Marans - SOP discussion thread

[marquisella]

Hello?

Anything going on that merits discussion?


Who's going to Crossroads? I am.

 

[BevDavis]

Me too! See you there.

Bev

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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I'm going to be there ....

 

[Hens and Roos]

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I'm going to be there ....

I'd love to but not able to schedule it in.... maybe another time.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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I'm going to be there ....

I'd love to but not able to schedule it in.... maybe another time.

I know Wynette is planning to attend as well.

 

[marquisella]

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I'd love to but not able to schedule it in.... maybe another time.

I know Wynette is planning to attend as well.

I believe there will be quite a few Marans breeders there with their Wheatens. I don't have any, but am bringing some black coppers & blrws.

 

[smoothmule]

I haven't read all the posts yet but I've appreciated the information shared and I'm still working on reading them all. I have had 4 hens for the past 3 years, all black cuckoo and clean legged except for one hen who is the French type. I haven't really looked at her for type but her eggs are much darker than the other hens whom lay just dark brown eggs instead of the chocolate brown I expected. I have just kept them because they're pretty and I like dark brown eggs and as they have gotten older, I thought I'd get the Black Copper's as future replacement hens so I bought some hatching eggs on ebay. I'm still not going planning show any and I have no problem selling any that are too good for my backyard flock. I have 6 eggs under a broody Araucana hen and if or when these hatch, I may want some more to hatch and my goal is the darker eggs the better. To get back on track here, I plan to use this thread to help me determine if any I hatch are good enough to offer to sell to more serious breeders, I never mind hatching more to have plenty of layers.

Here are the eggs I have setting. Obviously not the darkest possible but I'm thrilled and I love the Marans personality as well as the looks and I'll definitely be doing a better look over when I go to the shows so I can "see" in person what I'm learning here, thanks everyone

 

[Debbi]

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Nice amount of feathering, better on the first picture than the second. mho

No carry over feathers to middle toe which is as described in the SOP!

Thank you, edgarmongold, for weighing in. To me, this is sort of a "medium" amount of feathering. Another follow-up question (sorry - should have asked this when I posted the pics) - what would the point deduction be for feathering much heavier, or much lighter than those pictured? I realize middle toe feathering would be a DQ, but - if it's TOO sparse or TOO thick - would that be something like a 5 point deduction? Or, more likely just a comment on the cage card without point deductions?

Arielle - I am not even completely sure that those pictures I posted are Marans - they are not my birds, the pics were sent to me & I was asked to post them so we'd have something close-up to look at.

As far as breeding for the proper leg feathering, I think it's mostly a matter of using a heavier feathered mate if featheirng is too light on offspring, or vice versa if too thick. Still, you can get some clean-shanked birds now & then. Two years ago, my flock's shank feathering was really good, and "mostly" consistent, but every now & again, I'd get a small percentage that were completely clean shanked. Just don't use what you don't want to see in the future.

Wynette,

The first pic is what I want to see on my birds. The second pic, to me, looks more like a fur, and I do have some of those here. I find with this type, they tend to lose it in patches. Just what I've seen around my place.

 

[Wynette]

Edgar - are we still viewing pic #1 as a example of "perfect" for shank feathering? Just want to confirm - many thanks!

 

[marquisella]

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I'm not Ed, but I was told over the weekend, I think from someone who attended his talk, I got stuck at the Marans table 8-(, that the feathers should just overlap each other down the leg to the toe. Not stick out really. Hopefully
ed will chime in.