Black, Blue and Splash (BBS) Marans discussion thread

[LisaLouHoo]

Just found this thread! I adore my BBS Marans! I only have one blue and one splash. They just started laying. I'm hoping to get a few more this spring. They have such gorgeous dark eggs! I'll take updated pics soon. But you can see some of the color in my bkue girl here. She was about 13 weeks old in this pic. I love all the varying shades of grey!

She's a beauty. Love the lacing and the feathered feet. I have blue, black, and a splash, but no feathered feet. The black Roo is huge. I hatched him this last spring with some eggs I got and I can't believe his size. My only concern is if he'll hurt one of the gals. He's only a fumbling teenager now, but so far not aggressive at all and lives peacefully with my SFH roo. I plan to seperate my marans and the others in the spring so I can hatch some more.

 

[Raven1]

I've become a bit obsessed with finding BBS stock this year (as some of you may have noticed with the PMs that I sent)...

I love Marans, I've had Wheatens in the past, but I love Blue. If I could get a small flock of Blue & Black birds going this year, that would be great. Not the biggest fan of Splash birds, they're pretty, but the Blues have my heart. There's nothing prettier than a Blue with crisp, defined lacing.

I wish more people kept the solid BBS birds, I feel like they're such a great "foundation" color for other colors to be built from.

Crossing my fingers that this year is the year that I get my start with this variety! 

I have 4 Solid Black girls from Helen Byers line that I am considering selling. My roo have white in his tail and bumped me last night so he will be stew!

 

[Sugartree11]

Updated pic. This is Luna. Six months old. She's not my biggest fan, so it's hard to get a good pic. Lol

 

[jeremy]

I have 4 Solid Black girls from Helen Byers line that I am considering selling. My roo have white in his tail and bumped me last night so he will be stew!

PMing you now!

 

[Nomibear]

I fell in love with the BBS when I was reading up on Isbars. I don't love all the mess the breed is going through, or really their egg color.
I LOVE the dark chocolate eggs in seeing here! And I love the BBS. This is looking like the breed for me.
What can I do to get started? How can I find chicks or hatching eggs? I live just south of San Antonio Tx.

 

[DMRippy]

I fell in love with the BBS when I was reading up on Isbars. I don't love all the mess the breed is going through, or really their egg color.
I LOVE the dark chocolate eggs in seeing here! And I love the BBS. This is looking like the breed for me.
What can I do to get started? How can I find chicks or hatching eggs? I live just south of San Antonio Tx.

This thread is for the VERY RARE solid color marans. I am working on mine there are only a few people that have them. Best to look on the Buy sell trade section and see who has them. Buyer beware...... most people think that coppers that are solid black are solid color marans and they are NOT and will leak copper. Genetically they are not the same.

 

[ataraninja1]

What about a Black Copper roo crossed over Cuckoo hens? Makes a sex linked offspring, where females are solid black (supposedly) and males retain the cuckoo. Then breeding the females back to the BC is supposed to create all black offspring. This is genetically speaking and involves the crossing of different varieties to create a new variety. After three or four generations of breeding the blacks to blacks the leakage should be removed if it were ever present and the birds should produce an excellent black line (given the reputation of the foundation BCM rooster).

Anyone else have thoughts on this breeding plan?

 

[DMRippy]

What about a Black Copper roo crossed over Cuckoo hens? Makes a sex linked offspring, where females are solid black (supposedly) and males retain the cuckoo. Then breeding the females back to the BC is supposed to create all black offspring. This is genetically speaking and involves the crossing of different varieties to create a new variety. After three or four generations of breeding the blacks to blacks the leakage should be removed if it were ever present and the birds should produce an excellent black line (given the reputation of the foundation BCM rooster).

Anyone else have thoughts on this breeding plan?

Your info is a little off..... they pullets will be black coppers. They may not express the copper but they carry the genes. Breeding them back to black coppers will only produce more black coppers. Not sure how this would produce black. It might produce some over melanized copper but they are not truly solid black birds.

 

[Finnie]

Does anyone have a link to the copper and non-copper genetics in Marans? I just finished reading through these 27 pages, and at first I was getting the impression that the copper gene was dominant to the non-copper gene. But this post seems to be saying that the copper gene will lay hidden, and is therefore recessive?

And then some are saying that once a non-copper and a copper are crossed, you can never breed the copper back out. Any gene can be selected away from. Admittedly though, if it is recessive, it will be difficult to make sure you have successfully gotten rid of it. The key lays in whether it is a recessive or a dominant gene.

In any case, I find this all fascinating, even though I will probably never be able to acquire a solid Marans since they are so rare. But by posting my question, at least I will now be subscribed to the thread.

 

[DMRippy]

I didn't say it was recessive I said they would be over melanized.....the copper is covered up. You can make solid birds I just wouldn't use coppers to do it. I have used cuckoo's and birtchens to make mine.

Sorry my phone will not let me fix that spelling of birchens