Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[abundantwife]

What a beautiful egg! I am so jealous! My oldest marans pullet is 16 weeks old. Sigh...

That egg is just beautiful! I have one girl who is 43 weeks and I'm still waiting on her first egg! :/

 

[gilavina]

I think I will just stick with the Black and Blue Coppers... They are pretty though.... but I am too new to all this to take that project on. I am just going to get me some Silver Penciled Rocks.... I hope they don't have as far to go as the Marans. Vicki when you get them perfect you can send me some eggs and I will just breed from your perfection.

haha...it might be a loooooonnnnng while! At least it can feel that way sometimes! I hardly have perfect stock, its all a step at a time

 

[DMRippy]

haha...it might be a loooooonnnnng while! At least it can feel that way sometimes! I hardly have perfect stock, its all a step at a time

I am retired I can wait!

 

[gilavina]

Ok...last set of photos for the night...

Lenette, these are my two oldest birchen girls from the same line you have. They have filled out quite a bit since they passed being a year old. Excuse the splash girl's weird pose....she is a goof. The other girl is on the left in the front.



Here is an update pic on the Blue Copper girl. She runs with the Coronation and Lavender Birchen Sussex. She sticks out like a sore thumb, but is happy as a clam for now, at least until I get my breeding pen set up. Did I ever mention she has a messed up comb? When she hatched, her comb was attached to the shell and took me quite a while to work the membrane off and had some severe bleeding and think I might have done the damage myself

, but it never did end up developing normally. She was a HUGE baby...I still don't know how she got out of the shell. Look at that TANKLY width! I can't wait to see how big she ends up...she just turned 6 months old the other day. I should add, she doesn't have a carnation comb...I've checked her over carefully...its just how her comb has looked from when she was stuck. I will be thoroughly test mating her to make sure she can throw good combs...I just feel so bad I hurt her when she was so tiny, but i'm thrilled she made it!

 

[gilavina]

I am retired I can wait!

Haha...way too funny! I wish I were retired, but it might be a long while til that happens!

 

[Cadeau]

Wow, Vicki!
I love those chunky girls!! They're ALL so pretty!
The girls are so very feminine!

 

[gilavina]

Wow, Vicki!
I love those chunky girls!! They're ALL so pretty!
The girls are so very feminine!

Thanks Katelyn, Its a snapshot I guess of the heft i like on the girls. If I work on ironing out some of the smaller things, like the eye color, I'll be well on my way. Can you see similar toplines in some of the girls to the young ones you have? I know you said you were having trouble seeing it in some of the older birds you have

 

[Cadeau]

Yes - thanks!

Only mine seem to have more tail -is that b/c mine need more body or yours are still growing their tails back? (is this a totally DUMB question?)

What I mean is, most of yours seem to have a cute little tail with the "top" two feathers a little longer - and I DO have 2 or 3 with a tail like that.

BUT - I also have some that have a tail that looks more spread from the side view...let me see if I can find a pic...which is definitely not as pretty. My notes say you said she was "not too bad"!

 

[gilavina]

Yes - thanks!

Only mine seem to have more tail -is that b/c mine need more body or yours are still growing their tails back? (is this a totally DUMB question?)

haha...some of it is that they are still growing out their tails. The other part is they grew out(wide) more than back (long)....haha I have girls with both longer and shorter tails (what I showed is just a small snapshot of my stock). I tend to favor the bit shorter ones...to me it reflects the ideal outlines better. All personal preference I'd say.

 

[Debbi]

Vicki, Love that last girl's color, but I think I would test mate her first, as it does look like a Carnation potential. Do all of your hens have dark eyes??