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

[whidbey]

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[Lotsapaints]

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not unless the Splash has a White gene normally White Marans are recessive whites and are from Cuckoos though of course you can breed in other colors so who knows what color you would get. It seems hard enough to breed them why mix colors unless you just want yard mutts because egg color is likely to suffer also when you cross them.....

 

[Myabcs3]

So, last fall I hatched a batch of eggs from my group pictured previously. Out of the five hatched, one of these pullets came out with a a brassy/gold ring around her neck/in her hackle. I am thinking that I don't want to hatch eggs from her, but can someone help me with the brass/gold color gene? I obviously have some gold in my roo, do all cuckoos have that color gene? Is it recessive? Can I/do I breed it out?
Thanks for the help - trying to figure out who to mate up next.

Here is a pic of her - not very good, but you can see the gold on her head and around the neck. She does not carry any gold in the rest of her feathering.

 

[shesaredroan]

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Looks like you have a golden cuckoo hen.......many are becoming interested in these, but they are not easy to find.

 

[Myabcs3]

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Looks like you have a golden cuckoo hen.......many are becoming interested in these, but they are not easy to find.

Thanks!

So, random happening? Or is the gene pool pretty mixed for both cuckoos and golden cuckoos that you will get errant colors sometimes?
Sorry, genetics is not my thing. I am trying to learn, but very little is sticking!

 

[admhotel]

I really like my cuckoo marans, originaly got them to make some barred OE. Now I think I will also use them for breeding. I hope what you guys are saying about the lighter cuckoo roo means that it double gened for barred. I have a young cockeral that I think is like this. Should be golden cuckoo also.

 

[cmfarm]

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not unless the Splash has a White gene normally White Marans are recessive whites and are from Cuckoos though of course you can breed in other colors so who knows what color you would get. It seems hard enough to breed them why mix colors unless you just want yard mutts because egg color is likely to suffer also when you cross them.....

I asked this question for for one to understand the genetic aspect of it. So they from cuckoos, interesting. So if you bred them back to cuckoos you would get some white and some cuckoo? Again, trying to understand the genetics of it all. I am also asking this to find out if there is good breeding to do to get better egg color as I understand the whites tend to have a lighter egg.

 

[VillageChicken]

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not unless the Splash has a White gene normally White Marans are recessive whites and are from Cuckoos though of course you can breed in other colors so who knows what color you would get. It seems hard enough to breed them why mix colors unless you just want yard mutts because egg color is likely to suffer also when you cross them.....

The problem with whites from cuckoos is you don't know if they have the barring gene or not. Without the barring gene they don't have the pink shanks. Cuckoo shanks are cleared by the barring gene, so they don't usually carry the ID gene that clears shanks on all the other non-barred Marans varieties.

 

[Lotsapaints]

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not unless the Splash has a White gene normally White Marans are recessive whites and are from Cuckoos though of course you can breed in other colors so who knows what color you would get. It seems hard enough to breed them why mix colors unless you just want yard mutts because egg color is likely to suffer also when you cross them.....

I asked this question for for one to understand the genetic aspect of it. So they from cuckoos, interesting. So if you bred them back to cuckoos you would get some white and some cuckoo? Again, trying to understand the genetics of it all. I am also asking this to find out if there is good breeding to do to get better egg color as I understand the whites tend to have a lighter egg.

My White who was hatched from a 7 egg was lucky to lay an 4 her hatch mates all lay 5/6 right now after 6 months of laying not all whites are from Cuckoos but getting whites from barred birds is not unusual. Here is a chart from Chris9 that will help you with the barring genetics

*Cuckoo/Barred (Sex-linked Dominant)

Cuckoo (B/B) + Cuckoo (B/B) = all cuckoo
Black male + Cuckoo female = females black (non barring), males cuckoo (B/b) -carrying non-barring/black
Cuckoo (B/B) male + Black female = all cuckoos, all males (B/b) -carrying non-barring/ black
Cuckoo (B/b -carrying non-barring/black) male + Black female = of males: 50% Cuckoo [B/b -all carrying non-barring/black], 50% Black, of females: 50% Cuckoo, 50% Black
Cuckoo (B/b -carrying non-barring/black) male + Cuckoo female = of males: 50% Cuckoo, (B/b -carrying non-barred/black, 50% pure Cuckoo (B/B), of females: 50% Cuckoo, 50% Black.

more from Chris9 on recessive White

DILUTERS OF BLACK AND GOLD —

• cc -- Recessive white --Changes both black and red to white. Working with recessive white can be tricky as it "white washes" a bird. It may have the phenotype of a totally different color or even a nonstandard color underneath the white. The only way to determine what the white is hiding is to mate it to a black bird. You can get barred, polecats, etc.

info on Splash

Blue to Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Splash, 25% Black
Splash to Blue = 50% Blue, 50% Splash
Splash to Black = 100% Blue
Splash to Splash = 100% Splash
Blue to Black = 50% Blue, 50% Black
Black to Black = 100% Black

 

[PHarris985]

Here is a picture of one of my new white marans and it has feathers on its legs. I have five I'll take a good picture of all of them and keep everyone updated on the chicks. The Roo was half Cuckoo and half White Marans. I had five hatch out of a dozen shipped eggs. So happy this thread is started as I have been looking for more info on White Marans. I also have 6 two month old Cuckoo Marans which I'll take a picture later and post it.