Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[geebs]

Already sent the mail... thanks Wynette... I am not sure when that change went into effect the one I have stored from fall was different.

 

[HarmonyOaks]

Anyone in California/Nevada who is going to the PPBA show in Stockton this weekend, here is the schedule released this morning in terms of the open egg show and Marans Meet. The Marans Chicken Club USA is the host.

o 9:00 am – Saturday

· PPBA bird entry judging begins

· Egg show committee members set-up egg show; Bldg 2 where all the vendors are set up. Chris Tamayo is POC for chairs and tables

· Hand delivered Egg show entries due

o 10:00 am – Egg show table set-up and attended by MCCUSA members

o 11:00am - Egg entry judging begins immediately followed by judges placement presentation – Judge Samantha Downey/All

o 1:00 pm – Report of number and varieties of marans entered into the show due. Linda/Pete

o 2:00 pm – Regional Meet led by Pete – All Location TBD

o 3:00 pm – PPBA Breeders Raffle

o 3:20 pm – MCCUA raffle all

o 3:30 pm – PPBA Raffle

o 4:00 pm – Egg Show table breakdown – All

o 5:30 pm – PPBA Banquet social/wine raffle

o 6:00 pm – PPBA Banquet

There will be a sales barns, and it from the PPBA thread over in Chickenstocks/Shows/Meets, I know there will be a variety of Marans for sale...

 

[onthespot]

from my limited experience, (three years) and reading thousands of posts on here on BYC, and looking at photos of French birds and flocks, I seriously doubt anyone on the planet has a flock that breeds true to the standard, consistently over generations. No one, not one, N E WHERE! It is not a true breeding color, period. All breeders will forever be juggling genes looking for a rare moment in time when all the genes line up and you get the "perfect" marans, and then what? What are you going to breed it to, your "other perfect marans" that you just happen to have a pen full of waiting for the perfect roo? Not likely. I know Don in particular, and most of us in general are wrestling with this apparent dilemma. Of course, all of us wish we had a flock of great birds that laid dark eggs, and bred true. Don't all marans breeders? Ain't gonna happen, ever, in my opinion. Our best bet is to just strive for (and show) the best birds, and combine them in the most complimentary breeding combos we have available in our back yards, or from eggs/birds gotten from others, and breed on and enjoy the company of whatever hatches, and go ga ga over the brown eggs and life goes on.

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Thanks for posting your opinion; I disagree, however.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
I agree. I know when I bred dogs this was 99% the case. You could breed the best to the best, and end up with a litter of

! Better the chance of getting something close to correct by breeding against the faults one has, to the attributes the other has. Short backed roo to long backed hen for example. Hunt, peck, but ENJOY the journey!

 

[onthespot]

Quote:
Thanks for posting your opinion; I disagree, however.

feel free to post pics of any consistent to the standard, true breeding flocks, and pics of their eggs as well. Contact info for that breeder would be greatly appreciated also.

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Thanks for posting your opinion; I disagree, however.

feel free to post pics of any consistent to the standard, true breeding flocks, and pics of their eggs as well. Contact info for that breeder would be greatly appreciated also.

Just a few days ago, on the "regular" Marans thread, member The Point posted pics of cockerels from two completely different lines, and they were close to cookie cutter...they will never, in ANY chicken (or other critter for that matter) look exactly the same. We don't need to argue - I have my opinion, you have yours, and that's fine.

 

[snowbird]

Just a little something on breeding for the show quality Marans. I believe it can be done but the percentage on the BC will not be very high. Any parti-colored fowl will not produce a high percentage of SQ fowl. That being said single and double mating will enhance the odds greatly.

The first thing to do and I have already did with my Marans , cull all the Marans with major defects. Breeding fowl with defects only produces more fowl with these major defects. Breeding a good percentage is going to be a long time process and raising and culling the faulty young soon as you see it in the young. Good luck to all. Don

 

[Mamaperreca]

Rooster

And chicks. Just got them this week and I hope a good percentage of them are girls.

 

[geebs]

Just a reminder folks: This is a thread to discuss nicely the PROPOSED standard and it's breeding strategy.. I do get a degree of success with my program. Some are too light some are too dark, but I also get a good degree of anticipated outcome. The color for shanks is slate over pink... This is what we work for... Black is a lot of melanistics... I am working on understanding what was written and why.. just bear with me as I wrap my brain around it...

Newbies: There will always be a balancing act with the melanisers.. this is just the nature of the breed. If the standard calls for a darker shank then we just adjust the level of black we are willing to tolerate. meaning less flecking in the chest and more dark in the eyes etc...

For myself and the rooster on the front page (my fella) it means using overmelanised hens.. So adjust your horizontal and vertical accordingly... Until the standard is officially in place we are just "striving" I personally have relied very heavily on the French breeding tactics...