate - are those an absolute no-go for breeding? And what about dark eyes on a 14 week old boy, especially if he has the dark legs?

 

[snowbird]

I am not expert at all but I agree - there is no blade and is that a line of sprigs on the side of the comb? I culled my fave juvie because of a sprig...pained me to do so but everyone said it was super hereditary and (no offense) I wonder if this is an example of that? Can someone who knows comment on this, I am very interested.

ETA - Also on the over-melanized legs being dark slate - are those an absolute no-go for breeding? And what about dark eyes on a 14 week old boy, especially if he has the dark legs?

Blackbirds13, Will try and help you here with your questions. I have found that with the line of BC I was working with that I did better working with the medium to dark slate. I did not use the light slate or white with pink in any form. 14 weeks is too young to cull for eye color, just be patient and let him grow a little.
The Blade can have points as long as they are not sprigs or the Carnation. I prefer for my Marans Males to have a clear Blade though.

 

[blackbirds13]

Blackbirds13, Will try and help you here with your questions. I have found that with the line of BC I was working with that I did better working with the medium to dark slate. I did not use the light slate or white with pink in any form. 14 weeks is too young to cull for eye color, just be patient and let him grow a little.
The Blade can have points as long as they are not sprigs or the Carnation. I prefer for my Marans Males to have a clear Blade though.

Thanks Snowbird. I had posted some pictures earlier on one of the Marans threads of the foot color of some of my Marans. I have 3 left that have a range of colored feet and shanks. Perhaps if I have time I can take and post some photos. I think I have light, medium and dark slate. I had one with barely any slate but he got swooped up by Mr. Hawk. I really hope my dark slate boy is a keeper as he is my last Bev Davis and I know his egg color was good. The other two are Taylor Farm boys and one seems to be coming up quite nicely in type but the other seems smallish.

ETA - what specifically do you mean by a 'clear' blade. If not for sprigs or carnations are you talking about issues like a thumbprint? The blade of the rooster above seems bumpy, if those are not sprigs or carnation what else could they be? Thanks.

 

[snowbird]

Blackbirds13, I myself prefer that the blade is clear of any points. The blade can have points though. I just prefer it does not. Is there a way you could post another picture of the comb showing the side where the bumps are ? Also one of the blade from above. Its fine if you catch the male and hold him while taking the pictures. I will watch this thread for the pictures and can tell you what I see or do not see. The other picture is too blury to tell anything about the points.

PS. could you also let us see some pictures of the Taylor Farm Males as they have showed several BC at shows in the past.

 

[blackbirds13]

Blackbirds13, I myself prefer that the blade is clear of any points. The blade can have points though. I just prefer it does not. Is there a way you could post another picture of the comb showing the side where the bumps are ? Also one of the blade from above. Its fine if you catch the male and hold him while taking the pictures. I will watch this thread for the pictures and can tell you what I see or do not see. The other picture is too blury to tell anything about the points.

PS. could you also let us see some pictures of the Taylor Farm Males as they have showed several BC at shows in the past.

The bird in my post is not mine, it was from a post just further up this thread. I was just curious as to what the row of bumps were on the comb as I have never seen such a thing before.

I cannot get the pictures to post right now I keep getting an error message when loading

 

[blackbirds13]

This is boy number one. His shanks are the medium of the three. He is a Taylor Farms boy. His legs look a bit pinker than is showing up here but all the pics lookjust a bit darker than they do in person. He is getting feathers on his outer toes now. I thought he did not have them for a while there. They seemed to stop just at the first joint. He has nice size, similar to the Davis boy just a bit narrower through the saddle/tail area. His legs and feet are about 70% covered with quite a bit of pink showing through.The slate color really does not go beyond the top of the toe.










This is the other Taylor boy. He is the smallest and has the lightest, pinkest legs. He is the narrowest though the saddle. Picking them up he was noticeably lighter than the other two. He has middle toe feathering also. His feet I would say are less than 50% covered with slate coloring. So he's the first out the door at this point depending.








And last but not least, this is my Davis bird. He appears to be the biggest and widest. He has a bit of color on his chest that I am not happy with but his shanks and feet are the darkest. The bottoms are pink but he is pretty dark. I am hoping either he or the other boy would be good but Since all my Marans so far have had these dark legs I had questions about the really light legs. Since I hatched him he is of course the one I'm hoping will develop well.







This boy I don't have anymore but I had posted this on the Black Copper thread. This was the lightest and the other two on here look a bit darker than this but not by much.