Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[luckied]

@kfelton0002 thanks for the response.
So if the cuckoo is a roo then at what point in time should I expect him to start taking more of a dominant role?
As I mentioned before he runs away everyone one of the wyandotte pullets even looks his direction....
Not that I want him to be agreessive, I just thought the roo always establishes himself as the alpha of the flock.
Thanks for the help, I of course am loving all of my birds and really do enjoy learning about different breeds!

 

[kfelton0002]

@kfelton0002 thanks for the response.
So if the cuckoo is a roo then at what point in time should I expect him to start taking more of a dominant role?
As I mentioned before he runs away everyone one of the wyandotte pullets even looks his direction....
Not that I want him to be agreessive, I just thought the roo always establishes himself as the alpha of the flock.
Thanks for the help, I of course am loving all of my birds and really do enjoy learning about different breeds!

Different breeds and bloodlines devlop and mature at different rates. By 5 to 6 months of age he should be sexually capable and should have his dominance well established over the pullets, if not before then. Generally speaking a cockerel will begin crowing and start trying to show signs of dominance over his flock at around 3 months old. Some breeds earlier, some later. For example, my Speckled Sussex cockerels mature early and crow by 3 months. My Cuckoo Marans were around 4 months before they started, and my Black Copper Marans cockerels still arent crowing and they are 3 and 4 months old.

Older pullets tend to dominate younger cockerels for a bit, but his hormones will start kicking in soon and he will assume the role as boss.

Lots of things factor in to when a cockerel begins to display dominance. A few things that hinder dominant behavior are: having older adult hens in the flock, an already established pecking order with mature male birds in the flock, and older cockerels and pullets in the flock. Older pullets will dominate over a younger cockerel until his hormones start kicking in.

Older birds always tend to dominate the younger birds. And anytime new and younger birds are introduced into an already established flock, the newer birds enter the pecking order on the bottom and tend to get bullied a little until new pecking order is established. Pecking order is like the corporate ladder.. crap rolls downhill. Lol

 

[Carficlucks]

Here are some pics of my 6 month old BCM cockerel and my BCM pullets any input would be great Be very honest I don't want to start off with bad birds My intention is to breed so i want to be very diligent.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I have 4 belly buttons sleeping in the trees tonight :/ of course, both palms are WAY up there plus two mottled girls. They drive me crazy!

 

[luvmychickenz]

Welcome I have been raising Marans in Vista CA for 4 + years and enjoy helping out people bitten by the Marans bug.

Gorgeous egg color.

 

[chicken-whisperer]

Thank you but all our eggs are not that dark here is a a couple dozen with a white plastic dummy egg to compare.

 

[Old Man Tom]

Got my babies today. 26 BCM from Brian Parks in Corvallis Org. Very nice birds. Healthy and happy. Thank you Brian. Special thanks to Don Lee for hooking us up. Thank you Don. Tom

 

[luvmychickenz]

It's not that easy to get darker color eggs. We have only been able to get only 4-5 range in darkness. Will continue to work on with next group of hatchlings.

 

[SHERRING7712]

Do all varieties of Marans lay dark eggs? I am looking for a couple pullets to get some darker eggs from and wondering if some lay darker than others or if the average about the same.
I like the looks of the Black Copper, Wheaten, and Birch so curious about those eggs.
TIA

 

[One Chick Two]

Here are some pics of my 6 month old BCM cockerel and my BCM pullets any input would be great Be very honest I don't want to start off with bad birds My intention is to breed so i want to be very diligent.

I believe your cockerel looks good. He's wide, deep, long backed, and from what I can tell, his type looks nice (tail is about right too.). Good color balance, shank color and shank feathering.

As a note, he does have a thick saddle area- makes kind of a hump right before his tail IMO, plus low wings (should be pointing to vent), but, nothing to cull over. Give him a higher roost at night and select a hen with denser, tighter feathering in her saddle area to select young cockerels who don't increase puffiness there. When you get too much feathering they have a tendency to get puffy saddle areas which eventually ruins a good topline.

Your hen with the full hackle looks good too. Also, black hen with the low tail I would try test mating as well- she may surprise you. Avoid the black hen with the high, 90 degree high tail though. You'd have squirrel tail problems.