Chocolate Marans

[nicalandia]

Hm... do you have pictures of this chick?

The Choc gene is a mutation and is very rare, it would be something very special for it to just pop up in a Marans line.

I'm very interested and would love to learn more about this flock's history.

its probably Dun(I^D) or the Dark Brown columbian Restrictor Db(will give ER birds a Dark chocolate color)

I believe this chick to carry Db or Dun. as Chocolate is none existant in Nicaragua

 

[tikidoc]

I'll try to get a picture up soon, but I would say my chick is a little lighter than that one, but not much.

 

[ChooksChick]

I've been off-the-air for some time now, but since spring is on its way (please?) I have eggs coming in and I'm ready to share. Over on the 24 hour auction thread I've posted this auction for Chocolate Marans. There are a couple of pics. I'll post more soon.

 

[ladycat]

This thread seems dead, but I'm subscribing in case it gets active, because I'm VERY interested in the possibility of getting chocolate Marans.

 

[jeremy]

I'm really surprised someone hasn't announced breeding them yet. A Chocolate colored chicken that lays chocolate eggs, sounds pretty awesome, IMO.

I feel like there has to be someone breeding for them out there... somewhere...

 

[nicalandia]

I'm really surprised someone hasn't announced breeding them yet. A Chocolate colored chicken that lays chocolate eggs, sounds pretty awesome, IMO.

I feel like there has to be someone breeding for them out there... somewhere...

yeah I agree

 

[ladycat]

Is anyone here an expert in chocolate genetics? I've got a mystery on my hands. I've had some chocolate chicks show up out of nowhere.

The daddy is pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/...ff-blue-tailed-buff-marans-discussion-thread/ Sorry I didn't have a good camera when he was a chick, but he was in an order of Marans chicks I got from a small hatchery that specializes in rare breeds. He looked exactly like a Gold Cuckoo, and he was labeled as such on the box. But he grew up looking like a Blue Tailed Buff. He doesn't have a barred feather on him even though he had the barred head spot as a chick.

The mother is an ordinary Silver Cuckoo.

I looked up chocolate genetics and it's a sex-link recessive. Which means the rooster could be split chocolate, and chocolate chicks would be female. The place the rooster came from might be doing some color experimenting. The rooster might not even be pure Marans, although he looks like he is, and he's supposed to be.

Here is one of the chicks. You can't tell in these pics, but the fuzz on the legs is also distinctly chocolate in color.

 

[DMRippy]

Is anyone here an expert in chocolate genetics? I've got a mystery on my hands. I've had some chocolate chicks show up out of nowhere.

The daddy is pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/...ff-blue-tailed-buff-marans-discussion-thread/ Sorry I didn't have a good camera when he was a chick, but he was in an order of Marans chicks I got from a small hatchery that specializes in rare breeds. He looked exactly like a Gold Cuckoo, and he was labeled as such on the box. But he grew up looking like a Blue Tailed Buff. He doesn't have a barred feather on him even though he had the barred head spot as a chick.

The mother is an ordinary Silver Cuckoo.

I looked up chocolate genetics and it's a sex-link recessive. Which means the rooster could be split chocolate, and chocolate chicks would be female. The place the rooster came from might be doing some color experimenting. The rooster might not even be pure Marans, although he looks like he is, and he's supposed to be.

Here is one of the chicks. You can't tell in these pics, but the fuzz on the legs is also distinctly chocolate in color.

It does not look like my choc birds. I kinda see a little bit of chipmunk striping and my guess is it is more red that choc. So it was a sex link cross and has to be a pullet. Looks more like some BLRW I have seen than choc. Let her feather in and see what you get.

 

[ladycat]

That pic was taken when she was a couple days old. I'll try to remember to take my camera with me out to the barn and get an updated pic.

 

[budgetboo]

Hi

This is my first ever post so please be gentle in your replies if I make an error with etiquette. I'm also a brand new chicken keeper!

I'm in the UK and obtained "chocolate cuckoo marans bantams hatching eggs" last month. They were posted to us and amid great excitement on my part and we duly popped 6 in our brand new wee brinsea incubator. Sadly from our 6 eggs only 4 were made it past 10 days. I lack the experience to say whether that was incubator or postal error. 4 hatched without any trouble and we now have 4 healthy 3 week old chicks that are eating, pooping and cheeping for Wales!

Here's where my questions start:-

1. Is it correct that all male chicks should be black and all female chocolate? I could only find one supplier of eggs so am unsure where I've just been sold a hybrid or a pure breed that will breed true. The seller isn't known to me personally and it's easy to rip off a newbie in any walk of life. In all my internet searches for examples of the breed I have only been able to find pictures of pullets. If someone could clear this up for me I'd appreciate it so much.

2. I understand marans bantams eggs tend to be a little lighter in colour than the large fowl - is this correct? I did take a look at the marans colour chart before setting the eggs - all 6 were between 3 & 4 on the colour chart.

3. Assuming I have two boys and two girls - is it safe to use these as a breeding trio? Should I retain both boys in case only one carries the chocolate gene? If I get rid of one boy - how do I select the best candidate to keep?

4. Given that these came from the same supplier, if I breed the boys to some ordinary silver cuckoo marans pullets am I likely to get any chocolates in the first generation from which I can then line breed? I'm thinking this might be the best way of improving the egg colour and the genetic diversity to avoid health problems in generations 3 & 4 onwards.

I am using the English breed standard which calls for clean legs. I'm OK with this as Wales is a wet and muddy place so clean legged birds seem a more practical choice for day to day flock management.

If all goes to plan then I intend to create a line of chocolate cuckoo marans bantams and a second one of rhodebar bantams in future years.