Let's talk Golden Cuckoo Marans!

[Alexandra33]

@sophiaw00 , I am hurting for you right now like Vivi was my own beloved pet. Please know that I can't stop thinking about what happened and will be praying that you receive peace as soon as possible. The reason I say "as soon as possible" is because I'm fully aware that the healing process takes time.

-Alex

 

[hashworld]

I am so sad to know that Vivica has passed away. I had read her story that you had posted earlier and was always wishing that she regains her confidence. I am sure she enjoyed all the moments she spent with you. Healing for the loss of a favorite chicken takes time but please take comfort in the fact that you did your very best.

 

[sophiaw00]

I am so sad to know that Vivica has passed away. I had read her story that you had posted earlier and was always wishing that she regains her confidence. I am sure she enjoyed all the moments she spent with you. Healing for the loss of a favorite chicken takes time but please take comfort in the fact that you did your very best.

Thank you for reading her story and thinking about my girl. I always looked forward to spending time with her and she encouraged me to keep fighting the battles I have with my health. Although she isn't here anymore, looking back on all she endured will give me the encouragment I need. If a little chicken can survive a scalping, depression, almost starving, and constant bullying, I can survive the things that knock me down as well and I think that this little bird has shown us all what's truly possible if we keep fighting.

 

[morbius18]

So I've got another question concerning my buff gcm cross. Below is my hybrid.

Below is a pic I found online of a golden cuckoo pullet.

Is there potential in this cross? I know the egg color peobably will lighten below the 4 standard, but I've really been debating crossing this bird and seeing what I get. The Rooster was barred, so this bird has barring, just not anything really pronounced as the 'siblings' in the background of the top picture.

 

[Our Roost]

You have to ask yourself a lot of questions as to what you are striving to do with these 2 different breeds. The black copper marans are known to have the darkest eggs of that breed and the GCMs offer color but not so dark eggs. Body size of both birds are similar but I would say the marans are a tastier bird. They both lay about the same number of eggs yearly so there is really no gain in that respect. Just what is it you are striving for? Personally, I dont see many or any gains.
If you have got caught up in the eye candy loop where you enjoy color of a nice looking hen, might I suggest the bielefelders and the neiderrhieners. If you enjoy the orpington breed, look into a lemon cuckoo orp and breed that with a marans. Just some input and nothing more. Enjoy and have fun!

 

[morbius18]

You have to ask yourself a lot of questions as to what you are striving to do with these 2 different breeds. The black copper marans are known to have the darkest eggs of that breed and the GCMs offer color but not so dark eggs. Body size of both birds are similar but I would say the marans are a tastier bird. They both lay about the same number of eggs yearly so there is really no gain in that respect. Just what is it you are striving for? Personally, I dont see many or any gains.
  If you have got caught up in the eye candy loop where you enjoy color of a nice looking hen, might I suggest the bielefelders and the neiderrhieners. If you enjoy the orpington breed, look into a lemon cuckoo orp and breed that with a marans. Just some input and nothing more. Enjoy and have fun!

My wife loves buff orps and has a flock. The surrogate mother buff went broody and hatched my eggs for us. My wife loves that hen and wanted me to hatch one of her eggs with mine. So i got this hybrid. I just cannot help but notice the strong resemblance to pure gcms. That's my main focus, this was an interesting experiment. I've noticed that gcm hens people have are a range of what this pullet looks like above with mostly brown and gold to what mine look like, dark cuckoo with gold necks. To make it more confusing the standard seems to call for the darker cuckoo worth gold necks, but many high quality lines have the browner hens. And some lines seem to be bichen/crow wing based and others seem to be duckwing e+ based. My goal is to create a correct french based line. The rooster was hatched from eggs that were borderline 4s and barely meet the Marans standard. The black copper hen I used was hatched from 7s and lays about the same. So in my mind there is a method to my madness, but the buff cross just piqued my interest as a possible improvement.

 

[morbius18]

From looking at the chicken caluclator, the hen look shows the ER based birds from the e+ based ones. So I guess i answered my own question, but maybe it will help someone else to know.

 

[morbius18]

Age: 4 months. This is the golden necked one that I'm planning on keeping.

 

[morbius18]

This guy is beautiful, but way too red, has stubby outer toes with no claws, and feathering on his inner toe.

 

[buckabucka]

My rooster has stubby toes too, especially the outer toe. I wondered if it was typical for this breed. Mine also had feathering on an inner toe. I use the past tense, because the hens ate all his leg feathering. In this photo, you can see remnants of bluekote. I have to spray his legs once in a while, as the hens are always drawing blood.