Birchen Marans Thread

[Chooks man]

I'm surprised that the birchen variety has not had more popularity, I prefer the black and white/silver contrast compared to the black copper marans, I do not own any yet but plan on getting my hands on some maybe this spring, I only have black copper and blue copper so far. I just hope birchens get the egg color up there similar to quality BCM.

i m with you.
Birchen are stunning when a silver is pure .Silver black is more attractive .
the egg color ,they are not as dark as a BCM . but they ll be able to do if bred well .
they faced a lot neglect in they natal country ( all the marans varieties suffered and regressed in France )

lucky we have people like Monique Berte and the Syndicat ,plus few serious breeders .other wise the marans will be gone long time ago .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Sweden ,son of Viking2 over his aunt Stockholm .he is an F4 . 4 generation pure line breeding .
he is 9 months old

Viking3 ,son of Viking2 over Stockholm . true brother of Sweden .
this guy look more like his sire .the other more like his Dam .
he is 11 months old now. of to the breeding pen in a couple o weeks .



chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Birchen and Silver cuckoos hens with a Blue cuckoo Cockerel Blue shamrock .

looking forward to see they chicks .
the eggs are going under the broody hens tomorrow .13 large dark eggs .

chooks man

 

[goedric]

Wondering about blue birchen marans... have a few chicks from Greenfire... one is beginning to show the birchen pattern but its not really silver... seems gold... not copper but gold... i am guessing this is a bad thing... but can someone tell me what genetics are at play here... trying to determine if i should just cull (assuming its a him, but comb and waddles are smaller than other sibs). Anyway, the color is what concerns me thx. ps in case u are wondering.. that's an isbar with him in pic 1 and svart hona in pic 2... and the age is 6 weeks (a bit shy)

 

[Bantambird]

Wondering about blue birchen marans... have a few chicks from Greenfire... one is beginning to show the birchen pattern but its not really silver... seems gold... not copper but gold... i am guessing this is a bad thing... but can someone tell me what genetics are at play here... trying to determine if i should just cull (assuming its a him, but comb and waddles are smaller than other sibs). Anyway, the color is what concerns me thx. ps in case u are wondering.. that's an isbar with him in pic 1 and svart hona in pic 2... and the age is 6 weeks (a bit shy)

I have some blue birchen from greenfire as well. Yes, I too have some copper bleed through on the wing bows, and some yellowing on the hackles and saddles on most of them. I wanna say that it is possible they brought into their flock some splash that had hidden copper and red wing bows. The splash genes can hide a lot since they are essentially a bleaching gene. Let's see some more pictures!

 

[Bantambird]

 

[goedric]

I only have 4... here is a pic of each from a week ago... pic 3 is of the one above with the gold coloring coming thru... looks like 3 roos to me so far.... but I have some black birchen hatchlings as well... from Rachel Johnson that I can use to get some hens into the flock and am incubating some BBS eggs from Stephanie Wind... we shall see how it all shakes out!

 

[JacksonPearce]

I recently won a split batch of half wheatens, half birchens in a raffle, and only one of the birchens hatched (despite some amazing packing!). The breeder said she can usually ID her boys very early on based on comb, but with nothing to compare this one too, I'm useless. Does anyone have photos of their chicks around 3-4 weeks so I can see some similarly aged babies?

 

[Chooks man]

@ geodric
this is a Blue copper marans not a Blue Birchen .
maybe just a throw back from the original crossing they made .

she is very nice .love her blue eyes . she ll have good orange eyes when adult .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

@ geodric
this one is a cockerel . love his feathered shank .they are well colored too .
he is a early feathering type .
good body type too .

chooks man