Marans Bundle

[kristeninprogress]

I hatched out eggs from two different local breeders, both of which said these were purebred Marans in separate coops. With one breeder, I asked for French Black Copper Marans, and the other I asked for Birchen Marans. There are a few oddballs (plus a couple that didn't make it) that are making me question the breeders' word. After speaking to the breeders, one said she had FBCM, Blue Copper, and Cuckoo. The other didn't give me any alternatives but Birchen.

All have feathered, pink legs, four toes, and straight combs. All are standard size, and all came from dark eggs with varying levels of speckles and blooms. I will number the chicks to keep things easier. Please let me know if you know what breed/variety it appears to be. Bonus points if you can already guess sex!

1. The biggest oddball!

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[JacinLarkwell]

Well, to be fair from what I've heard, some Marana have clean and feathered leg varieties

 

[kristeninprogress]

Well, to be fair from what I've heard, some Marana have clean and feathered leg varieties

All of these have feathers. None are clean-legged.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ah, okay my bad I misread that

 

[house1917]

Great photos and congrats on a healthy hatch!

The oddball could be a Wheaten- there's a great genetics/color calculator here:

http://www.mechelsekoekoek.com/breedbook/?action=geneticscalculator

One way to get Birchens is to put a Black Copper roo over a Wheaten hen- so the offspring will be uniformly Birchen but with neither parent actually being Birchen.

Even reputable breeders get new stock that are pure Marans of a specific color/type, but the underlying color genetics can be complicated.

Your youngsters (other than the adorable oddball) look like pretty normal blue and black Copper and Birchen chicks!

I've never raised Birchen- only Copper blue, black and splash- so for me it's hard to tell which are Birchen and which are Copper. If you would have told me they're all Copper (except for the oddball) I'd have believed you!

Please post more pics as they grow!! Too early to tell who's a roo and who's a pullet- but Marans boys telegraph their boyness with little red combs pretty quickly (fourish weeks)!!

 

[kristeninprogress]

Great photos and congrats on a healthy hatch!

The oddball could be a Wheaten- there's a great genetics/color calculator here:

http://www.mechelsekoekoek.com/breedbook/?action=geneticscalculator

One way to get Birchens is to put a Black Copper roo over a Wheaten hen- so the offspring will be uniformly Birchen but with neither parent actually being Birchen.

Even reputable breeders get new stock that are pure Marans of a specific color/type, but the underlying color genetics can be complicated.

Your youngsters (other than the adorable oddball) look like pretty normal blue and black Copper and Birchen chicks!

I've never raised Birchen- only Copper blue, black and splash- so for me it's hard to tell which are Birchen and which are Copper. If you would have told me they're all Copper (except for the oddball) I'd have believed you!

Please post more pics as they grow!! Too early to tell who's a roo and who's a pullet- but Marans boys telegraph their boyness with little red combs pretty quickly (fourish weeks)!!

Thank you! I didn't know that's how Birchen Marans were made, so that's very helpful. I always look for an excuse to take pictures of my babies, so I'll be sure to update.

 

[house1917]

Thank you! I didn't know that's how Birchen Marans were made, so that's very helpful. I always look for an excuse to take pictures of my babies, so I'll be sure to update.

The cool part of chicken color genetics is that's ONE way to breed Birchens. I have so much more to learn about color and genetics- there are folks on this site can go a mile deep on genetic color nuances- it's amazing!