Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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Okay, where have you guys been hiding all these beautiful birchens from us? LOL I have naughty boys I don't turn my back on too. Mine all seem to be blue birds that have major attitudes. I think he is awesome! You should definitely give him some of his own girls. The only obvious thing is his comb like you said but geez he has Potential with a capital P. It seems like a lot of the birchens I've come across, have clean shanks (kinda like the golden cuckoos).
In France, are the Birchens usually clean or feather shanked?

Haha...I'm hiding mine in my barn

This is my only boy I have to watch, well...there is a standard silver laced wyandotte roo I have to watch, but he's not gonna make the cut for my egg laying pen I don't think. I don't like keeping the sassy ones around, but he is my only black birchen boy so I thought I'd breed with him this season at least, then decided if I keep him or not.
I would guess that in france they would be going for feather legged, but I'm not sure. I also thought I had read somewhere that a lot of the birchens came from England...but I might be totally wrong.
I have some gorgeous girls both black and blue birchen, but they are just a project right now and need lots of work. I think that the guy I got some of them from might have mixed something else in a couple generations back, but will know how far removed it is once I start breeding this spring. The color on the girls is way too heavy on the breast but they are beautiful...and I can work on culling for the right color balance...I'm not in a hurry. I just want to do work to improve the breed, rather than hinder it or hold it back in any way.
here's a couple of the various colorings of blue girls when they were young that are going into my project pen. They may be far from perfect, but I love them!

its funny you say your blues are the ones with attitude...are they from a different bloodline?

 

[gilavina]

doh! I forgot to load the pic on here...sorry. Oh and their eye color has lightened up and gotten the correct orange color since this pic was taken late last fall.

 

[cherylcohen]

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yes

as replacements from last year, so who knows if they will hatch - oops my bad

 

[pinkchick]

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MORE MORE MORE!!!!!

 

[bigathena]

Marams have some of the richest eggs!

 

[Mountain Mel]

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as much as some of them cost, you would think they were made of gold!

 

[gilavina]

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MORE MORE MORE!!!!!

haha...that made me laugh out loud...those are cute little smilies!

To be honest I have lots....most all of my birds are some shade or color pattern of blue or another, but I've seen them so often I think my perspective gets skewed sometimes. Do you ever feel that?
I know I have tons to do...and sometimes I wonder whether I will ever get anywhere, but I have to remind myself that this will be my second spring hatching...and need to leave myself some space to think that...say, in five years, I should be significantly further than I am now. I hope, hope, hope...

I'll give ya another couple pics..
this is my blue birchen boy and one of my blue girls...they are about 7 months in this pic I think? I took it at the beginning of the year I think

these I hatched last spring...she was solid blue for the longest time, but slowly started to get birchen markings, which makes me very happy

 

[cherylcohen]

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AMAZING! I actually have 2 greenfire black birchens from greenfire in my grow out pen but at 3 1/2 months are still not showing color - one is definitely a roo

 

[gilavina]

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AMAZING! I actually have 2 greenfire black birchens from greenfire in my grow out pen but at 3 1/2 months are still not showing color - one is definitely a roo

All of the birchens I have hatched out on the pullets mostly have taken time to come in...that girl didn't start showing in a noticeable way til 6 months old or so. The others I have were anywhere from 3 to 6 months old...but more on the later end of that really. That blue girl is now coming up to a year old and is still continuing to color up even now. Its been one of the learning curves for me for sure.

 

[flgardengirl]

Ohhh very pretty!

My roos with attitudes are a dark blue copper and a blue from peachick (Kathleen Ladue) Her roos are perfectly nice. Mine is naughty. It is probably because I hold them alot and people say you shouldn't try to make roos pets.
I don't mind a little spunk as long as they aren't straight out vicious. My dark blue copper follows me but has never been super friendly. He doesn't attack me but went after my teen dd when she stomped her foot at him. I told her not to do it and that he was extra protective when it is getting dark in the evening, and she said, "Oh he won't do anything" and goes stomping up to him.
. Well, he chased her and she ran right into the truck parked in the back and then he flogged her boots and chased her about a half acre up to the house LOL! Now when she comes out to the runs, she says, "Okay, where is he?" Haha. Wish I had a video of that for next time she gets sassy!

Here is the naughty BBS cockeral from peachick. He hates dh for no reason and will try to attack him. He doesn't do anything to me but I don't trust him. He has the best color of my blues so I wanna give him some girls and hope he settles down. The guy behind him is nice too but he isn't as dark.

Here is my dark blue copper who got dd and now thinks he's a stud (pic from when he was younger..need to get a more recent one)