International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

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I'll have to get pictures of my marans to share. I have 4 girls, most of them are too dark but Faith has some copper in her hackles. My roo is just a one year boy because he has side sprigs. He earned the name Voldemort because I told everyone he wasn't too be named lol.

Welcome! Can't wait to see your birds. We have discussed all the above mentioned opportunities and it is a revelation to know we can fix them. Voldemort..... he who must not be named!
 
Quote:
Vacinated birds will not spread the ILT to non vaccinated. Vaccines have got better over the years.

I was on a poultry site when I read this. It really threw me because I was thinking how in the world would that work. People that vaccinated would be a threat to everyone else. Are there still vaccines that require the old biosecurity?
 
Quote:
Vacinated birds will not spread the ILT to non vaccinated. Vaccines have got better over the years.

I was on a poultry site when I read this. It really threw me because I was thinking how in the world would that work. People that vaccinated would be a threat to everyone else. Are there still vaccines that require the old biosecurity?

I have seen some Poultry shows that require X amount of days after you vaccinate before you can show. Present day vaccines are mush better. I have done test with some vaccinated and some not being side by side in cages and never any cross over. I have seen some medical people recommend Tetracyline in the water for birds infected.
 
Vacinated birds will not spread the ILT to non vaccinated. Vaccines have got better over the years.


I was on a poultry site when I read this. It really threw me because I was thinking how in the world would that work. People that vaccinated would be a threat to everyone else. Are there still vaccines that require the old biosecurity?

well, don't forget you live in the usa and I believe you have better staff for chickens/animals. vaccines here (probably in most parts of south europe) either for people or animals, are scrap, old types, out of date or experimental. my isa browns infected the rest of my flock when I introduced them. confirmed by a vet. he advised me to keep either breeds or commercial hybrids.
 
Best marans variety to support the heat better is the Silver cuckoo . the cuckoo pattern break the sun glare .

Darker colors are better for the heat not the lighter one.

White one are good for a snowy climate . they plumage absorb better the sun even in the cloudy days.

Chooks man

thanks for this information. I have never thought of that. when I think better polar animals are white. I should use my brain from time to time, lol.
 
White would also be a good camouflage against predators in snowy country.

then I need chickens with a desert sand colour, lol.

I am lucky that there are no predators here. foxes come about 500 meters from me. I wonder if these curved narrow roads are too confusing for them. as the rats don't enter traps if they don't see the way out maybe the foxes do the same. my road has a kind of stretched s shape. any idea about this theory?
 
Anybody have any new pics to post? I am going to try to take pics of all the girls today and band them!
 
History of the Marans lines in the USA – Part One

Fugate Line

Letter from Fugate to Trish:

Dear Trish,

I will indeed help set the record in order. I have been retired exactly one week today and will begin to collect my memory and my records.

My first Marans came from Isaac Hunter of Dowagiac, Michigan. I acquired the birds in 1960?? I went to Isaac's farm and bought two pair; two
cockerels and a hen and a pullet. I also bought a couple dozen eggs. It was the fall and the adult stock went into a second moult and didn't breed until
the spring. The pullet laid a darker egg than the hen but I hatched from both. The eggs were very large (I have weights in my records stored in TN).
Occasionally I would get a spectacularly large dark egg; of these, about half had double yolks! And Marans eggs tended to have blood spots!

Of the 26 eggs I brought from Michigan; I got 14 chicks. They performed rather like their Parents...

This particular strain tended to have respiratory problems and splayed legs. They layed well and I disagree with the often heard remark that the
Marans do not lay well! They certainly do not lay as many eggs as most other breeds but they lay MORE eggs than almost any breed! They are very
good winter layers, super foragers and the quality of their flesh is of world renown.

I introduced new blood into this flock in 1962. I brought eggs from England in an egg carton packed in my baggage. I hatched 7 chicks (4 males, 3
females). I kept these birds separate from the Hunter strain for two years. I called this second strain my British strain. They were not as large, not as
docile, egg quality (darker) was better, they did not lay as well as the Hunter strain. The next year I returned to Europe for an extended period and my
poultry man ran all the Marans together. During this period, the flock (70-odd birds) ran together and fended for themselves; actually hatched their
chicks in the wild and raised their own and very successfully.

When I returned, I trap nested (for egg quality - color and size) and rotated male birds. The result is probably what you are now calling the Fugate
strain. I brought Cuvee Noire (black copper) from France in 1982. I brought 36 eggs from three different flocks near Marans. More later and if you
have any questions voice me.


Letter from Fugate to Cari Shafer:

I have put together some notes and collected my memory so follows my involvement with the Marans.

I first encountered the Marans in France in 1952. I visited a colleague in La Rochelle, France and on a visit to the local market saw my first Marans
eggs. The eggs were a reddish brown almost mahogany. The eggs sold for a premium at that time.

When I returned to the United states some years later (1960ish), Isaac Hunter of Dowagiac, Michigan had an ad in the Poultry Press. I contacted
Isaac and visited his farm and bought a cock, a hen, and a pair of younger birds. Isaac gave me an additional cockerel. I penned the two females and
rotated the male birds every 15 days. Both females layed nice dark eggs and in March I began to hatch. The first season I hatched and raised 30-odd
chicks to maturity. I kept 10 of the best pullets and the two original hens from the Isaac Hunter flock, a cock from the Hunter flock (the first old cock bird
died and I am not sure if I ever got progeny from him?) I selected several male birds and rotated them with the hens/pullets. I kept this flock for several
years but brought new blood in form England In 1972.

The English birds came from a Mrs. Bosworth from near Bath. I went to her farm and collected the eggs (2 dozen) and kept them in a hotel room in
London for a week. I did turn the eggs every day. When I got the eggs home to Tennessee they were already 11 days old. I did manage to hatch two
males and one female from the 24 eggs. The Bosworth Marans were so like the Hunter strain that I suspect they came from the same lines originally.

I interbred the two strains and what you have now that you are calling the Fugate strain is a blend of Hunter and Bosworth birds.

I note in current literature that you now have lighter/darker males! My males were as alike as two peas in a pod. Coocoo; not light or dark coocoo! Did
I miss these differences? Or did they not exist in the strains I raised?

I also found the chicks 100% auto sexing right out of the shell. Occasionally I would encounter down on the legs but the down never developed into
feathered shanks.

Generally speaking my flocks were a paragon of health and hardiness. They did have a tendency to respiratory ills and had splayed legs. I never did
show Marans because beauty is as beauty does! I did take exhibits to poultry shows and sold hatching eggs but kept the eggs in a cage so people
couldn't handle them....

I never fed commercial feed to mature birds. My basic ration was 1/3 corn, 1/3 wheat and 1/3 oats. Unground in full grain. And alfalfa pellets during
the winter months. I laced the water with soluable vitamins, I did not use oyster shell but a pigeon grit. Probably an old wives tale but I suspect that
oyster shell lightens the egg shell?

At one time I had 1000 birds on hand but we had a chicken and egg business and were selling several dressed birds a week. We sold the chickens
and the eggs for twice the local market value and couldn't fill all orders.

The Health Department made signs of looking at our operation and we moved to Kosher slaughter. (And also cleaned up our act somewhat).

My Copper Black Marans came from France in the egg and I also got eggs from Dennis LaBelle of Consecon, ON Canada. The eggs from the
French birds were rather like the eggs from the Hunter/Bosworth birds but the French birds grew off more slowly, and both strains were the same from
pot to pan.

The lighter coocoos dressed off more easily. The French birds were more docile, real pets. But the Coocoo birds were not flighty....

Hope these observations will be helpful.
 

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