If you had a maran roo with a

[tazcat70]

different breed (something for color!) would the babies have dark eggs?

Would they be a sex-link?

Anyone know these answers?

Tonya

 

[speckledhen]

They would not be sexlinked. All the babies would have barring to a certain degree is why. I think the eggs could really vary in color.

 

[Katy]

I have some pullets from a marans roo and BR and RIR hens. Their eggs are fairly dark and I think when I hatch some of their eggs using a marans roo the daughters' from those eggs will lay even darker eggs.

 

[speckledhen]

I guess it would depend on what it was crossed with. One of my RIRs lays a pretty dark egg, as does one of my Barred Rocks. If crossed with a Marans roo, I think it might darken them up a little.
On the sexlinked part, if the Cuckoo Marans was the hen, then you would have a sexlinked bird, most likely, with the cockerels getting barring from the mother. I have several of those pullets from Barred Rock mothers with various roosters and sold the cockerels, all boys barred.

 

[tazcat70]

OK so if you wanted color...say blue, with the darker eggs then you would need the hen to be a maran (barred) and the roo to be a blue (Orp or And or Cochin).

Then the girls would be blue, the boys would be barred. You would then (maybe) have a blueish darker layer. What about the next step to darken the egg color with the blue color? Would you take the pullets babies and breed to a maran, or would you take the roos and breed to marans? Then on third generation cross them? Or would it be fourth generation?

Do you know what I mean?

Some barring in the hens would add character, or what about blue bars.....

I think I just confused myself.

Tonya

I REALLY have to find a good genetics book.

 

[Crunchie]

Or...you could just hatch some Blue Marans.

Hard to get ahold of, but I believe Bev Davis breeds them. But I guess that wouldn't be half as interesting as figuring out the genetics and doing it yourself!

I honestly don't have much of a clue when it comes to genetics, but my understanding is that the egg color in the Marans is the result of some very tricky and not yet full understood genetics. It's a pigment deposited on the shell (like it's gone through a painting "chute" as it exits the hen), it's not actually the shell color through and through--you can actually scratch the dark brown color off, and what you are left with is a light-to-medium brown egg. I've heard that crossing the Marans with other breeds might darken the eggs a bit, but successive generations will have lighter eggs and it's hard to breed it back to the true Marans color. So by crossing, you might get somewhat darker eggs and a different colored bird, but it would take a long time and very careful selective breeding to produce a true Marans (laying consistently higher than a 4 on the Marans egg color scale) again from the original crosses.

Like I said, I don't know too much about genetics, this is just my very basic understanding of what I've heard about the egg color in the Marans from talking to breeders along the way (I breed Cuckoos).

Off topic: Tonya, your avatar is cracking me up!!

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
OK, to develope what I think you are wanting will take several years.

1. Cross a SPLASH rooster of your chosen breed with a Cuckoo Marans hen
Your first generation cross will be sexlinked-males will be BLUE barred, females will be solid blue, if you use a BLUE rooster instead of a splash, only half of your chicks will be blue, the other half will be black.

2. After that, your biddies will not be sexlinked, it only works in the first generation. If you want to continue breeding for blue, keep breeding your hens back to a blue or black rooster, selecting only the darkest eggs from the pullets for hatching. I would keep a rooster or two out of the darkest eggs, AFTER the 2nd generation, if you don't want the barring. If you breed a first generation rooster to your hens, some will be BLUE CUCKOO, which could be very pretty, IF you wanted it.

I hope I helped, instead of confused you!

 

[tazcat70]

Quote:
Thanks, I saw it and burst out laughing and thought "It's PERFECT!"

Tonya

 

[tazcat70]

Quote:
No you helped! Really. Blue barred sounds great too. For this I would use a blue barred every time?

But if I wanted the barring gone, then the 2nd generation I would choose a roo that is blue from eggs hatched or would I go back to original stock of blue/splash/black?

How many generations do you think it will take? For the blue barred to get the color of stock would be just a couple but to get the consistency of dark eggs?

I don't have the room right now to do it but it sounds really great.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Tonya

 

[ksacres]

It's great how we all have projects in mind "for later" I know I have several.

If you want to breed for blue barred, reverse it. You would use a Cuckoo Marans rooster over Splash hens of your chosen breed. The F1 generation will ALL be blue and barred to some extent-some will have better barring than others.

How you breed you second generation will determine the results. If you breed your F1 rooster to F1 hens, you will still get barred, but some of the barring will be very faint, 50% of those will be blue barred, 25% will be black barred, and 25% will be splash barred.

If you breed the F1 hens back to the Cuckoo Marans (this is what I would recommend for faster egg color) you will get 100% barred (and your barring should be more defined) -half of which will be blue barred and half will be black barred.

I would continue with that mating (keeping only the blue barred hens)-to the original Cuckoo Marans Rooster(s) setting only the darkest eggs produced.

It will take you between 4 and 6 generations for type/feather pattern to be set, as for egg color, it will depend on what your original egg coloration was, both from the hens and from the roosters. Egg color is a collective process. Keep in mind even well established Marans breeders do not get those chocolate brown eggs all the time. What you see is their best. Even the breeders will tell you that.

I also wanted to add that if you are wanting the French Type Marans(feather legged), you might start with Langshans as your other breed. They are fairly easy to come by at hatcheries, and they are very similar in type to most of the Marans I have seen. One less thing to fight.