White ear lobes are a recessive trait like any other defect in Marans, or any breed. While I wouldn't breed a bird with vulture hocks, the recessive genes are still there in some of my LA birds under the surface where you can't see, in their DNA. They don't exhibit vulture hocks, but some carry the gene and it crops up in their offspring. Apollo and #60 have produced 10% chicks exhibiting vulture hocks so far. Those chicks were culled, but the rest are looking good. As Chooks man says, if you cull all your chooks with flaws you won't have any chooks in your yard. There is no perfect bird. Only in paintings and our dreams. Even show winners have minor flaws. Hard culling is what builds a line, and we all have to start somewhere.
Got my fingers crossed for the 14. I am so glad my egg packing was a success. I have never shipped eggs and I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, I wanted them to get there in good shape. It is going to be cold tomorrow.... in the 60s but then in a couple of days right back up to the mid 70's.
