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Thank you for understanding my concerns. I wasn't trying to insult or disparage any ones' Marans. Really. I like the ones I have and they are shaping up about like you described Marcy. I put the last spare cockerel in a pot a couple weeks ago. I will say their breasts were better than the...

So far the Chantecler is the only real dual purpose I have found although the Euskal wasn't too bad. I can eat any of them and they do lay eggs. When I butcher up a bird it has to have either legs/thighs or a breast to make it worth it. Most just don't. I think you have a good point though...

Wynette, I have been thinking about your question to me: why do I feel like its a challenge to raise for sop and the homestead? I think I have a few answers. First, let me acknowledge that culling for sop works to give you birds to eat, but the output for the amount of meat to eat is where I...

I wasn't talking about egg production. I should have been clearer that I meant good egg production as in good color for a Marans. I am much more concerned with having the occasional good show bird and great birds for the farm that are savvy and friendly and gorgeous of course but also which...

I am struggling with some things here: breeding what you have and breeding to sop versus breeding for big birds that lay great eggs. I am not sure how these concepts are going to work to create a bird that performs well on the farm and not just in the cage. I have to ask how many of you that...

I thought I lost my best pullet tonight. We have had a lot of predator sightings lately. I was upset for about an hour, threw my other favorites in a cage they can't stay in but ... I had to retaliate somehow, and then, there she is out on the lawn eating the tomato scraps I threw out. PHEW!

Thank you x2. This is helpful to me too. Is there anything else that this means as far as the rest of her genetics? I have one that is partially black and one that is all black.

The bottom hen is also really light in the hackles, right? The top one has clean shanks which isn't sop.

Well... Chihully is over there, BCMs and what else??? Maybe I could convince the family that it was a 'family trip' and we just happened to come home with chickens... although then I would have to drive across the US. Um.... driving down the road with three kids is enough to make me crazy...

Oh... why not think "share?"

Yes, I was. Jay added more pics and they are all blurry so its very hard to tell but I stand by my initial observatsion BUT I am new enough that it doesn't matter much. I say what I see and hope others will confirm or teach. Not without plucking it first and seeing if it grew back. If it...

Her shape ie type and color are very appealing. I am still learning but her legs ie "shanks" are nice ie appear to conform closely to the standards for what a Marans 'should' look like. Her back is flat, tail appears to be carried at about the right angle and I like her round breast. It might...

I have heard that the melanizers are part of what makes the egg dark. I wonder about that since hypermelanistic birds like Silkies, Cemani etc don't lay dark eggs. BUT I keep reading that the melanized ones lay darker. Someone told me the other day that the mossy ones might lay darker but I...

Right now it looks like two cockerels maybe one pullet or a slow showing cockerel. Question: what creates the mossiness? What is it? If its linked with the dark egg then why aren't these birds valuable? I know they aren't SOP but it is almost like you are culling the dark egg genes out by...

I have discovered I was wrong. I do have mossy chicks. Darn it! Now to decide what to do with them.

Ummmmm... does anyone else think that is funny?? I am tired so maybe its just me. And yes that bird looks like a nice Ameraucana. I can't see the feet but shanks look right.

Sorry but I am confused again. I thought you said white on the feet was bad ... for chicks too? Or all black is bad in chicks. I think I got lost in translation. Sorry. I have chicks here and all the ones I have had have dark shanks with grey and white or pinkish toes as well. They darken...

I thought you were talking about chicks. I knew this about the adults. Thank you

Miss Sue, why is white on feet good and black not? What about combs? I notice that some combs are nearly black and others are promising to be red.

You are right. This is more like a partridge pattern than mossy.