Looking for pictures of Marans matching the proposed APA standard

[Goose and Fig]

Speaking of pure lines-
How do you keep a line "pure" without "over-inbreeding"?
Only bring birds into the line that match the type?

 

[Krys109uk]

Speaking of pure lines-

One can line breed & cull rigorously.

 

[ruth]

O.K. - I'll post some. I'll start with Jesse - one of my first. I'll use him as the "fault" example. From what I've read he has too much red on his breast.

Hi co-roo James (no red on his chest or any of the other roos' chests):

Jesse and James were bought as chicks from Black Copper King (Jesse Bryant).

I've subsequently bought all of Jesse's birds, my birds parents, and it includes 6 roos. They are hard to get to stand still long enough for a pic but I've tried to get the best 4:

Now if I stare at them long enough I can see slight differences here and there - sometimes in color of feet, depth of copper color, amount of sheen to their feathers. That's why seeing a pic of whatever birds (perfect or not) that have won recent shows would be a big help. We all know there is no such thing as a perfect bird, nor perfect human, but since there is a standard we would like to see the birds that won closest to standard, or best of show.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
With linebreeding no new blood is needed for quite a long time, once you understand how it works it's very easy. The only thing is very careful record keeping is needed. As the old saying goes "it ain't rocket science"

Steve in NC

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

Ruth ~ I know that wasn't a good pic I put up of mine but from what you can see does he look good for 4 months??

I say ruth but I mean anybody chime in

Is that what he is suposed to be looking like?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
See, that's the problem. I have NO IDEA. I've read the standards and the more I read the more confused I get. I couldn't critique someone else's birds, heck I can't even critique my own.

Pics of champions would be most helpful.

You do know, since you posted same, that the French Standard requires feathered legs. I'm real clear on that requirement. It's the coloring and what shade and how much that I'm confused on.

I can comment on an observation I've made in my own flock and that's the fact that the males get most of their coloring by about six months and I can normally tell much sooner than that which ones are going to have good color.

Here's one of Jesse/James' son's - about 5 months old. Not as large as his daddy but already with lots of color. The females from this hatch are already laying eggs. My birds tend to mature faster and I think it's because they freerange from hatch.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
You want to know the secret to darken your eggs by at least one shade on the Marans chart? You won't hear this anyplace else folks. Don't feed corn based feed - corn lightens the shell color and feed a higher protien feed. A 20% layer, non corn based will darken your shell color by one shade if you have good stock. That was another little tid bit we asked and asked about and never got a straight answer - "they" all said we feed regular feed, I don't know to many "regular" people that feed their layers over 16% around here. Give it a try and see what happens.

For those that have clean legged birds don't loose hope - feather legs are very easy to breed into your line. Keep your line clean and pure. There is a small gene pool of Marans in the US, as time goes on and people mix and match the older pure birds that nobody wants right now will be in great demand.

Steve in NC
no secrets here!

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

The correct coloring has been my issue too and this is my first batch I have raised/owned. I can't find many pics on them at 4 months.

 

[amazondoc]

Ruth --

Jesse does have too much red, BUT he also has a lot of good qualities. Just off the bat it's easy to see that he's got good mass, a good tail angle, and a nice comb. He's not perfect, but he's a handsome boy!

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Thank you - that was very kind. I appreciate your comments.

I too think he's quite handsome and he and his co-roo James were my first and are very friendly so I guess I'm partial. He had his copper coloring on his head from the day he hatched. I always knew he was a roo. James didn't develop a comb or copper coloring till several weeks old and I was closely guarding Jesse because I thought he was my only roo. I was pleasantly surprised when James turned out to be a roo but still, Jesse has always been my favorite since he was my first.