There's something about the contrast between the black and the silver that makes it my favorite chicken color. Especially when the color is clean and correct and it took me 5 years to breed my group towards better feather color. This year a couple sprouted up pretty decent!
There's so many different things to breed for in Marans, it's quite the balancing act. Between their type, function, feathered legs and egg color, it's a long list of traits to keep intact and moving forward down the line. There's always room for improvement! I spent the 1st 2 years on type/size/growth. Then I went after tails, combs and leg feathering. Then I went after feather color. The whole time, not neglecting that egg color.
Next all of those things need to keep moving forward while I work on tightening the feathers and some other details. These birds hardly look anything like the birds I started with!
The line I'm working with carries Blue and Splash, I'm trying to work them towards just the Black Silver but I keep finding good stock in the other colors so they persist. I just need more time to get there, it'll come!
There's so many different things to breed for in Marans, it's quite the balancing act. Between their type, function, feathered legs and egg color, it's a long list of traits to keep intact and moving forward down the line. There's always room for improvement! I spent the 1st 2 years on type/size/growth. Then I went after tails, combs and leg feathering. Then I went after feather color. The whole time, not neglecting that egg color.
Next all of those things need to keep moving forward while I work on tightening the feathers and some other details. These birds hardly look anything like the birds I started with!
The line I'm working with carries Blue and Splash, I'm trying to work them towards just the Black Silver but I keep finding good stock in the other colors so they persist. I just need more time to get there, it'll come!