Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

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There's actually not a lot of copper on #1. I'd be tempted to keep him, so long as you use the few pullets you have without copper. That being said, if you can affoard to wait a few weeks more I would. The second one may develop a better depth of chest, etc., as he ages.

 

[math ace]

I want to darken the egg color in my flock - - - what is the best way to do this ? ?

I want to stay with the BEv Davis Line.. . . .

I would love to find somebody with darker egg laying hens than I have now - - - mine are laying the min 4 or 5 rating.
I am going to try to breed my current stock to a pure Bev Davis roo and see if the next generation lays a darker egg.

I would really like to see my eggs get up into the 6 or 7 level. If the roo doesn't help with egg color - - what is the next step?
I got my roo as a chick - - so, I never SAW the egg he came from. I don't even know what he could potentially add to the gene pool.

 

[Organics North]

Did I say something wrong? I do not want to get any ones hackles up with my goals...

I am just a babe in the woods when it comes to breeding politics..

ON

 

[Organics North]

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Thanks..

Yep I can wait know..I did the first culling. (8 less cockerels around is a relief...!) I will let #2 mature more to see what he looks like. I have been noticing that copper does not come in the neck until they mature more. The lack of copper is the only thing keeping #2 in the contest, he may very well get it too as he matures.. If so #2 is history.... My "gut" tells me to go with #1 too..

ON

 

[pinkchick]

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No you didn't say anything wrong....

Ok.....now on to the birds.......I really don't see a whole lot wrong with either bird, they are all looking good.

They are 15 weeks, this means that both cockerels have quite a bit more growing to do and most likely that 1st roo will get more copper in his hackles.
Your best bet for solid blues IMO is to use the second roo providing upon maturity he does not show any copper or atleast VERY little copper, then breed the best of what you get back into your flock.
I would give both of them some more time to mature and then I would test breed both of them over the solid hens only to see what's produced but if you really want solids and don't want to mess with the copper, stick with the roo that shows no copper at all or a roo that shows VERY little copper. Please keep in mind that just because a bird does not show copper doesn't mean that they do not have the gene for it and that it can't be passed on. This is why test mating is important, yeah it might take a while to see the offspring grow out but it certainly helps narrow things down in the long run. Just my 2 cents.

 

[snowbird]

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MA, from what I have seen in my fowl you have to only hatch the darkest eggs to improve color. I have been reading in my favorite old poultry book and the hen determines the egg color. I think it could not hurt to use a male from a dark egg though.

also the hen determines the shape of the egg.

 

[pinkchick]

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This is going to sound crazy and will take some time, but the sure fired way I've found to see if a roo is carrying the dark egg gene is to test mate him singly to a bird that lays a light tan egg such as a Barred Rock or a Buff Orp, etc. This is what helps me determine what my roos are going to contribute. If the offspring lay a darker egg their mother....then your roo passed on his dark egg gene, then he can be tested over some of the hens that you would like to use and you wait. If the roo doesn't help with egg color.....get a new roo that you know hatched from a dark egg, grow him out, test mate him and then go to the next step. Then for continued egg color success you can backcross your birds and only hatch the darkest eggs. This is what I have done in my Splash Copper project pen and the backcrossing does work. Backcrossing means to breed sons back to mothers or fathers to daughters and should/can be done for several generations. Roos do contribute to egg color factor in offspring.
Math~ if I didn't make any sense just let me know......the coffee pot just beeped and I think I'm typing with only one eye open.

edited because I wanted to say that the Barred Rock x Marans offspring I produced are terrible layers and had I been thinking about egg shape and size of the Marans before I did that cross I would have only used my Buffs for testing as the size and shape of the Marans eggs has not caused a problem for the Buff cross birds....the poor BR crosses rarely lay an egg and when they do....its very big and very round...I almost think they don't lay well because of the egg size, but I will tell you that the eggs are very pretty when I do get one.

 

[geebs]

Pinkchick Will that work??? Also If it does work then why don't you cross it on an already dark egg layer instead of a barred rock??? The same amount of time give or take....

I am no MathAce but I don't understand your experiment (I have had no coffee yet so I will get one and read it again.

MathAce Both the hen and rooster have something to say about the egg color and I have found and read that the best way to darken the egg color is by using only the darkest egg layer from the female and the best "known" rooster from a dark egg. My suggestion is this. Find someone with a known egg color roo (from the same line) or use one of your darkest that you currently hatched yourself... To darken the line it is proven that linebreeding is the best way. If you do introduce Davis to your line and it isn't Davis currently you stand to lose egg color... and by that I mean it is possible to lose All the color in the egg, back to Buff orpington color. Wynette can tell you this does happen and Bev can tell you as well.

 

[math ace]

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This I could do . . . I have a couple of LEGHORNS and a WYANDOTTE. . . .
WOULD this work with the leghorn or just use the wyandotte ? ?

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
MA, from what I have seen in my fowl you have to only hatch the darkest eggs to improve color. I have been reading in my favorite old poultry book and the hen determines the egg color. I think it could not hurt to use a male from a dark egg though.

also the hen determines the shape of the egg.

UCDavis used that method on RIR's in 5 generations darkened the egg. I'm going to try it on my rocks as I like brown eggs not tan