Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[3riverschick]

I've always liked them but never owned so much as one. Perhaps some day.

For no particular reason, I'm looking very hard at BLACK Marans and I have always 'sworn' that I'd never own a bird with feathered feet. I don't really know what the attraction is...I don't really care about the shade of brown the eggs come in ...Just something that I can't put my finger on. Senility rapidly approaching???

Hi Hellbender,
The attraction of the feathered feet is cultural. The French pasture their chickens on grass so the feathered feet are part of that culture. The English yard their chickens in poultry yards where the feathers can get muddy or dirty. So the English bred their Marans with no feathered feet. The first Marans which came over here had no feathered feet. Then some came from France with feathered feet and the attraction was there and accepted. Finally when the breed came to the APA for acceptance into the SOP there was a huge row in the breed between feathered and non feathered feet. The APA went with the country of origin and accepted the Marans with feathered feet.
Best,
Karen

 

[hellbender]

Hi Hellbender,
The attraction of the feathered feet is cultural. The French pasture their chickens on grass so the feathered feet are part of that culture. The English yard their chickens in poultry yards where the feathers can get muddy or dirty. So the English bred their Marans with no feathered feet. The first Marans which came over here had no feathered feet. Then some came from France with feathered feet and the attraction was there and accepted. Finally when the breed came to the APA for acceptance into the SOP there was a huge row in the breed between feathered and non feathered feet. The APA went with the country of origin and accepted the Marans with feathered feet.
Best,
Karen

Thanks Karen. At least the Black Marans don't have a really profuse amount of foot feathering, compared to many breeds I've seen.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I got a couple black copper Marans and raised them with a clutch of Delawares. We really like them. Not too much foot feathering ... I can see the appeal. They grew faster than the Delawres (not hard to do, BTW), had a nice square frame. I think the Delawares dress out bigger and meatier in the end, but that's not everything.

 

[hellbender]

I got a couple black copper Marans and raised them with a clutch of Delawares. We really like them. Not too much foot feathering ... I can see the appeal. They grew faster than the Delawres (not hard to do, BTW), had a nice square frame. I think the Delawares dress out bigger and meatier in the end, but that's not everything.

My interest is in the Blacks, as in solid black.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Black Penedesenca.
Solid black.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

My interest is in the Blacks, as in solid black.

Difference is just feather color, no? Do the blacks have the same down color as chicks? We really like watching white bottomed black chicks run around ... cute little diaper bums.

 

[hellbender]

Difference is just feather color, no? Do the blacks have the same down color as chicks? We really like watching white bottomed black chicks run around ... cute little diaper bums.

I actually don't know but if that's it, they wouldn't be of any real use to me. It's the black color that I need as well as conformation.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I actually don't know but if that's it, they wouldn't be of any real use to me.  It's the black color that I need as well as conformation.

Well, the point of my original post was that we found the Marans to have a nice boxy frame and to grow pretty quickly (compared to our Delawares, which are slow). We like those things about them.

Besides that, their lightly feathered feet seem to do pretty well here ... we have a mixture of forage area including grass and other stuff. They get around really well.

 

[gjensen]

If I had a bird with feathered legs, I would either pluck them all, give them away, or kill them. They would drive me crazy. I say that in jest. There are some breeds that I admire with feathered legs. I do wonder what ever possessed anyone from perpetuating the characteristic other than a novel curiosity.

Concerning the bantams, I never heard of any being here. I wonder if there is. The large fowl are rare enough. I have to admit that the breed is interesting.

Wisher, every year, I consider them. I suspect that is as far as it would go. Is there any good bantam Campines around? I mean good. No junk, or sort of.

 

[gjensen]

From the Marans I have seen, the type is all over the place.