Marans - SOP discussion thread

[Wynette]

Does anyone have close-up picures of Black Coppers with BLACK ear tufts?

 

[Arielle]

None of my roosters have black ear tufts; but the one all black hens does.

 

[gilavina]

I do not believe I have ever seen where it was printed that Ear Tufts were a DQ or fault, Just as mentioned already that you do not want to use the black in BC as breeders. The other colors of Marans should have certain colored ear Tufts also. There is a correlation with colored body markings.

So, I'm assuming in Blue coppers, you will still want brown then?

 

[marquisella]

Quote: yes, I'll look over my current hens & see if there is one with black ears...

 

[gilavina]

yes, I'll look over my current hens & see if there is one with black ears...

I guess I'm still a bit confused about why its not specified in the standard, especially if it is mentioned as a fault. Would it be something that is added at some point? I could imagine it would be helpful to have it clarified what color is desired there to help make sense of the statement in the faults section for those both well versed and new.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: OK,here is the quote from the French site:
Another sign reveals an unbalance between black and coppery : it's the color of the ear down which is called the "ear-tufts", it has a circular form and it has a more or less brown-fawn color (for the correctly coppery cocks) whereas that for the too black cocks, the color would rather have a blackish tone, as for the hens, when it is not totally black.
For the good cocks, the fawn color of the "ear-tufts" must meet more or less whole coppery color of the head. The shouldes must always be well coppery-colored. Even thought such cocks have a black breast without reddish-brown spots, they give excellent results for the farming.
The coppery color of the shoulders and of the "ear-tufts" have a very positive influence on the cuckoo genetic balance at the expanse of black.
The cocks with blackish "ear-tufts" and black spoted shoulders, and so insufficiently coppery, and with totally black breast, will engender a very high proportion of completly black or with too slightly coppery hackle pullets. They must be rejected.
The cock, which conversly have a too much colored breast with strong fawn or red marks down to the thigh are again more bad. They are to be rejected unscrupulously.
Indeed, they seem to give birth to certain pullets with an incorrect color due to the presence of patterns bluring the breast as well as the rest of the body and with light feathers staffs.These pullets should be excluded without the least hesitation.

On the other hand, the green glints in the black plumage are not so far required in the Brown-red Marans. The absence of bright glints (known as "green scarals") is a quality which is regarded as being correlative to the presence of a rather gray than black down, orangery-red eyes rather than black or brown eggs, or even punkish-white tarsus i.e to a quantity of melanin which is relatively in the skin and on the whole body contributing to the maintenance of the standard quality.
So the ideal compromise consists in seeking and preserving by a rigorous selection, a perfect balance between black excess and coppery excess.
It must be understood that this balance of the Brown-red color was to be characteristised in the following way in the farmed cocks : end quote

I copied down to where it talks about the "green glints" of the feathers that are "not so far required" It explains why they are not desired.

 

[gilavina]

OK,here is the quote from the French site:
Another sign reveals an unbalance between black and coppery : it's the color of the ear down which is called the "ear-tufts", it has a circular form and it has a more or less brown-fawn color (for the correctly coppery cocks) whereas that for the too black cocks, the color would rather have a blackish tone, as for the hens, when it is not totally black.
For the good cocks, the fawn color of the "ear-tufts" must meet more or less whole coppery color of the head. The shouldes must always be well coppery-colored. Even thought such cocks have a black breast without reddish-brown spots, they give excellent results for the farming.
The coppery color of the shoulders and of the "ear-tufts" have a very positive influence on the cuckoo genetic balance at the expanse of black.
The cocks with blackish "ear-tufts" and black spoted shoulders, and so insufficiently coppery, and with totally black breast, will engender a very high proportion of completly black or with too slightly coppery hackle pullets. They must be rejected.
The cock, which conversly have a too much colored breast with strong fawn or red marks down to the thigh are again more bad. They are to be rejected unscrupulously.
Indeed, they seem to give birth to certain pullets with an incorrect color due to the presence of patterns bluring the breast as well as the rest of the body and with light feathers staffs.These pullets should be excluded without the least hesitation.

On the other hand, the green glints in the black plumage are not so far required in the Brown-red Marans. The absence of bright glints (known as "green scarals") is a quality which is regarded as being correlative to the presence of a rather gray than black down, orangery-red eyes rather than black or brown eggs, or even punkish-white tarsus i.e to a quantity of melanin which is relatively in the skin and on the whole body contributing to the maintenance of the standard quality.
So the ideal compromise consists in seeking and preserving by a rigorous selection, a perfect balance between black excess and coppery excess.
It must be understood that this balance of the Brown-red color was to be characteristised in the following way in the farmed cocks : end quote

I copied down to where it talks about the "green glints" of the feathers that are "not so far required" It explains why they are not desired.

Maybe I'm just not being clear enough, I'm merely asking why, if it is worth marking it as a fault for being another color, why then, is it not listed in the Standard along with the other specifications for both male and female that the tufts need to be brown? I was just wondering if it will ever be amended to be included?

 

[marquisella]

Quote: Dunno. I think its something people didn't think about much. I wouldn't know it if I hadn't decided to read the black copper description on the French Site myself..

 

[gilavina]

Dunno. I think its something people didn't think about much. I wouldn't know it if I hadn't decided to read the black copper description on the French Site myself..

That's what I was kind of wondering. Its something that' come up from time to time, so I decided to do some looking into whether the standard listed it, and couldn't find anything, so started looking at other sources too, like the french standard, etc. I just seems to me if it is worth listing as a fault, that it needs to be clarified in the standard itself, especially for those that are unaware of what the color needs to be to decide if they have a bird with or without a fault when it comes to the tufts, if that makes sense?

 

[Broad St Farm]

That's what I was kind of wondering. Its something that' come up from time to time, so I decided to do some looking into whether the standard listed it, and couldn't find anything, so started looking at other sources too, like the french standard, etc. I just seems to me if it is worth listing as a fault, that it needs to be clarified in the standard itself, especially for those that are unaware of what the color needs to be to decide if they have a bird with or without a fault when it comes to the tufts, if that makes sense?

I do agree that maybe it should be clarified in the SOP.

But my thoughts are that since the outlines for an SOP is to have a true representation of a variety and breed. In the APA they state its to promote good type and health. Maybe they felt that tufts don't represent a huge issue to focus or it may have gotten overlooked. The only thing I remember about tufts was at a genetic a breeding stand point. My understanding was having black tufts wasn't a big deal unless you wanted to have a better color balance for the offspring. Then you would for sure want the copper tufts. Who knows.