Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[AyeUpChuck]

Speaking of pictures!!!!
I promised I'd get some yesterday and the lighting was stupid but still got em!
Here are the Pink babies!

Here's Monroe my Splash baby roo

Marilyn the splash pullet - cheesy I know but well that's just me!

Little Miss Blue - givin the stink eye for some reason

Amos the baby blue roo

 

[AyeUpChuck]

And pictures of my Black Coppers who are a few weeks older than Pinks babes

Liza - looks terrified in this photo

Alastair and Liam

Alastair

A again

 

[MuffsnFluff]

Mornin' everyone! Looks like lots of beautiful birds being posted!

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Quick question, what does the turemic and cinnamon and fenugreek do? I love homeopathic stuff and am all up for healthier birds! Never heard of feeding that to chickens so am curious

chics in the sun, your chicks are so cute! Can't wait until I have marans to hatch too!

All those silkie babies are adorable too everyone, but I DON"T NEED SILKIES AGAIN, lol!!!! Must cover eyes

lol!!!!

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Yay! Can't wait to see pix!

George and crew have decided to start crowing this week, and he himself has turned out to be quite the ladies man

I just noticed the flames in his chest in this picture, is that too many for a good color balance or will he need to be bred to overly melanized hens?

And a cute picture= "MOM!!! That is NOT A WORM!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sweetie was a good girl and so far a great mom

Six chicks out of 8 eggs, only one was infertile, and the other one decided to be a late hatcher and pip today, the day she decided to take cutes out into the world, so slipped it under an obstinatly broody hen just to get it out, then I'll have it join its siblings tomorrow

 

[Lotsapaints]

I had a good hatch too yesterday 11 Blue Birchens and 2 Salmons though I don't think all the Birchens are blue..here's some pictures from the last hatch these Birchens have hatched so well for shipped eggs I think I might have a couple of nice ones to start my own flock

Here's a Salmon I have 4 total now and another batch cooking these babies daddy won at Newman

I didn't get all the Birchens photos my camera ran out of steam so I just wrote in my notebook but I have 18 plus the 11 that just hatched so I should be able to pick out some nice ones they are just too young right now to really cull and I think some of them are carrying the Cuckoo which is fine to me as their eggs were 4's and 5's and she said they were darker and none were too light to set. They wouldn't pose at all really didn't like me catching them and holding them funny they are my buds when I feed them....

AS an open question since I have columbian patterned birds too these might have the columbian thing going on more than the cuckoo....should I get a black hen from a breed that I know is black or just use a Black Marans I have that probably is from over melanized Black Coppers....This will be a winter program as winters here are normally mild

 

[VillageChicken]

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Interesting chickdown pattern on the salmon - white eye ring and marbling around the eye stripe. Think something more than the wildtype genes are going on there.
I don't understand your last question. Columbian is black striped hackle and saddle on a white or buff bird e.g. light sussex or brahma. What is the end goal?

 

[Bravo]

A month or so ago my friend (who is the worlds greatest show dog photographer) came with me to the country and instead of giving her dog subjects, I gave her chicken subjects.

This is my F1 boy, Jacques. He's 7 months old in the photo (hatched 10/30/10). I am hoping to breed him back to his mother and his aunts if they ever decide they want to lay again. His back is too short which definitely affects his tail angle and he's got an extra point in his comb so I'll work on that. This boy is as wide as a house and has no white down anywhere on him so kept him to see what he'd produce. Now if only the girls would cooperate

He was produced by taking a rooster with a lighter copper hackle and breeding him to over-melanized gals.

I may start test mating him to a few pullets while I wait for the parent stock to resume normal business production. Any recommendations on what attributes I should look for in a potential mate for him? Is the short back an easy thing to fix? I've very limited experience in BCM's so I'd love to get some pointers from all of you Marans experts

Photos by TDR Photography

 

[Lotsapaints]

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Interesting chickdown pattern on the salmon - white eye ring and marbling around the eye stripe. Think something more than the wildtype genes are going on there.
I don't understand your last question. Columbian is black striped hackle and saddle on a white or buff bird e.g. light sussex or brahma. What is the end goal?

on the salmon there is no white there is a bare patch from playing with others or putting the head someplace where it shouldn't go...on the Birchens I'm just trying to uncover what I have going on and I was evaluating everyone yesterday so the Delawares in there have the same kind of pattern so that's what got me to thinking about columbian..if I could make some of those in Marans geebs would be trying to find my house

but I think it's cuckoo going on but that's easy enough to test for.....

 

[Lotsapaints]

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Well I don't know anything about what to cross him with except if you tire of him I'm close enough to come and take him off your feed bill....really though do you have any long backed girls? Geebs is the one to ask about the color pallet.....I'd test him on any long backed girl no matter how her color is and see

 

[Bravo]

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LOL--I'll warn you that he isn't the friendliest rooster I've had. I went over to pick him up and move him to a better pasture during the photo shoot and the little snot bit me. Needless to say, he spent the rest of the afternoon being carried around like a football and being cooed and fawned over. I think he's still traumatized from that experience so now he just avoids me like the plague.

The parent stock is long backed and practically all of my other F1's have been too. I did do a fertility test hatch when he was in with his sisters which was too close a breeding. Out of 5 chicks, 2 had fused toes so I moved him out of the pen. Those F2's are interesting. The cockerels are all short backed and have too much coppering in the breast while the pullets seem dark to me (not quite over-melanized though) and have long backs.

 

[Lotsapaints]

You breed dogs sometimes genes work "sex linked" I know with some of my horses girls were one way and boys were another but the modifier was there it was just expressed differently. Share what happens and my good rooster bit me the other day he went with me and then went to the cage for a day he's been fine since maybe it's the weather change......