Let's talk Golden Cuckoo Marans!

[maralpz2006]

no ,i order a female from my pet chicken,i saw a few pic and i was confuse thats why i posted it

 

[ChuskaMtns]

girl o boy

My pullets hatch out a reddish color and the males black or grey.

 

[Our Roost]

My hens were surely not this color either.

 

[seventreesfarm]

My pullets hatch out a reddish color and the males black or grey.

I'm just getting into the goldens and was amazed to find out the chestnut peepers are the pullets.
I only have a purebred roo, and am working with my blue/black copper marans hens to make more goldens. My last hatch I got 2 cockerels with no gold, but have the double barring light color. Is this common?

Any tips for working with what I have to get some sustainable goldens? My main focus is olive eggers, but I am periodically running small marans and ameraucana breeding pens to keep my genetics viable and my egg customers happy.

 

[ChuskaMtns]

I'm just getting into the goldens and was amazed to find out the chestnut peepers are the pullets.
I only have a purebred roo, and am working with my blue/black copper marans hens to make more goldens. My last hatch I got 2 cockerels with no gold, but have the double barring light color. Is this common?

Any tips for working with what I have to get some sustainable goldens? My main focus is olive eggers, but I am periodically running small marans and ameraucana breeding pens to keep my genetics viable and my egg customers happy.

I can't comment on that mix's outcome as I keep my Goldens separate from my Blue Coppers. Try plugging the colors into the calculator:
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

 

[Our Roost]

How do you expect to get goldens using blue/black copper marans? Not going to happen! You will get more marans but not sure they will be golden. @ genes come from the rooster and one from the hens used.

 

[seventreesfarm]

How do you expect to get goldens using blue/black copper marans? Not going to happen! You will get more marans but not sure they will be golden. @ genes come from the rooster and one from the hens used.

Well I wonder what explains the first batch of pullets I got from crossing this roo with my other marans last year. They certainly look like golden cuckoos on the outside. I backcrossed the best looking ones with the roo again, and a few are already showing the golden cuckoo coloring. Good thing I like to experiment

Edit to add: Putting a barred roo over a solid hen means the offspring will all be barred. Solid roo over barred hen gets you barred cockerels and solid hens. So I guess that explains how it's possible to get golden cuckoos from the crosses I have. Also, if you scroll to the bottom of this site http://frenchmaransclubaustralia.yolasite.com/notes-on-breeding.php there is a great diagram of how to 'build' your own golden cuckoo.

 

[seventreesfarm]

I can't comment on that mix's outcome as I keep my Goldens separate from my Blue Coppers. Try plugging the colors into the calculator:
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

I spend too much time playing with breeding combos on that calculator! It's a lot of fun to see ahead a few generations, esp now that I've been working with certain traits in my homebred flock. I even forked out the $130 for the hardcopy book that site's owner wrote. It has some great pictures showing examples of the various color expressions in feathers.

But I do like to see what others are up to with actual chickens once in a while.

 

[Our Roost]

As I stated, 2 genes come from the roo and only 1 from the hen. If a rooster was barred then the offspring would be barred most likely. You used a pure bred golden cuckoo roo and that is most likely why you are seeing the gold coloring. Yes they are of the cuckoo marans family but now you have what is known as an outcross. Cross the Golden hens you have back to the pure bred Golden cuckoo and you are on the right track to the real deal. I can only tell you that the color gene only accounts for around 1% of whats transferred.

 

[vintagechick]

Can anyone help me guess the age of my new babies? I picked them up yesterday at the store and forgot to find out the age. Today when I called to find out the employee said that's they're usually 1-3 days old but sometimes can be a week old -- yeah.. suuuuper helpful there!! Anyway here are a few picture of their cute little butts. The reason I'm having a hard time with their age is the fact that they have so many wing feathers and even tail feathers but are still so tiny. I've had other breeds that seemed twice the handful while still completely fuzzball so I am at a loss. Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Thanks!