Marans - SOP discussion thread

[LaLobaBlanca]

Can someone post a link to the thread that has the SOP in it? I cannot find it.

 

[Arielle]

Can someone post a link to the thread that has the SOP in it? I cannot find it.

Have you read the first post of this thread--it may have most of what you are looking for. IT is possible that last minute changes were made to the APA SOP, and that is likely to be on the maran clubs site. Maybe someone can post that for us again.

 

[DMRippy]

Take your pick

http://archive.org/search.php?query=Standard of Perfection Poultry AND mediatype:texts

 

[snowbird]

Don, ashesandvines asked this. Wondered if you might have a go at it.

"[I wondered if anyone] had tracked eye color in chicks and if they had what the indications were genetically. [What] about beak color/markings in chicks versus adults for breeding to SOP. "

The beak, eye and color markings in chicks are three things that mean very little with chicks.

If you hatch Green leg color chicks theywill stay green and should be culled. Last year I had to cull over BC marans about 400 chicks as I had done a test hatch looking for one thing and not waiting for the faults to show up. In the process I had went ahead and hatched over 400 from this male and they all had to be culled. When doing a test hatch raise 25-50 chicks and wait at least until 4-5 months to decide if the mating worked or not. The test hatches should be done with 2-3 single mated hens to one male.

 

[LaLobaBlanca]

Can someone give me an opinion on these French Black Copper Marans? These pics were taken at 10 weeks old.








These were taken at 12 weeks.





These were taken at 13 weeks.

 

[snowbird]

Most will not give a bad critique for Marans, I am one of the few that will if you really want to know. Do you plan on breeding to the SOP or just a hobby flock for eggs ?

 

[ashandvine]

That was helpful. Thank you. I have little to complain about as of yet. But I know next to nothing as well. The SOP book is on the Christmas list. Hopefully by then it will have Marans This toe I speak of is not so short as to be ghastly, but where the middle toe is so long it throws the outer into stark comparison. The feathers also make it seem diminished. Some of these girls have well feathered toes and others are a bit sparse. I think that at about 5 weeks they are now showing all the feathering they are likely to get there, correct? My flock is from DM Rippey and Taylor Farms so I am holding my breath a bit. As for the eyes, I did know they changed but since there was clearly two colors in chicks all aged the same I wondered if there was a link to genetic traits that I should or would like to know about. I'll try to track it myself but like I said... I know nussing!

 

[LaLobaBlanca]

Most will not give a bad critique for Marans, I am one of the few that will if you really want to know. Do you plan on breeding to the SOP or just a hobby flock for eggs ?

Right now I just want eggs but next year I'd like to breed for SOP. I'd really like an honest critique of my Marans. Also if you have a picture of a quality Marans hen & rooster that would be very helpful.

 

[Wynette]

Can someone give me an opinion on these French Black Copper Marans? These pics were taken at 10 weeks old.








These were taken at 12 weeks.





These were taken at 13 weeks.

I would personally not want to say much about these birds, as the pictures are not the best to see conformation issues. What I CAN see is color and shank feathering, both of which look good to me. That said, there is TOO MUCH color on them. Males should have a solid black breast; I believe a male CAN have some copper in the breast per the SOP but should not have more than 10% if I recall correctly. The female should be solid black, with copper hackles. It looks like your females have copper feathering in the chest, which wouldn't fly for a breeder. The last picture of the cockerel looks as if his tail angle is high..again, that's a tough one, as he could have been "spooked" during the time the pics were taken. I like to view eye color, and the 5th picture looks as if they are light; however, they do change as they mature, so this may not be an issue. Another thing I see is that the shank coloring is lacking...it should be slate over pink, and yours appear to be solid slate (dark gray), which indicated they are overmelanized, but again, I sure couldn't be sure based on the pics.

It also looks like you may have some comb issues, such as waves in the females, and lack of a back blade on the males, but again, I can't see well enough to be sure.

If you can get better pics, it would be helpful. Taken from the side, so you can see the bird's body shape. What I like to do is go into the run with them and sit right down on the ground - on a feed sack (

) and then just take as much time as I need to get good pics as they walk around, and as they are comfortable.

 

[LaLobaBlanca]

I would personally not want to say much about these birds, as the pictures are not the best to see conformation issues. What I CAN see is color and shank feathering, both of which look good to me. That said, there is TOO MUCH color on them. Males should have a solid black breast; I believe a male CAN have some copper in the breast per the SOP but should not have more than 10% if I recall correctly. The female should be solid black, with copper hackles. It looks like your females have copper feathering in the chest, which wouldn't fly for a breeder. The last picture of the cockerel looks as if his tail angle is high..again, that's a tough one, as he could have been "spooked" during the time the pics were taken. I like to view eye color, and the 5th picture looks as if they are light; however, they do change as they mature, so this may not be an issue. Another thing I see is that the shank coloring is lacking...it should be slate over pink, and yours appear to be solid slate (dark gray), which indicated they are overmelanized, but again, I sure couldn't be sure based on the pics.

It also looks like you may have some comb issues, such as waves in the females, and lack of a back blade on the males, but again, I can't see well enough to be sure.

If you can get better pics, it would be helpful. Taken from the side, so you can see the bird's body shape. What I like to do is go into the run with them and sit right down on the ground - on a feed sack (

) and then just take as much time as I need to get good pics as they walk around, and as they are comfortable.

I only have one female and she has very little copper on her right now. There legs are solid slate no pink. I also think you are right about the combs. They are red with no black. I will try to get some better pics.