Marans Rooster Color Varient

[JetCat]

A local lady was moving and had her Marans for sale at one heck of a deal so my daughter picked them up, the rooster is supposed to be Blue Copper, but honestly i don't see any blue in him, any input is appreciated.

thanks in advance.

 

[donrae]

I don't see any blue, either. He's got an overabundance of copper. I have what could be his twin I picked up with a flock of hens. The hens all have appropriate copper markings, or none at all, just black Marans. I call my rooster the Big Red Monster, not temperament wise he's just so huge, and so red. I'll set some eggs from him and his ladies come spring and see how much of that copper comes through.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I agree with Donrae, I'm not seeing any blue for blue copper either.

He honestly looks like a Wheaten Marans rooster, or very over coppered Black Copper Marans...other than his feet look too pink in the top photo for BCM...but I can't tell if that is his color or if it is because that whole picture has too much color warmth throwing the hues off.

Black Copper Marans shanks and feet should be slate. Wheaten Marans, pinkish white.

Lots of breeders will sell off their mis-colored birds, and you can pick them up pretty cheaply...but I think you said the seller was moving...so I think he is simply a mis-marked Marans...Wheaten again my guess.

If I understand the genetics, Wheaten is a throw back and can be frustrating for some of the breeders if you are going for the other colors. If you breed for Wheaten, it can be a benefit as the Wheaten Marans is autosexing, or at least early sexing (once you work the kinks out of the line). It may also be part of the process for Golden Cuckoo. (Does he have a touch of stipling on his chest? It almost looks like he might have some ghost barring there).

LofMc

http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/PDF Forms/MARANS STANDARD dr.pdf
http://www.darkbrownegglayers.com/chicken-breeds-available/french-marans-chickens/wheaten-marans/

 

[JetCat]

Thank you both for your responses.

his shanks, at his age and with hormones kicking in, are very red at the moment, i have them over at my barn and will try to get better pictures of him today when i'm over there and i'll post them.

 

[donrae]

Lady, I'd never even considered my big guy might be wheaten instead of over-copperized. I'll have to really take a good look at him. I know he's got the screaming pink shanks, so that may be. I'd only planned to hatch off a batch or two of chicks from him, as I'm not sure how closely related he may be to the hens he came with. It will be interesting to see if I get Wheaten chicks. It won't be a horrible thing for me, since I'm just wanting dark eggs and not SOP birds, but I'd need to let buyers know there could be recessive Wheaten hiding there in case they're wanting to breed nicer black or black copper birds. The hens are actually very nice quality birds, and I've always thought he was very well put together except for his coloring.

 

[JetCat]

it's hard to get good pics to where you can see his color inside the barn and my daughter wasn't sure she could keep him held to take him outside today. he has no speckles on his chest, but he is barred on his chest. his under wings are black and his butt is light blackish in color but not exactly blue, his shanks are pink but again the hormones have them more red.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If there is barring on the chest (I suspected there was) then he probably is somebody's project for Gold Cuckoo...or somebody hopped the fence between the Cuckoo Marans and one of the other colors...but likely he's been mixed colored for several generations to get that faint of barring with all the color.

So he isn't a proper Marans color, but he is a pretty boy, and if it is egg color you are looking for, he has a decent chance of having dark egg shell genetics. (BCM usually carries the darkest egg color with Cuckoo the lightest in the Marans).

LofMc

 

[JetCat]

Thanks again. Currently he's being kept in with two blue and two wheaten hens, i have 10 pure breed BCM but they are only a few days old currently so until there is a better candidate it looks like we'll see what sort of offspring he can produce.

 

[JetCat]

set their first 6 eggs they laid, got 100% hatch Tuesday morning with a 50/50 split of 3 wheaten and 3 blues. so far out of the second set of 6 i've got 3 blues and 2 pipped.........

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Congratulations on the good hatching.

And yes... that looks wheaten and not splash...I don't see any grey smudging or edge bluing.

So the old boy does have some wheaten in him....huh....I thought so.

LofMc