Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding strategies...

[Hens and Roos]

Yeah. I got the basket at the Dollar Tree or one of those type stores. I have a cookie cooling rack, also from the Dollar Tree, on top with zip ties to keep them from hopping out. Works great. I can get 12 in my hatcher when I stack them 3 tall.

Thanks, I will have to look into this, last hatch we had babies mixing- good thing there was a size difference between the 2 different groups of chicks!

 

[DreamCatcherNC]

hope you don,t mind me jumping in here, but I am new to white marans, and I have a question. I bought a trio and they are about three months old now. My roo and one pullet both have white shanks, but I just noticed that one pullet has yellow shanks as well as yellow around the eyes and beak. what do I have going on here?

 

[DMRippy]

There have been LOTS of things mixed in Marans. Yellow legs seem to be a big problem in all Marans. I personally would not breed any of them. Yellow legs are recessive. So for it to express 2 copies are needed. The Roo and hen both were carriers at least. The sire of those chicks would pass the gene off to 50% of his offspring and so would a hen. Some would end up with 2 copies and that is what you have in the one with yellow legs. You can test mate the ones with white legs by crossing them to a breed with yellow legs. If ANY chicks have yellow legs (after a few weeks because ALL chicks hatch with yellow legs), they carry the genes.

 

[OHmamma]

Hi, I would say the darker would be more correct for the Golden cuckoo. Handsome bird you have there.

The lighter male will eventually show more and more white and less barring.

-Nicol

 

[OHmamma]

I went and looked... pinkish white, no yellow. Too cold for pics. I do have some recent pics of a birchen marans x lemon cuckoo orpington cross that I posted on another thread for info on coloring... sorry about the frankencross but I am trying to dissect out color and understand it better... is this fellow cuckoo patterned? I am thinking blue cuckoo? with the evidence of the birchen gene? His father was a monstrously large birchen marans. The hen a rather overbred orpington with very little agility... freindly, she let me hold her, but unfortunately she was taken by a hawk and I will not try orpingtons again... pretty birds but not sturdy enough for me as mine free range within an electric perimeter. The others all made it thru the summer knowing when to duck for cover. I have a small mixed flock of marans, barneveldors, partridge rock and EE's... all cranking out eggs right now despite thew cold. Hard to not hatch out a few... lol.

Anyway, help with sorting out the coloring of my little oddball frankenbird here would be appreciated...

He looks like he is cuckoo x a patterned bird, it looks like lacing on his breast.

 

[OHmamma]

We don't keep Cuckoo males with White tail feathers. We try to work toward the goal of breeding it out of our Cuckoos. I am sure that the issue will come up in Newnan again.

Regards,
Ernie Haire

The hard thing about breeding it out is that some may not develop it until well into their second year, by then how many have been hatched? I would stay away from young cockerels with them but Older Cock birds are just going to be prone to them more often than not especially after a molt or trauma to the follicle. I have never had issues with it in my cuckoo roos. I have seen it with the Blue Copper.

The standard for the Cuckoo Marans is going to be the same as it is for other breeds that are cuckoo in color. The DQ's and faults will remain the same as they are for any other breed. The same breeders are not breeding the cuckoo that helped with the other two approved varieties. The committee is taking it much slower and anyone in the Newnan GA area is more than welcome to come to the pre-qualifying meet that is planned there. MCCOA members are also welcome to the demonstration that will be given specifically for the cuckoo type color and expectations.

As someone that has been breeding cuckoo for several years, I believe that there will be a variation in the colors of the cuckoos it will likely be more noticeable in the Roosters. This is mainly because the cuckoo have been around and bred for quite some time and there are many lines to work with. Some have black bred into them, others blue, birchen, and some even white and once they are all together it will be far more noticeable than a photograph can really show. I am worried that real silver cuckoo or single bar males will be shown as standard cuckoo as well. That is why the pre- qualifying meet was planned so that all of the breeders can have a better idea on where they stand.

As for the goldens with white tails it is pretty much the same thing. It has a lot to do with the bird, his barring genetics, and possibly the feather growth rate. The gc should be a cross of cuckoo x black copper (not wheaten). They should have dark barring on the body and gold in the hackles and pyle. Neither should have excessive white in the body.

A Silver Cuckoo will have bright silver in his hackle and pyle causing it to look nearly white, and his main body will have darker barring. The hens should have noticeable silver highlights in their hackle as well. Neither should have too much white in the body.

-Nicol

 

[Raven1]

Hi, I would say the darker would be more correct for the Golden cuckoo. Handsome bird you have there.

The lighter male will eventually show more and more white and less barring. 

-Nicol

Thanks Nicol. That is the way I am going with them the other male is on the block(sale or chopping). I do like the darker much better and I am hoping that is the way it will go.

 

[Raven1]

I hatched a mixed egg from my Birchen roo over a White hen just to see what it would be and I got the most lovely Cuckoo chick, can not wait to see it grow out!

 

[OHmamma]

I hatched a mixed egg from my Birchen roo over a White hen just to see what it would be and I got the most lovely Cuckoo chick, can not wait to see it grow out!

They are both derived from cuckoo, that is actually how you maintain good cuckoo egg color by breeding back to birchen. Birchen are black copper x silver cuckoo and if you was using one of the whites from mine they had been crossed with cuckoo to darken their eggs as well. I would be anxious to see the egg color!!

The group tries to adhere to the French standards as much as possible but the actual wording has to fall into the same format as current APA standards. So the best bet with any unrecognized variety would be to breed it like the French version. Other varieties not recognized by either country would best be bred to the conformation and type of any accepted American Marans but the color description that is recognized currently by the APA for that particular variety in any breed. Things like eye color and comb description remain the same but naturally occurring features like shank, beak, and nail color will vary between varieties.

Will you make it to the Newnan Show?

-Nicol

 

[Raven1]

I am pretty sure the hen was from your stock so that explains alot! Her egg color is not real great but not terrible, the Birchens are from very dark and the hens lay very dark so we will see. So do you think it will grow up to be a clean colored Cuckoo and will it breed true with other Cuckoos? I may have to hatch a few more and just see what I get! I do not have a White roo old enough to breed just yet so what the heck.