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

Those are beautiful. Quit it!
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I suppose you could do that with a good BTB and cuckoo Marans
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.......
 
I posted Gabbard farms about that gcm listing on ebay and they wrote back insisting this hen is a golden cuckoo marans... weird

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Golden-Cuck...765?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3380328d7d
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Does not surprise me !
I ordered R/C Light Brown Leghorn eggs from her last fall, and hatched out R/C DARK brown leghorn Bantams !
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She does not have them listed as bantam fowl on the web page...but bantams they are !!
If you look at their bantam fowl page, they are not listed.
Oh well !
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OK So we love some cuckoo here. :)

I would like to see them APA approved someday....

There are far more breeders on here so if anyone is interested lets get to work.

First what anyone interested in showing their Cuckoo Marans at APA shows needs to know is the basic genetics of a barred bird. Please understand that this is information I have collected from many poultry books and from many many online sites and from my own experience. I by no means claim to be the authority on Cuckoo Marans but I am just wanting to share what I have found. There are many beautiful Cuckoo Marans that are not up to these standards who's owners believe that they are perfect just way they are. I have a few myself. I am not trying to get anyone to toss out what they have or influence anyone to do something they do not wish to do. I am only trying to share information. This is just pertaining to the color of the bird not type since it will remain the same as the APA approved varieties of Marans.
(see http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/StandardofPerfection.html )

(feel free to add to or question any of this) Taken from http://frenchmaransclubaustralia.yolasite.com/notes-on-breeding.php

Cuckoo birds are Black, E/E (or occasionally Birchen, ER/ER) based in the Marans, the genotype is completed by the addition of the sex-linked dominant barring gene (B), this
replaces the black plumage with the irregular Cuckoo pattern, as we know it in the Marans.
Another sex linked dominant gene (S) silver intensifies the silver-white contrast in the plumage of the hackle, back, shoulders, and lancets. In this way, the Cuckoo (B) colour factor expressed itself on each of the two (B/B) chromosomes present in the cock, and has a cumulative effect, doubling the expression giving a lighter shade to the cock’s feathers.

On the other hand, in the Cuckoo hen, the (B) factor is hemizygous expressed on only one allele, the second remaining unexpressed. Thus the hen plumage is a darker Cuckoo (B/b). The homozygous Cuckoo male has a genotype of E/E S/S Ml/Ml B/B Id/Id W/W Pti-1/Pti-1, and the hemizygous hens one of E/E S/- Ml/Ml B/- Id/-d W/W Pti-1/Pti-1. In addition to the cumulative plumage lighting effect, cuckoo/barring also removes pigment from the shank and beak, and these are lighter in the cock.


OR as taken from Kipen...

Feather color genes often display a ‘dosing’ effect: “Two genes are stronger than one.” For example, since the locus of the sex-linked barring gene is on the Z sex chromosome, females that have Cuckoo or sex-linked barring (the barring that Barred Rocks have) can have only one barring gene and have barring that is less well defined than the barring of males that have two barring genes.

As we know you can get the barring effect in ANY color but to get correct and Standard Cuckoo Marans we need to be breeding for BLACK BASED birds. It causes a much more even effect and will produce the correct color in both the cock and the hen.

Here are some nice correctly colored hen photos taken from http://maranklub.dk/galleri/dvaerg-maran-grastribet



Correct Cock birds are much harder to find. (As most of us know) They should not have white in the tail but I am mainly showing these for their color especially note the Hackles and pyle, it should not be brighter than the body. The barring is sometimes wider in the white areas which will cause them to look lighter. This is not correct. The barring should be uniform throughout the entire length of the chicken. Photos taken from Feathersite, and maranklub.dk






Cuckoo that are Birchen based as in a cross with a Black Copper are not correct. They are still cuckoo, but to be Standard Cuckoo they need to be the Black based.

There is also the issue with Single Bar Roosters. This is when the cockerel is only carrying ONE barring gene. He could be half black (E/E) or half Birchen (E/ER) these roos are often quite stunning but their barring will blurr along the bottom of the body and their pyle will be brighter. Causing a noticeable contrast in the bird.

These are from my own photos..





Hens that are half cuckoo from the same cross will be solid black.

again my own photo...




Single bar birds are not always bad. They can be very valuable tools if you are trying to improve the overall color of your flock, improve egg color, shank feathers, eye color etc. The Single Bar roosters will throw 25% DF males (double factor for barred) 25% single barred males 25% cuckoo female and 25% black females.

The issues with using DF males is separating the doubles form the singles. It can be done at a fairly young age, one thing that is noticeable right away is an uneven barring in the primary wing feathers.





again my photos of a single bar cockerel at a few days and about 6 weeks. He is Cuckoo x Black






Should I go on?

-Nicol
 
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