Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

I started with my flock Dec 2009. I did the Noah's ark theme 2 by 2. I have now acquired - - -
white leghorns, EE, Speckled sussex, partridge rocks. welsummers, BCMs, and wyandottes.
I want to decide on two or three breeds for my flock. The BCM's won my heart first. My only complaint with my girls is that the egg color is not very dark (4 or 5) and they don't lay worth a lick in our summer heat.

I am thinking about the speckled sussex for my second choice. The SS have been the friendliest of all the chicks. My only complaint with this breed is that it lays a med. egg. My girls aren't old enough to lay yet - - - so I don't know how they are gonna handle our heat.

I am a backyard farmer. I do this for myself. We want the birds for pets / egg production.
I want to be able to sell extra eggs as hatching eggs or chicks.

So, what do you think about my second breed choice ? ?

What would you recommend as my third breed choice from the varities listed or should I just stay with two breeds ?

 

[Hennypen]

Quote:
At least I know what 1/2 of it is. I think this is a bcm x jersey giant. It has one bright copper laced hackle feather (so far) I'm just trying to figure out what the mix is. It was sent by mistake. Sweeeet bird, hope it's a pullet.

How about a pic of the whole bird, Hennypen?

Other breeds can be mossy, too...not just the BCM.

He/she is 1.5 months old. I don't think it's pure bred JG based on the colors.

 

[geebs]

Looks like a pullet and the hackle feathers are normal for a BC marans... She is just young... I am thinking she here.

Note: I see no mossy here.

 

[Hennypen]

Here's the mossy feathers. I can only work so fast on an iPhone. Lol
The egg this bird came out if was really really light to be a bcm egg from what I've seen.

 

[geebs]

Yep that is mossy.... I stand corrected!

With that level of mossiness.... I would wait for egg color... Might be a Full blooded girl... Wouldn't that be the cat's meow!!! Hurray for you... That amount of mossy may well disappear with age.

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Hennypen, as I indicated via PM to you, this is a mixed bird - my husband apparently collected an eating egg & put it in the wrong carton for me. This is the 2nd time he's done this, but thankfully, there has only been two folks (that I know of) that got incorrect eggs, and it's only been one egg. I'm VERY sorry about this mistake! I'm fairly certain, after looking at the pictures, that what you have is by a blue jersey cock and out of a black jersey X new hampshire red hen. It does appear to be a hen to me - at least right now! Sometimes Jerseys have me guessing right up to around 12 weeks, and this girl looks more jersey than marans to me. I do have a few Black Copper Maran culls in the laying pen, but there's no way DH would have confused their eggs, as they are very dark. The Black JerseyXNew Hamp Red hen's eggs look exactly like pure Jersey eggs (she's one heck of a layer, too...so here's hoping it a pullet!!)

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
This is what they call Mossy and is a major Fault.

Snowbird,

I have a mossy Blue Copper marans. What is the best hope of fixing the coloring when I mate it - - - What kind of coloring do I what to have in my roo for the next generation to turn out better ? ? ?

Hi Math!
My take on breeding that mossy blue copper to a splash......I could see where Splash could mask the mossyiness, but I believe it would only be in appearance and the splash offspring from that mating would be the only ones that wouldn't show the mossy, but it would still be there, in the genetics and be passed on. The blue chicks that came from that mating I believe would also show the mossy again. Just my opinion and yes hopefully Blackdotte will come by and share his wisdom with us on that.

 

[snowbird]

Would like to make something a little more clear. I do not and never will use a mossy female in my BC breeding program. I have found that if you use the Mossy birds whether it be in young or old it will cause the off spring to have a light brown color in the down feathering of most of the off spring. Look at the soft feathering below the Vent and under the wings and undercolor. If you are ever planning on showing you will have to breed this out of your BC marans and it will take a lot of work. The sooner you can eliminate it the better. Now if you do not plan on showing and just want dark egg layers then there is no need to worry about Mossy.

This is just my opinion from my breeding program and I have hatched just about every fault that I have heard about with BC Marans. Just recently I also found one with fused toes between two toes. I will guarantee that all these faults are not just in my Black Copper flock as the main line I have has been sold all over the USA for the past three years in great numbers. What we have to do is decide if we are willing to cull out all the junk so we can raise a few good Marans.

Will also say that the Black Copper Marans do not breed true enough to be accepted into the APA Standard in my opinion. No way an APA standard chicken should have 10 eggs hatch and every one of them look different.

I wish all a great time with the Marans and enjoy them for what they are and try and leave them a little better Quality than when we started with them.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I agree Don, the mossy birds should be culled from a breeding program if one is wanting to show or breed to the proposed standard, but for dark egg layers they are great.
I think that I too have had almost every type of fault pop up as well with the exception of white feathers, sprigs and fused toes ...but it is a work in progress and a labor of love.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Thanks for clarifying, Wynette. Hopefully this has confirmed to Hennypen the breed/mix of that bird.