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OhBigmamma,
I don't know if I understand this very well. .. . .
I am the queen of hatching roos in this neck of the woods. . . . I hatch more than 8 roos when I am only setting 12 eggs
So, were you able to sell all the roos from the 300 - 400 chickens ? ?
Why do you think people are wanting the feathered legs ? ? Are these folks interested in breeding and are looking for SOP chicks ? ?
Your roo has a side sprig ?? How many of his offspring have it too, is it a high or low percentage?
How many birds do you keep from the 300 - 400 chickens ? ?
I don't think I understood what you were trying to say in this paragraph . . . .
Let me try to re-explain....When I bought my first cucu Marans the roo had sprigs on his comb. I did not kow anything about Marans except that they were known for their dark eggs FOR COOKING. That was my sole reason for buying them. I wanted to EAT THE EGGS. So the the SOP of the birds did not matter to me, infact I did not even care to try to look it up. I paid $45 for the roo and four hens.
That was almost three years ago and I do not have the original cucus anymore. That was the one reason why I did not keep them and it was easier to just get rid of them all since I did not know much about their background and how many were related. My uncle does have some of them including the roo, and I hatch for him and his last hatch of 23 only one had a sprig on his comb; (to answer your question about that) but also the "sprigged roo's" offsrping lay the darkest cucu eggs I have seen even darker than most BCMs.
When I decided to actually breed Marans for SQ I searched "French Marans" I found Bev Davis' website and the definition of a Marans there it says
..."Use care when purchasing "Marans" from sources. No matter how beautiful the color of bird, if the flock is not producing #4 or better eggs at some point of the laying cycle, the birds technically DO NOT QUALIFY AS MARANS, PERIOD.
So taking that into consideration, I started with 20 chicks and 3 dozen cucu and blue marans eggs from a man that has raised them for 8 years, I went to his farm and saw his birds and eggs. I bought 2 dozen hatching eggs from a family south of me that has raised them for 5 (also a nice farm visit). I won chicks from eggbid which was a HUGE waste, I ordered some from a breeder in Ill too which was another huge waste, (both were praised for their birds and I do not know why the were defected and sickly from being linebred for too long.) I also bought chicks from nearby reffered breeders with flocks from WJ/Grisham, Davis, and some with Davis/Presley. My whites are from the orignal Ripley line. I recently bought cucus from a woman that has raised them for 15 years and has Fugate/Davis lines in her flock. In all I had around 75 chicks shipped to me and hatched 5 or 6 dozen purchased eggs that were Marans. Of those I only have my breeding stock of 20. I have two that I kept due to their birth/genetic defects but they are my free rangers and I let them breed with EE to make "Olive eggers"
As for the 300-400 chicks I sold last year they were not just Marans. I also breed Silkies,Auracauna,Ameracauna,EE, and last year I also had Black Astrolorps, Old English Game, Brown Legghorns and Polish too. I also do custom hatching for half of the chicks or payment and so I had all kinds of breeds, guineas,emu,ducks, and geese too. I don't remember how many I kept. Right now for breeding purposes at my home I only have 37 adults and 26 are Marans.
I sold most of the chicks and others as straight run but I am sure I had plenty of roos. PLENTY. I did sell all the extra Marans roos and pullets but the 8 cucu roos (which I kept intentionally until last month) and even after I had taken them to my friend to process I had a guy calling me and one week later wanting one so I went and got it back and gave it to him. I do actually have people calling me just wanting roosters I know it sounds crazy but it does happen from time to time.
Now as for the feathered legs. I do not know why people are asking specifically for feathered legs, maybe it is because the breed is becoming more popular around here and so more people know they should have feathered shanks. I personally prefer the clean legs. I let my favorites free range and that means dirt and mud too and I hate how the fethers breakoff and matt up. I also find the look of the open folicles gross. BUT I am trying to breed what I have now so that when my children are old enough they can have decent chickens to show so that means breeding to the SOP.
So as I said first the egg color, then the shanks, I sell my chicks to fast to judge the comb development for some but obvious sprigs go, I figured that if the comb is big enough to really see the sprig at a day old then it is probably a roo anyway. I have only found a few this year none were from my own chickens but from eggs I had bought and some chicks I went to look at that my neighbor has. I explain to the people that I sell chicks to why I am selling them and that I am trying to get some SQ chickens and really most of them are just worried about the egg color and the feathered legs.
I hope that makes it clearer but I think I just rambled too much and even confused myself.
Don, if you need to say something then say it. You seem to be so smug in your opinions from what I have read on these boards. I have met plenty of peole like you in my life and you are not going to say anything that is going to offend me. I am one of the few people in this world that accepts everyone just like they are no matter how curmudgeonly they may seem to be. I actually appreciate critisisms and opinions wether it is anything I want to hear or not. I know you have been breeding poultry for longer than me and believe it or not I would like to hear what you want to say. Lighten up man, they are just chickens.
Time to fly, I have a coon to kill.
