cuckoo marans?

[henryhoe]

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please tell me what saddle feathers are and do the girls or boys get them??

 

[JakRat]

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please tell me what saddle feathers are and do the girls or boys get them??

Saddle feathers are the feathers between the back and the tail. In boys they are usually pointy and have a waterfall effect. Search on the search page for a good pic... on google they are all pics of those hair feathers that people are wearing... weird.

My cuckoo marans are nuts. They have not let me pick them up easily since I brought they home at 3 and 6 weeks old. I let them do what they want now because they are just a pain. Not loud or mean to the other girls, but they dont like me

. One of them acts like a mama to my youngest little one and the other one just kinda hangs out. They are very flighty though and jump and flap around when they free range.

 

[JakRat]

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I might have a rooster up here in PA if you want to come up and get him

 

[Blueberry Hill]

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I hope mine start laying that soon! They are about 4 months right now. I need to post pictures. I am supposed to have 10 pullets and 1 roo, but I am wondering if 1 of the 'hens' is simply a 'he'

 

[PtldChick]

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I'm sorry, but she is a he.

In the barred and cuckoo birds, the males have an extra barring gene (white) making them lighter colored than the females (see the pic a couple posts below yours of the darker CM females). I have a CM pullet almost the same age as yours - she is much darker, and has a red, but smaller comb and wattles.

He looks very striking, though!

 

[azqhcowgirl]

Your CM looks just like my roo. From what I can tell, the roos look half black and half white and the hens look black with white barring. That is how I knew I had a roo in my 3 CM's. My two pullets were darker than my roo.

 

[devora]

Pretty sure that that one ain't gonna lay. And he's gonna be very cheeky indeed.

I'm not good at sexing birds but that looks roo to me. Post in the gender thread to get experts.

 

[talonz8355]

I think yours is a rooster. My CM is also very sweet. She is bigger than all of my girls with the exception of my Pechin duck and my turkey. Both of who she hangs out with more than any of my other chickens.

 

[BeulahBreezes]

'she' is a rooster!

 

[Bogart]

2 photos of Belle & Phillipe



3 photos of Phillipe




3 photos of Belle






I thought the picture of the chicken Henryhoe posted was interesting, because I have a Cuckoo Maran chicken that looks similar that I have thought to be a hen, however have had someone say that the bird is a rooster. I am new to chickens and this is my first post. I ordered 7 hens and 1 Cuckoo Maran rooster the first of June, going in with a friend to reach 25 minimum chickens. When we divided the birds we discovered they had thrown in a second Maran so I took it not knowing which was a rooster and hoping I would have a rooster and a hen. The one chicken was so much bigger than the other so I always assumed he was probably a rooster and hoped the little one a hen. My sister also ordered a Maran rooster and what we discovered was at the time all the chicks were first getting tails the bigger bird had a tail and the smaller one and my sister’s did not. Was the little one a rooster then? At 6 weeks I discovered that the little bird was indeed a rooster (Phillipe) when he started crowing and gradually developed rooster traits. The dilemma comes in with the other bird as to whether it is a hen or rooster. (We named them Belle)
I am going to list all the differences in the birds and have included 2 group pictures and 3 of each chicken. As the chickens grew I noticed that they were like salt and pepper (which is why I included group), the rooster was light and the other bird dark. I heard if you tipped the bird and it fanned its tail it was a hen. Phillipe did not fan his tail but the larger, darker one did. They both developed combs and wattles. Phillipe has deep cherry red ones and ear lobes. Belle has dark pink ones with no ear lobes. I also noticed that Belle has a lavender iridescence on the feathers when the sun hits but Phillipe does not. The rooster is developing saddle feathers and there are hackle feathers coming in like crazy. Belle has a few longer feathers by her tail and I don’t notice hackle feathers. Phillipe holds his tail upright and has long, curled feathers. Belle holds her tail horizontal, having long feathers that cover a definite tail of even feathers. Belle sometimes shakes her tail back and forth and we tried the tip and fan trick and the tail still fans. I noticed when Phillipe runs he holds his head up as does my Golden Polish rooster, but that Belle holds her head stretched forward like my hens. But here is the confusing part. Belle occasionally crows. I would throw in the towel and assume that it had to be a rooster then, but I heard that rarely hens will crow. I in fact have a friend who says her mother in law’s chickens crow sometimes. Belle either copies Phillipe or if I am in the garden has run to the fence and crowed a couple times. (I go into the garden and get them cherry tomatoes) Phillipe will puff himself up and flap his wings, but I have never seen Belle do that. I also noticed that Belle follows Phillipe around in the chicken area. The other fact is that Belle is so big for a hen, but has always been my biggest chicken even though the Cuckoo Maran is listed as being smaller than some of the “big” bird breeds that I bought like the Buff Orpington. She is thinner and longer than Phillipe, who is more round looking. So does anyone have any knowledge or thoughts on this? I can see where Belle looks nothing like crazy4spurs hens, but I don’t think she looks like a rooster either. The jury is out! (btw the pictures are taken at 16 weeks & my sister's rooster looks just like Phillipe)