villagechicken
I will give you my best answers about the melaniser.. It is my understanding that dark marans have dark eyes unless they are hiding another gene... this is the experience I have had.... I don't know what experiences others have had... I am no genetic expert but when there is white shanks on an otherwise black bird then I wonder if it isn't carrying the melonic inhibitor for the legs that is found in other colors...therefore making it a fouled gene in there... It would be interesting to see if others see this also...
US birds most certainly are different from male to female so it does not make sense to use the same set of criteria across the board.
e Yes you are right about the ID thing. The french shanks make the most sense to me.. I do like the look... the color I am referring to in the post is of course shank and not the feathering. As long as the US doesn't have a standard in place I will choose to breed toward the French standard as where the birds genetic makeup comes from. It is well written and comprehensive giving case and point. I find that it makes sense and culls the problems if we follow the map that has been laid down for us...I will probably be lynched by the masses here on BYC... But that is the way I see it. If one wants to breed to the proposed SOP... just go a little darker on things... You will likely have to make many more corrections though and the breeding strategy will be more complex...
Where does the Netherlands get its stock... from France originally and does the genetics of your stock bear any similarities to ours?? Your questions make me think that they do.
The skin is basically clear to smokey color with pink under it ... the degree of black in the bird colors the otherwise transparent skin.
Yes I believe that the rooster with the overmelanised ear coverts will darken an acceptable version.
On the eWh question... the jury is out...I believe wheaton is involved but do not know if it the sole explaination.
I am not sure what color that colorful rooster would throw...I would anticipate some kind of sport as a possibility... it kinda depends on the hen to is some cases I think.
There are so many genes that rule the egg color that I don't think we can definitively give a guideline for egg color loss and gain.. No it isn't 100 percent.. It from what I have been told is very random... It doesn't always happen that you lose color.. I don't think this is very widely understood at this point. I believe that when we keep culling the lighter and breeding the darker consistantly we are able to gain 100 percent of the loss over time... I was told at one point it would take 4 generations to retrieve a loss.. How true that is.. I just can't say.
Marans are in their infancy here so we just don't have the answers yet... You have great questions!!! I enjoy your posts!!! thanks
I would love to evaluate your chickens VillageChicken if you don't mind me using my understanding of the French standard.
I strongly believe we were following more closely their footsteps... It makes no never mind to me at this point.
Everyone Beware!
French standard breeder here with an eye on the
DARK EGGS!!!! Until I have a copy of an American SOP in my hand personally that is current then this is my story and I a sticking to it...
