Breeding Question

[Headgear]

I've had chickens pretty much all my life but never took the time to try to better them. (My wife and I have two small businesses that own us). I love Marans and got twenty +/- each of four different kinds this past spring. Now they are close to laying and I have been doing a lot of reading but I am not sure where to start. I have BC's, gold cuckoos, wheatens, and black tailed buffs. I want to start with the BC's. My question is, where do you start? I've read the sop and the first 40 or so pages in the front describing the all the different parts and the cuts but some defects must be harder to improve than others and I'm guessing that they would be the first priority.

After spending a lot of time reading the sop, looking at a lot of pictures on the internet and comparing my birds, I see a flurry of different problems and don't know what to try first. BTW, most of my birds are Wade Jeane but I also got 25 Bev Davis BC's which I thought would be a pretty good pool to pick and choose from.

So, I have some with 90 degree tails but beautiful plumage, some that are nearly all black with hardly any copper, quite a few that are mossy, some that have comb issues, and of course, being new I'm sure that there are defects that I am not even seeing. Not mention egg color but no eggs yet so I'll deal with that later.

My prettiest roo so far is a big beautiful BC with a great comb and pretty good tail, has a nice sheen to his feathers and a good amount of feathers on his legs but he is very dark. His hackle coloring is a little on the red side and he has very, very slight coloring showing in his saddle feathers but he is only about 18 weeks old so maybe he will get better. Then I have at least two hens that just look great to me. I'll have to try to get pictures today and post them later.

Sorry for the long winded question but any help steering me in the right direction to get started would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great day!

 

[hunter109]

well i have a buddy on here that has maranes and we are going to try and breed some togather

 

[snowbird]

You could try posting some pictures, closeup of comb and front view along with a side view. Sounds like you may have bought some project Marans .

 

[Headgear]

Quote:
Yes I did and I had intended to take some pictures and post them yesterday but I started a little project first thing in the morning that I thought was only going to take a couple hours and at 6:30 in the evening I got it done. I'll try again today. I don't know how dig of a project they will be. some look pretty good from the pictures I see online but I sure paid for a lot of them for the few that I got that are decent. I'll get some pictures.

 

[tadkerson]

My experience with red pigment and males has been that as the bird gets older- he will add more red color. Do not breed birds that have disqualifying defects. Take the birds you want to breed to a show and see how they do. Then talk to the judge or judges about your birds. This will give you a good idea of how to improve your stock.

Tim

 

[Headgear]

Thanks Tim,

I do remember reading that red was not good. I still need to post pictures. I am pretty red/green color blind and would like to get a good picture so I can get some opinions. We are trying to pour concrete to feed our cows on this winter and it's taking a lot more of my time that I thought. Now it looks like rain! I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.

I do have some younger ones (10 to weeks) that are starting to look better and there are a couple of roosters that are really starting to look good. That's good because in the older ones (16 weeks) I didn't get that many roosters and the one with the red is the best one. I am glad that I did get some good hens out of that batch though.

I have never taken birds to a show. I'll have to see how that works. I usually don't have much free time. Do you have to stay there with them?

Thanks again

 

[bloonskiller911]

good luck on your project. i'll be following this thread for the pictures and an update on your progress!!

 

[Debbi]

You need to come over to the Marans thread! There is quite a bit of info in the pages, and some chatter too. It is a fast moving thread, and there is usually someone always there to answer your questions. At 18 weeks, your roo is still pretty young, so the coloring on the saddle should start to come in. Sounds to me like he has mahogany coloring? The trick with Marans is to cull, cull, CULL! Cull out all comb defects like sprigs or Carnation combs right away. They will breed forward and are DQs. Start looking over the birds as a whole, then you can pick them apart piece by piece. Go for type and size first! You want broad and heavy looking birds with good subtance. A lot of hens will never shpw the copper, but may have other good qualities, so I don't cull for that right now. With a nicely colored rpp, you can fix that problem in the offspring. C'mon over to the thread, and welcome to the "Dark Side", of eggs that is!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/383387/marans-thread-breed-discussion-pictures-are-welcome/38550

 

[Headgear]

Quote: Should I have posted my original question on the marans thread. I don't know so much about how forums work. I thought that if I had a question that I needed to start my own thread or it would be viewed as railroading someone else's thread. Now I have to learn about breeding and forum etiquette

At least I found the happy faces lol.