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

[OHmamma]

Good Job Don, and I am sorry you have such bad luck at the same time. I bet you eat a lot of chicken. 2000 that is a lot. How many shows have you won out of those 2000? Are you only breeding for SOP or are you keeping true Marans and maintaining the egg color? Just wondering, you have such strong opinions and apparently such strong culling I figured you would be up with the big guys by now.

The line these came from has been kept Pure and CLOSED for 8 years. They only breed them because they like the look of them and they like the eggs. This is the first year they had a sport too. They hatch quite a few chicks every year and sell a lot of eggs and no one has ever had a sport come out until now. I saw theirs when I picked my eggs up. It is something that can happen in the WJ line. Perhaps it is a result of all the line breeding in their particular flock. I have two now and I had one last year and one this year. I bought the one from last year and the one I have this year came from the chicks I hatched last year of this same flock. They have never had a wheaten and neither have I. I have had one come from some of my Davis/Presley eggs but I think that might have been an accidental mix up from the original breeder. I don't consider either one "garbage" other varieties do exists and if you are getting them from true black copper marans their egg color should be even better.

I have been crossing several lines, not since 2007 or anything, but this is my third generation. I chose to do it this way because of the genetic defects that appear after too much line breeding. I am finding out a lot about each of the lines this way. I have smaller pens dedicated to acheiving different varieties which is what I like to do the most. I have found which to cross to get all the varieties I want. I am also working on a line of Bantam Marans with some coaching from Bev and a few other long time breeders.

Maybe if you tried outcrossing your lines you would have better luck. Do you have any pictures of your Marans? I would like to see what it is you are getting. I am sure you have beautiful birds, that is a lot of work and experience with the breed. You said you would be at the Ohio National Right? I will look forward to seeing your birds there.

 

[OHmamma]

Quote:
I have had them with a white spot and a copper spot. I don't think it would be called a Cuckoo Sport (boy that hurts to spell it that way

) but I have seen a sport BCM that has white speckles like a millie on one of the marans club sites.

look at the one at the bottom of this...http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Marans/BRKMarans.html

 

[Debbi]

Well the reason I asked, is that one of the possible moms had very curious spotting on her breast as a young chick. Look at this pic, thought back then there might be some cucu (

) in there with her?

She turned out a very dark BCM pullet.

 

[geebs]

I have NO IDEA...!!!!!!!!! This would have been called an undermelanised male and never would have lived into adulthood... THis to me is an anomaly of nature... I have not a clue how this could turn into a dark female.... Never seen anything like it turn out dark....

I would surmise a "dirty gene" (cross) might explain it.... as you suggested.

 

[Debbi]

Here is Precious grown up!

 

[wolftracks]

I'm getting frustrated here. Other people can hatch out my BCMs and I get 1-3 at a time. I have a just BCM hatch coming up soon and I hope I get a better hatch, but I was hoping someone could tell me what I can do to bring up my hatch rate. Maybe something I'm not giving them? I don't know. All my other breeds hatch out just fine.

You guys are so funny. Nice to see joking. Yes the chart only has Barred. I went through the whole thing and figured Barred was my only option. Just couldn't get the first link to work and wasn't sure what to change to get to the site.

I wanted to mention that my flock I'm trying to build up is my Bev Davis flock. My husband bought them for my just before he died last summer. They were an older flock of 2 and 3 year olds, but they now have a younger roo. Just thinking I need one more roo out there and maybe that will help with fertility, but the eggs that don't hatch are usually fully developed chicks who don't even pip. I'm trying to get as many hatched out as possible, so I can get a good breeding flock together, but how do you cull when you don't get enough to hatch?

 

[OHmamma]

Quote:
I would say it is possible, maybe even some Birchen. Does she have copper in her now?

Have you ever looked at Bill Bradens cuckoo http://www.hpbaa.com/Bill_Braden_Cuckoo_Maran.html

I had a cucu/BCM blue cross last year that turned out to be a Columbian colored except that his black hackle feathers had some cucu barring on the tips. Sort of like the one on the top right of that page but with colored hackels as well.

I actually traded him off for $150 worth of adults eggs &chicks. To think I had taken him to the butcher!!

 

[Debbi]

Yes, posted a pic of her grown, scroll up. "Precious". Lays a nice egg too.

 

[OHmamma]

Quote:
There is also another link on there for color variataions not mentioned on the first link. I would like to see one that you could put in traits such as eye,ear,cheek, and leg color, comb size. etc. I have to play with real chickens for that!!

Have you checked fertility by breaking one open? If you have several hens you may need another roo. Sometimes they get lazy at that age. I keep a ratio of 5 to 1 in mine. I know that is extreme to most but I have several different pens for them. It is easier to track each individual parent and egg color changes in the hens that way.

My free rangers are more like 8 to 1. As far as their age I do have a hen that is 4 and she is still laying fertile eggs daily. She is the mama of the blue one in the foreground of my avatar.

What kind of incubator are you using? If you are hand turning I would say you may need to turn more frequently. A full grown chick that does not pip can be from improper turning or the if the humidity is too high they can drown upon the first pip. I have used several different types of incubators and each one is different. The one thing I have found that works the best for my set up is hand turning 3 times a day in my big incubator and 5 times aday in my smaller hovabator one that I keep in the house. I get a 80% hatch rate on my marans and 90% + on my other breeds (olive eggers,silkies,polish and OEGame)

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Tell me about it! I just lost 16 out of 17 eggs to a last minute, well overnight, heat spike!

One chick made it into the world. Time for me to get a Sportsman! In the mean time, I just set 7 eggs this morning in my plug n play bator. This time, I will hatch them out in this one too! Don't give up, I know how depressing it can get, believe me.