Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Quote:
Hey Mel,

a side sprig is basically an extra spike or knobish kind of growth that shows up on the comb where it should be smooth and flat. On some of the cocks combs it will also show up at the back part of the comb having what looks like a group of spikes...sometimes in a more circular grouping, when there should just be one. I'll see if I can find any pics or links for you to have a visual of them. They are a pain to deal with..as far as breeding them out of the line, in my opinion.

Still looking for a good pic for you, but it might be worth bookmarking this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=343605&p=1

someone went to a lot of trouble to collect some pretty useful info, especially if you don't own your own copy of the standard of perfection. Anyways...back to hunting...

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Hey Mel,

a side sprig is basically an extra spike or knobish kind of growth that shows up on the comb where it should be smooth and flat. On some of the cocks combs it will also show up at the back part of the comb having what looks like a group of spikes...sometimes in a more circular grouping, when there should just be one. I'll see if I can find any pics or links for you to have a visual of them. They are a pain to deal with..as far as breeding them out of the line, in my opinion.

Still looking for a good pic for you, but it might be worth bookmarking this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=343605&p=1

someone went to a lot of trouble to collect some pretty useful info, especially if you don't own your own copy of the standard of perfection. Anyways...back to hunting...

this thread might also be helpful too...kinda have to scroll through to find all of them, but hopefully helpful nonetheless.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=184&p=1

 

[flgardengirl]

BCM Males
#36

#37

#38

#39

#40

#41 I don't know what these checks, question marks etc. and all are on this guy's card..If anyone has any thoughts please post...Like I said I am still learning or at least trying to.

#42

#43

#44

#45

#46

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
Yes the birchens did seem small but there were only a couple there so very hard to tell. Size wise I was very impressed with some of the Black Copper hens. OMG some those girls were just huge and fuffy...really put mine to shame LOL!! You really wanted to 'squeeze the Charmin' on some of them!

Haha...I bet some of those girls were impressive, I do love the big fluffy girls. I would think I'd probably just about die if I were to go out to my stalls and find an egg like the one in your avatar tho

On that photo #31...The hen you said you thought won overall for Marans, can you tell me what color her eyes are? No need to repost a zoomed in pic, I was just wondering if you could see it on your end. I don't know if its my screen or not, but they look darker.

Not sure if she won or not since I didn't get the tag lol..but her eyes do look a little on the darker side in that photo. However, there were birds at this show that had both too dark and too light of eyes and also white in their tail feathers. I didn't see any dq's for those faults just on the side sprigs and white earlobes. I don't think I got a pic of one with one earlobes but I should have for learning purposes.

 

[Debbi]

I find it hard to believe that so many at the show didn't know what a side sprig was. Is it just me, or don't ya think they should read the proposed SOP first before showing birds like that?? I guess all that have the breed aren't into the clubs yet, but you'd think they study up first?

Also, The cock that took BV Wheaten (#6), looks to have a white primary feather showing and white fluff at the base of tail?

I don't know how these shows are set up at all. Do they place all birds of each variety together? Like a row of Blue Copper cockerels and roos, then the pullets and hens; or are they all spread out all over the place according to cage number and owner?

Some of the eggs pictured are really nice, some nowhere near what I have! I may have to send some eggs the next time to the next show just to find out how I stand here. What a learning experience, and Flgardengirl, you did great!!

 

[Mountain Mel]

Quote:
Still looking for a good pic for you, but it might be worth bookmarking this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=343605&p=1

someone went to a lot of trouble to collect some pretty useful info, especially if you don't own your own copy of the standard of perfection. Anyways...back to hunting...

this thread might also be helpful too...kinda have to scroll through to find all of them, but hopefully helpful nonetheless.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=184&p=1

Great info from all of you! Thank-You all very much!

 

[syble]

Quote:
Does anyone have contact info for Beverly Robertson or Ernie Haire? I thought i had done well with contacting blue marans breeders in the winter to line up hatching eggs for the spring, but now neither will e-mail me back

so back to the drawing board trying to find eggs for blue marans. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sib

 

[flgardengirl]

Just noticed on the last set of photos I have a duplicate looking photo in there, sorry. I am gonna keep going so I don't get my numbering off lol.
#47

#48

#49 Okay I just found this photo Maybe this is the sitting down girl who was the winner I was thinking about..Probably!! I think she was Best of Breed BB and Best Variety BV (someone correct me if I'm wrong because I am just getting the gist of this card reading business).

#50 Same pretty girl! Ohhh I hate going there and not being able to touch any of those pretty birds lol.

#51 Here she is again..did I get enough pics?

#52 Finally, some pretty Pure Blues!! I don't remember if I saw any blue males. Seems like I would of taken a pic if I did. Oh well.

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#54

White Marans
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[flgardengirl]

Quote:
They mainly had all the similar varieties in the same rows but there were several rows in the middle across and some down the sides of the building lengthwise so some probably ran into the other's rows lol. There were some roosters who were fighting with each other through the cages and messing up each other's combs and wattles. I was sorry to see that. DH was joking that that would be our roos if we brought them LOL! I think they should of put them, hen , roo, hen, roo maybe to prevent the fighting. I saw a few hens that didn't like each other very well either.

The worst thing I saw was at one of the sales outdoor canopy thingy. They had some birds for sale (not marans) that were very ill looking. There were two in the same cage that literally had bubbles coming out of thier eyes. It was nowhere near the Marans tent at least, but geez!! I took a pic of those poor birds too, they looked about like they were ready to fall over! Poor little things.

 

[gilavina]

A lot of the remarks on coop cards will vary from judge to judge. There are two systems as far as I know used in the states..danish and american. The American system is most often used for open and adult shows, where the entries are compared to each other according their breed and variety. The bench mark for deciding overall is the Standard of Perfection. This is used to determine whether an entry is disqualified etc and which is Best of Breed etc. The Danish system is more commonly used in youth shows, where they are the entries are not compared to each other, rather how they stack up against the standard itself. This allows for young exhibitors to be able to track their progress in breeding and etc.

Things have changed some from when I showed when I was a bit younger, but a lot of the marks outside of ones such as placements such as 1st and
BV = Best of Variety
RV = Reserve of Variety
BB = Best of Breed
RB = Reserve of Breed
DISQ'd =disqualified
etc...
tend to be a judge's notes to themselves as they are judging. I'm trying to come up with a clear way of explaining it.

Say there are 5 cocks in a certain breed all of the same color variety....the judge will look at each bird. Looking at each point such as tail, comb, legs, eye color, earlobes, body color, body confirmation etc. Some will make a system of check marks and abbreviations of a certain aspect of the body so they can begin to see how they birds stack up against each other and the standard. Imagine judging, say, 25 cocks against each other....stands to reason there would be a bigger need for those personal notes to keep them all straight as they continue. The check marks from what I understand are when a certain aspect of the bird has passed the criteria. Some shows I've been to there have been very minimal markings and at other shows there have been more marks than there is space for on the coop card. It all depends on the personal style of the judge.
I would not hesitate if there was something on a coop card that is confusing or hard to understand, to ask the show secretary for clarification. If they don't have an answer for you, they will help direct you to who you should talk to. I used to be a show secretary, and for the most part judges are more than willing to talk with exhibitors about their comments. Its helpful talking to the show secretary in the case that there may be more than one judge judging the show.
I better get to brushing up on things since I'll probably have to do some clerking come March haha...

And hopefully that was a little bit clearer than mud? haha