Are Cooper Maran eggs that much darker than other brown eggs?

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
Unfortunately, I do not believe this is going to happen. Many buyers are only interested in the eggs and breeders will not be able to sell their birds (thereby increasing the SOP birds) because the birds "may" be more expensive because the breeder is breeding for both conformation AND egg color or simply the conformation.

Personally, I see it as a shame that a breed becomes only known for the egg color that it lays. I'm not condemning anyone for purchasing eggs based on the egg color, but to only breed for egg color leaves too much variation in body and other traits that are just as desirable and just as important to keeping a breed pure.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Unfortunately, I do not believe this is going to happen. Many buyers are only interested in the eggs and breeders will not be able to sell their birds (thereby increasing the SOP birds) because the birds "may" be more expensive because the breeder is breeding for both conformation AND egg color or simply the conformation.

Personally, I see it as a shame that a breed becomes only known for the egg color that it lays. I'm not condemning anyone for purchasing eggs based on the egg color, but to only breed for egg color leaves too much variation in body and other traits that are just as desirable and just as important to keeping a breed pure.

Very few Marans people on BYC could care less about the actual Marans as long as they get the real dark egg. The point in seperating the Marans thread into two threads is then the serious breeders would not have to go through all back patting to get to the serious breed comments. The people just into Dark eggs are responsible for the condition the Marans as a whole are in at present. Don

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Unfortunately, I do not believe this is going to happen. Many buyers are only interested in the eggs and breeders will not be able to sell their birds (thereby increasing the SOP birds) because the birds "may" be more expensive because the breeder is breeding for both conformation AND egg color or simply the conformation.

Personally, I see it as a shame that a breed becomes only known for the egg color that it lays. I'm not condemning anyone for purchasing eggs based on the egg color, but to only breed for egg color leaves too much variation in body and other traits that are just as desirable and just as important to keeping a breed pure.

Very few Marans people on BYC could care less about the actual Marans as long as they get the real dark egg. The point in seperating the Marans thread into two threads is then the serious breeders would not have to go through all back patting to get to the serious breed comments. The people just into Dark eggs are responsible for the condition the Marans as a whole are in at present. Don

Marans-

Not every Marans pullet or hen is going to lay a darker egg the darkest colored egg as shown on the egg color charts....fact, many more Marans pullets and hens lay eggs more on the lighter end of the scale than do Marans pullets or hens that lay that super dark egg and even then, they do not lay that "super dark" egg every time, each day she lays, it will be slightly different, maybe still dark, but not identical to the previous days egg.
I think what can perhaps be over looked and first and foremost is...."to be considered a "Marans," the bird has to atleast lay a #4 or darker egg on the egg color charts." It does not say that the bird that laid it needs to be a standard of perfection bird, nor does it say that every Marans has to lay the same colored egg every time they lay, they simply give us a reference chart that shows us guidelines for acceptable egg colors or shades for the Marans breed, which can vary with in some 6 shades according to the chart that I have. If "Marans" eggs were suppose to be all one color, I would expect to have an egg color chart that only had one egg color to compare to.

Myself, I am happy if I have eggs that are not lighter than a #4 and range in all different shades of the accepted and suggested color charts and happy as a clam when I get solid 5's and 6's for a consistent amount of time and if I occassionally get an even darker egg than that...I'm doing the skippy happy dance all the way back to the house like a kid in the candy store and truth be told, I do get my hopes up for another egg the next day that even comes close and from time to time, my wish is granted, but more often than not, they settle back to the normal and acceptable Marans range of color that my birds lay. As long as I retain and maintain current normal and acceptable egg color with every generation and also retain a happy medium with type and feather color as well, I'm pumped and ready to try again.

I find no problems with folks who want to breed or raise these birds solely for egg color, breeding for egg color itself can be just as frustrating as breeding a bird to fit the standard of perfection. Just as with those who want to breed to standard have all things to consider, because as known and or possibly linked, egg color can sometimes depend on the variety or coloring of the bird and so many other genetic factors, so breeding for just dark eggs would involve some of the same frustrations that those who breed to standards can have and possibly it is even a greater challenge just breeding for the dark egg since so much about the dark egg genetics is still unknown, dark egg breeders may have more stacked up against them then we know.
I don't see this (folks breeding only for dark eggs) as the issue for all the Marans troubles out there, those Marans troubles have been around since the beginning of the bird, not even in the best of the best of breeder birds does every bird come out perfect, what it does come down to, is when a person is looking to purchase these birds and all other breeds for that matter, that one does their homework and gets birds that best fit their needs, and if a person is looking for birds with potential show qualities or birds that may more suit the standards then they would need to do their homework as well.

anyway.....just my 2 cents.....I'll go back to lurking.

Ohhhh and most importantly, remember to have fun with your birds and enjoy them for what attracted you to them...and good luck with all of your adventures with your chickens.

 

[snowbird]

Pink, Nice post, only thing I can say is the MCCUSA in the proposed standard does not say anything about the eggs having to be a certain darkness to have the Marans approved into the SOP. To be honest with you the APA could care less what color egg the Marans lay. The eggs shows the MCCUSA sponsers are not APA egg shows. Don

 

[Illia]

Umm, there's already a thread strictly for just dark egg talk, called the Dark Egg Breeds Thread. Then the Marans thread, sure is for whatever, and the Wheaten thread so far is a lot about the SOP.

But yes, honestly, there are VERY few people who care about the SOP, so talking about enforcing a subject on it is just too much of a repellent for new Marans enthusiasts and/or owners.