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

[pmessner]

Please Please do not mix the Orps with the Marans. Marans have so many problems on their own without more added to the mix. There are some very nice Whites out there already,I have been hatching from mine like crazy this Spring with very good results.

This is a very important topic to which I have absolutely no knowledge... I am still pretty new to chickens. Could you elaborate a bit more on what the known problems with marans and orpingtons are so I can move forward intelligently. I chose an orp as an out cross for my golden cuckoo marans project because I wanted the lemon cuckoo color genes... and I really like the docile nature of the orps. My marans are all a good natured and show no signs of undesirable aggression but the orps are just soooo deliciously docile. For a small back yard breeder, this trait is pretty endearing. Right now , all my marans are 1/4 lemon cuckoo orp... next I was planning to only mix in pure gcm and bred back to type... I would like to know what to look for so I can eliminate potential problems... something more important to me than type. Your expertise on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mollybuck]

Quote:
hi, new to chickens here! i have 5 of these chicks. the hens were full cuckoo and the roo is a SLW...my chicks look like the one posted previously though.. all but one have the white spot on its head..does that really mean I only have one hen!!??

 

[pmessner]

Quote: The white spot in your cross just means cuckoo. I suspect your chick without a head spot will prove to be a non cuckoo pullet... the others will be trickier... post pictures and the experts might be able to help out more. It takes me a couple weeks to figure out male from female with chicks carrying only one cuckoo gene. Chick down coloring tells a lot about the underlying e locus... so I'd start with posting pics and go from there.

 

[mollybuck]

if I could post, you guys would be innundated with pictures! its blocked at work and I cant figure it out on my kindle or phone...it wants a url...i will try from dh's computer at home tonight and see if I can from there.

 

[DMRippy]

x2

hi, new to chickens here! i have 5 of these chicks. the hens were full cuckoo and the roo is a SLW...my chicks look like the one posted previously though.. all but one have the white spot on its head..does that really mean I only have one hen!!??

Yeap! You made sex links. Lol. Slw dont have spots and the hens can only pass the barring genes to ROOS.

 

[Raven1]

This is a very important topic to which I have absolutely no knowledge... I am still pretty new to chickens. Could you elaborate a bit more on what the known problems with marans and orpingtons are so I can move forward intelligently. I chose an orp as an out cross for my golden cuckoo marans project because I wanted the lemon cuckoo color genes... and I really like the docile nature of the orps. My marans are all a good natured and show no signs of undesirable aggression but the orps are just soooo deliciously docile. For a small back yard breeder, this trait is pretty endearing. Right now , all my marans  are 1/4 lemon cuckoo orp... next I was planning to only mix in pure gcm and bred back to type... I would like to know what to look for so I can eliminate potential problems... something more important to me than type. Your expertise on this would be greatly appreciated.

I just meant that we have these colors already in the Marans, and do not understand why on the outcross to a different breed. It is very hard sometimes to find "pure" Marans as it is without adding other breeds on purpose. That being said they are your birds and you should breed them however you see fit and if you ever sell any of them please let your buyer know just what is in the bird as it may pop up down the road.

 

[pawtraitart]

One of my GCM pullets has FINALLY laid an egg! I was getting really impatient. Their combs have been red for a month.

 

[bigshawn]

Nice....

 

[pmessner]

One of my GCM pullets has FINALLY laid an egg! I was getting really impatient. Their combs have been red for a month.

Oooh, that is a beauty. Congratulations.

 

[pawtraitart]

I hope all of them lay eggs like this. It will make my documentation work much easier if I don't have to trap nest each pullet.