Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[BarnGoddess01]

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Thank you for this. My blues aren't as dark as some you post. Getting them darker is NOT my issue. Gives me hope that if I put my blue boy with my blue girl next spring, I MIGHT get a splash!

Thank you!

 

[Debbi]

Lynette,

Have you ever tried breeding two dark blues together? If so, what did you get??

 

[gilavina]

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when I've done that before with two dark blue wyandottes the color has gotten more intensely dark. Occasionally I will have one that comes out that you would swear was black, but is just an incredibly dark blue. I have found I lose that crisp lacing on the feathers and it ends up being a more consistent dark tone through the whole feather. I really love my lacing, so I will cross back into a splash for a time to keep it from going too dark.

 

[Debbi]

I was wondering if it may have worked with the Blue Coppers the same way it did with my mahogany x mahogany BCMs. Three have lots of color, 4 are still dark. Copper is coming in on the dark ones slowly though, and it's not quite as dark as the parent birds coloring. They are still very young yet, so time will tell.

 

[gilavina]

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On the coppering, that I'm not 100% sure about.. I can just tell ya about my solid blues. That is a good point tho...if crossing the blue coppers that are dark together will affect the tone of the copper...whether it gives more coppering and etc.

 

[DMRippy]

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Beautiful roo! Is the copper in the splash "normal" or "expected"? I just got my first splash marans and I dont know if they will or should have copper hackles or not? Do your splash hens end up with copper hackles, too?

I got the splash because he was a mistake. She wanted only a splash and ended up with a copper splash from some ordered eggs. I don't have any hens yet

so stay tuned. These are my first babies so I don't know much but there are plenty here to help!

 

[DMRippy]

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Well, that is seriously cool! I have blue coppers and I'm hoping for splashes in future generations. I can only hope I get splash Marans birds that look that cool!

Thanks, he is my favorite right now!

 

[gilavina]

my oldest chicks are starting to lay finally. I'm loving the color I'm seeing so far...each egg gets a bit darker as they get things sorted. The second pic is of a first egg out of one of my blue girls. I'm loving the crazy pattern. When I took a damp papertowel to it, the whole egg is that darker color at the top, the bloom on it is kinda pretty I think. call me crazy. haha

 

[Debbi]

Wow Vicki, I had one very similar looking egg when one of mine started laying. Never seen one like it since, although someone in there is still laying a "bloomy" egg from time to time. Can't help but wet a finger and paint a smiley face on them!

Here's a pic of my weirdo eggie.

 

[gilavina]

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haha...that's too funny. We have matching eggs!

I'm just happy to see the color improving on the solid blue eggs. I don't have any birchens old enough to lay yet, but those are the ones I'm really waiting on. They definitely need the most work on the egg color, but my second generation had better egg color than my first...so I'm hoping for something even better. Even if it is just a slight improvement I'll take it.

Gonna run to town for some errands and drop my truck off for some work...be back in a while.