Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

Don, here is a pic of 2 youngsters from the hatch I mentioned earlier that I culled all from, along with one of my own original line:

Wynette , these look like the 400-500 I culled from the one male last year. I will bet you they showed a lot of brown at hatch didn't they.

 

[Wynette]

Well, if we shoot for medium slate, maybe with a "lean" toward dark, it seems like that ought to cover us, yes? A dark slate leg would not be a DQ in the show ring. To be honest, if I had to have a line with dark slate legs, and that solved the white feather issue, I'd take that in a heartbeat.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

This question is for Walt:

Regarding leg color for the Black Marans. Do you find the white feathers to be a problem in the Black ones with the Black genetic code or are we trying to eliminate the melanisers in a bird that doesn't derive from black genes... Like Birchen? What are your thoughts here... You are talking about the melanin in the legs and the SOP but isn't that like trying to "breed the hop out of a rabbit" so to speak??? I am trying to understand as I haven't gone back and read the entire thread.

What is the genetic base color for the bird??? Now what influences what we see... I can draw a map in my head about white feathers and dark legs pretty easy if I don't think of a black based bird.... The genetic makeup is a completely different bird. Please give me your thoughts on this..

I would LOVE to hear responses to this question, from Walt and anyone else that cares to contribute. I would also like to hear more about the map that is in your head about white feathers and dark legs on the non-black based (non E) bird. In the case of Black Copper Marans, I assume that map applies to ER based birds?

 

[Wynette]

Wynette , these look like the 400-500 I culled from the one male last year. I will bet you they showed a lot of brown at hatch didn't they.

Kind of hard to tell in this pic, but yes, they did, AND - hardly any white on them.

 

[snowbird]

Well, if we shoot for medium slate, maybe with a "lean" toward dark, it seems like that ought to cover us, yes? A dark slate leg would not be a DQ in the show ring. To be honest, if I had to have a line with dark slate legs, and that solved the white feather issue, I'd take that in a heartbeat.

Wynette, I think you know from talking to me that I consider the SOP a guideline and to breed Fowl to it sometimes we have to go out of the Box a little.

Next time you are at a poultry show look at the Buff or Light Brahma Bantams and see how many cock birds are there. If the cock birds were good as cockerels, they will most likely have too much color as cock birds and it is all related to the undercolor.

 

[geebs]

GREAT IDEA!!!! We can also look at the French website and see what we can learn there... It is all written down by very experience poultiers.

 

[snowbird]

Barb, sometime today will post what I know about breeding the Blue Coppers, Most will say it will be a short post.

 

[Debbi]

Don ~ Now when you are referring to the "brown tinge", are we talking about the fluff, or does that include the hard feathers too? My two boys have never had the brown tinge, but both have light slate legs, and both have white feathers. Are you thinking that both the brown and the light legs contribute to the white, or can it be an either or type of situation? Must it be a combination of the two faults, or just one factor needed, as in light legs?

 

[snowbird]

Don ~ Now when you are referring to the "brown tinge", are we talking about the fluff, or does that include the hard feathers too? My two boys have never had the brown tinge, but both have light slate legs, and both have white feathers. Are you thinking that both the brown and the light legs contribute to the white, or can it be an either or type of situation? Must it be a combination of the two faults, or just one factor needed, as in light legs?

Debbi, I would say that all the indicators would not have to be there at one time. What some have is really white legs and not light slate. Very few of my BC ever showed the brown tinged feathers, Now two year ago I culled all the females with brown tinged feathers.

Our friend did pick some females with brown tinge, I let her pick from all the BC hens and there were about 60 of them and she came and bought and pick out what she wanted two times. She only bought the one Male and he was Mahogany colored.

 

[geebs]

When we breed these dark legged beauties it is really easy to overlook the genetic boo boos that hide, such as Wheaton on overmelanised birds and the silver birchen along with the many variation of Wildtype and BTB. That of course mean single mating and then mating back to that line checking for gene doubling etc... WHEW.. Exausted just thinking about it...

There sure is a lot of thought that goes into the standards to account for all of this.. then and now...

I think with BLACK birds this would be so much simpler... Don, Did you ever aquire any of the blacks or are you doing wheaton and black copper?