marans - feathers shanks

[tx_dane_mom]

i read in a poulty magazine (the uk one) that marans are not supposed to have feathered shanks, but I am finding most of the ones (atleast the rare color ones) here do have them. FOr instance, out of the 4 silver chicks I hatched I have 2 /and 2 w/o, which initially made me believe I had 2 of each sex, but my roo and 1 girl don't have it, and 2 girls do. Shouldn't I be breeding towards bare legs?
Thanks so much,
Kristi

 

[Chickndaddy]

I believe (and I could be totally wrong here because I haven't looked it up in a while) but there are two standards. The French standard calls for feathered legs/shanks, while in the US there really isn't one. (So I guess there really isn't two.) Some of the more serious breeders in the US are breeding towards feathered shanks because they prefer the French standard. All the colors I worked with (Cuckoo, Black, Birchin, and Black Copper) had some feathering on several birds in the breed pens. maybe someone with more information will chime in.

 

[Chickndaddy]

Here is an interesting link from a breeder in the US.

http://www.bevsmarans.com/TRUE Marans.htm

 

[tx_dane_mom]

I thank you for the link. I am going to make a point to re-read that article to see what I get out of it. I need to know what to breed towards b/c I either need to cull that pullet that is not feathered, or only keep eggs from her to hatch from. BIG difference

 

[ginasmarans]

The breed originated in France and were all feather shank. For some reason,this trait has been bred out in the American birds. I have both and usually keep them separate,when breeding. To my knowledge,my feather shank always hatch feather shank and my clean leg always hatch clean. I'm sure if you ever mix them, you could expect either trait to show up at some time. I have mine housed together at present because of space restrictions.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

Hmmm....gosh I wish we had a standard to live up to. I guess at this point (they're only 6 wks old) I'll just plan on letting it be as it and hatch both that way when there IS a standard I can cull to the standard then. Makes sense?

 

[amazondoc]

Bev's site probably explains this, but there are two different standards for Marans. France and the UK each has their own standard.

The French standard calls for feathered legs, while the UK standard calls for bare legs. There are other differences as well.

There was an interesting article about Marans in a recent issue of Practical Poultry magazine. It may still be available, I dunno. (edited to say oh duh, I see now that you mentioned this article in your first post!)