Maran cockerel, color and genetic issue

[Morgank]

Hi there.

Marans are great birds.. always said with S at the end whether single or plural after the French town they hail from.

I notice you are in the EU.. Will you breeding to the French standard or do you guys have another standard of perfection? As far as I know the color you are showing is not an accepted color variety to the standard.

According to the color of blood lines you mention them coming from.. splash wheaten would not be a possible outcome. They would have to be breeding blue wheaten for splash wheaten to pop up.

Here is a copy of the Australian standard, I reference for the basic genetic information.. they call their black copper, brown red..it is the same variety just called something different.
http://frenchmaransclubaustralia.yolasite.com/notes-on-breeding.php

Do you have a copy of the standard you are breeding to, or are you desiring to work on a project color that folks may like will not be an accepted color for showing??
http://marans.eu/standang.htm

I bred BBS copper Marans for a while to the French standard.. none of splash coppers came out looking like that.. when searching a rare color.. also look at in different breeds to help determine your guidelines. This is often what I must do! I don't use the US SOP for Marans, but it may have photos or other valid information pertaining to your question at hand, so worth giving a glance...

https://maranschickenclubusa.com/

He would not likely be a keeper in my flock.. but he may just be a color variety I'm not familiar with partly due to different locations... NOW, this far in and more research.. I see it's actually called WHEAT and not wheaten!
http://www.feathersite.warui.com/Poultry/CGK/Marans/BRKMarans.html

I THINK if it were a splash wheat.. the chest should be white.. from the lines you mention.. maybe he is a splash copper with an excess amount of copper leakage on the chest.. and this would be my best guess according to the parameters you stated with what little breeding knowledge and experience I do have.. even selecting great parent stock, less than 5% of offspring will be show/breeding quality.

It's always a difficult choice.. for me.. too much color leakage and not enough clear pattern.. looks like short pinkie toe (common in Marans) and slightly feathered middle toe.. If I had other keepers and didn't NEED the genetics.. he'd likely take the honorable place of feeding my family, or whatever method of culling is appropriate for yours.

Hope some of this is super helpful!

We just finished breeding ayam ceman and ordered maran eggs. We sell hatching eggs. We do not advertise our birds as exhibition birds, just maran in other colors. Since I have black copper and black marans, I wanted a change. 75% of these hatching eggs hatched roosters, so I want to know how clean they are and decide in the future whether to give away or eliminate them.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We just finished breeding ayam ceman and ordered maran eggs. We sell hatching eggs. We do not advertise our birds as exhibition birds, just maran in other colors. Since I have black copper and black marans, I wanted a change. 75% of these hatching eggs hatched roosters, so I want to know how clean they are and decide in the future whether to give away or eliminate them.

I would eliminate the red breasted ones for sure, personally.

Looking at his stock... they are not (my version) of high quality birds (no rudeness intended). The combs are not uniform, and color isn't perfect.. BUT, there is no such thing as hatching perfect chicks.. You MUST select only the best pf the best and eat or sell the rest.. Every single year one's stock should be improving. If it isn't, that's just multiplying not breeding. But I can see you are trying to select the best and we all have to start somewhere. Even if buying from a top show breeder.. their chicks will still have some faults. It's just the nature of the beast.

The splash one with red leakage.. is just that, splash with red leakage. Leakage is not a desirable trait for breeding. Only kept if that was the best over all bird and leakage being the only fault. Demeanor is at the top of my list.

There is ZERO possibility (IMO) of that red breasted boy being wheaten.. which has triangle at the wing tip.

Did you know that the hen determines gender of the offspring?

When it come to breeding.. getting other things right first is more important than feather pattern.. such as body type.. they should not be skinny.. Look at the SOP and compare what you see. There's eye color, skin color, and for Marans, egg color is included in the SOP and should not be below 4 on the color scale.

Boys from dark egg dames will pass that gene to all of their offspring, even bred to other breeds.

Please understand I am no expert and there are many folks who have a better understanding than I who have worked with Marans for years on end.

Aside from the SOP, if something just doesn't look right or seems of and isn't setting well with you.. then follow your instinct. Having birds be aesthetically pleasing is an easy goal.

ETA: it does look like you have plenty to work with, lots of lovely birds! They still have lots of maturing to do and you may still see some changes taking place in their color and comb development.