Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[dedicateddourly]

Hi Marans experts!

I have my first BCMs who are 5 weeks old and were hatched under my broody. One is smaller than the rest and has bald patches. I have a thread here: www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6865731#p6865731 if you have time to check it out. There's a pic there too. Anyway, someone suggested that maybe the males feather in more slowly, like with some other breeds. Is that the case with Marans? Or if you have other ideas, they would be welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Susie ~ Just for giggles, ask her if that roo was picked on as a baby. Also, could she be wearing loud, or red colors when near him? Or a hat? I was putting up a door yesterday, and had to wear my hat. It is a mixture of bright colors, with pink, blue and yellow. Forgot to take it off when I put the chooks in the run. Pip evidently hates things on my head, especially bright colors. When I saw him start to react to it, I took it off and shook it at him. He just looked at me like, "oh, it's you, hmmppff", and walked off.

It's no fun having a mean rooster, you are always on guard around them, or waiting for them to surprise you. That roo's time in solitary may have changed his 'tude a bit, she may want to try him out for a bit and see if it calmed him down any? It's really a shame when he's such a pretty boy, but I know for me, it will be much more pleasureable when the mean ones are gone. I like them pretty inside and out! Roy and Clyde could care less what I wear, and I can turn my back to them without any worry of flying feet.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Hi, and welcome to the Marans thread!

I've never seen that bald problem before. Are you sure he's not being picked on? Then again, that looks more like what my hens look like when the roos are getting way too frisky with them. There is a "slow feathering gene" that supposedly shows up in Marans, but this, to me, looks more like the whole flock is picking on him, or parasites. Did he have chick down where he is bald now, when he was younger?? Someone with more experience will chime in, I'm sure.

You may want to post your pic of him over here on this thread.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
How old is he?

Sometimes they are just weenies because of all the hormones... especially if they are ready and the girls are not.
I find most serious jerks are from 4 - 8 months of age. After that, they tend to settle down.

I have the sweetest roo. He has produced many sons this year. Some kept his sweet disposition thoughout their life and others had the
hormonal bump in the road.

I would try him out for a hatch.... if the chicks are nasty then you know there will be no more chicks from him.
You may find one of his sons to have no attitude and be just as good looking as dad. That would be your new sire - replace dad with the better son.
Son back to mother is perfect for line breeding.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
How old is he?

Sometimes they are just weenies because of all the hormones... especially if they are ready and the girls are not.
I find most serious jerks are from 4 - 8 months of age. After that, they tend to settle down.

I have the sweetest roo. He has produced many sons this year. Some kept his sweet disposition thoughout their life and others had the
hormonal bump in the road.

I would try him out for a hatch.... if the chicks are nasty then you know there will be no more chicks from him.
You may find one of his sons to have no attitude and be just as good looking as dad. That would be your new sire - replace dad with the better son.
Son back to mother is perfect for line breeding.

Wish that was the case with my two. Pip will be a year old on Aug. 6th. Blue Butt started his nastiness at 3 months! I think he may have been watching Pip too intently, and it was more of a "learned" behaviour. Pip's problem I attribute to him being a lone chick to hatch, and then getting picked on for so long by the rest of the flock. He has never bred, nor even attempted to breed a pullet or hen. He takes his frustration out on a plastic coffee container

. I would suspect that is his problem with the nasty attitude. Maybe if he had a girl friend it would lighten up, but he would just rather be pals with them. He even has one girl that siddles up to him, shamelessly flirting, but he just doesn't respond.

I feel badly for him, but as time goes on, I can't justify feeding him any more. Can you say, SOUP??

 

[pinkchick]

Top O da Mornin to ya'll!!!!

Raven and Debbi~ Those kiddos look identical to lots and lots of birds I have running around here at my place.....go figure!

They are beautiful! I love them and they are filling out nicely......those boys look like chunkers!!!! Pink loves those chunky monkey Marans! We should all be seeing some eggies pretty soon huh?

Wonder how Poulardes chicks are doing they are about the same age as all of ours.....I believe that we all set our eggs pretty darn close together so she should be on new egg watch very soon as well I think. OMGosh I can't wait to see all the eggs.

 

[pinkchick]

Oh and I forgot to say Thanks for the comments on Lil' Bill and that egg....sometimes I am very slow, but thank you.

Ivy~ Some one should start a STUPID COMB thread........

I tried to get good photos of the BANG UP STUPID COMB on one of my last pure Davis chicks that I hatched out for the year, but I can't get the photo to not be really fuzzy. OMGosh.....it's the stupidest comb ever. I MEAN STUPID!!!!!!!!!! I also have a nice young 4 month old BCM cockerel that is looking very good and finally growing out of the low-rider syndrome....but his comb is REALLY STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!! STUPID extra little half point in the middle of his comb. I swear!

and just a quick comment on the mean rooster thing and breeding him...........'round here if they are mean there is generally not a chance that they will be bred UNLESS out of ABSOLUTE NECCESSITY and that is if the meanie was lucky enough to make it to breeding age. I have had a couple mean roosters and they are not worth it no matter how pretty they are. I do not tolerate nasty roosters. If you created a beauty roo once with the stock that you have then you can create another. Keep on hatching my friend!!!!

 

[kowgurl62]

Hi y'all, it's been forever since I've been able to get online and check on byc. I am finally an official Marans owner. I've got 3 separate "lines" . One from a local guy, one from copper hackle coop, and another from ebay from someone in kentucky, I think. The difference in the serious breeder, versus the other two is very striking. The ones from chc, are all almost identical in coloring, size though is different, I have some that are way bigger at the same age, (roosters , that is), the hens are all about the same size. I won't have to cull so many from that group. The first group from the local guy I had to cull all but 3 of the roos, and two of those really should be culled, but I want to keep them, just to see what I get later on from them. Almost all of those that I culled were for sprigs on the comb. Now.....the third group that I hatched from shipped eggs, uh, should be very interesting. They do have feathers on their legs, um,so they might be marans, they were really mossy, coloring all over the place and nothing consistent, one even looks like my black sex link hens, no leg feathering. I guess I'm going to have to wait and see what they lay, but I do know they came from 5 and 6 eggs,,,so I'm going to keep them in the egg layiiing pen, and see what I get. I'm going to try and get some pictures of them all tomorrow.

 

[Ivywoods]

My friends rooster was a year old in March. He is still meaner than a hornet. I don't think she is planning to breed him at this point. I was sorry to hear that the rooster she got from me was mean. None of the others were mean. I don't think it has anything to do with what she is wearing. She says he is like that all the time. Personally, I think it would be time for chicken and noodles, but she said she just can't bring herself to do it. In the mean time he has to stay locked up so he doesn't flog her. Too bad. I think he is the prettiest rooster that I have raised.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
If he is a year old and still a weenie, then soup pot seems the solution.
I would probably have to hatch one batch from him if he is that good looking just to see if I could get a replacement from him before I made chicken and dumplins.

I have seen a couple of jerks come from my sweet birds.... so I would have to hope the opposite would be true... a couple of sweet birds from a jerk.
It is just to hard to get a really good roo. . . . not to try a love connection for a replacement roo.