Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Aww he's really cute. Good name! He really has a large topknot for such a little guy. Is he a regular partridge or blue partridge? I have been thinking of crossing my blue males to my partridge hens since I have no partridge silkie roos.

 

[Debbi]

He has a vaulted skull, and the pin feathers are starting to come in. Not sure if he's a blue partridge yet. There are some in there that do look more blue.

 

[Ivywoods]

Debbi- How funny! I can just see that character with the Kramer hairdo!

 

[Debbi]

Can you tell I still watch the "Seinfeld" repeats???

 

[smarsh2]

these are pictures of my mean mixed maran chickens. the first picture is their parents. I don't know how pure the hens were, and have no idea what the roo is. Most of the 12 chickens, pictured at 12 and 14 weeks old, are on the small side. Their parents were not small, the roo may have not been big, but they all seemed larger than their offspring appears it is going to be. I really don't know what all they have in them, but about half had a feather or 2 on their legs, even the buffy little game looking pullet

this one looks like a bantom

this is the only roo i have left, you can see a feather or 2 on his leg

this one looks gamish, note the barring showing a little

this one looked like his dad the most

 

[redsoxs]

Sorry to butt in with a maran question but I am thinking of getting a couple of chicks for the eventual eggs. My question: do the different varieties of marans (are there two?, three? more?) all lay the same dark shade of egg or is one variety darker than the others? Thanks!!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
The black copper and blue copper lay the darkest. All marans have to lay a #4 to be a marans. There is a Marans Chicken Club that has more info on marans varieties, there are many.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Here is a link to some of the varieties. http://www.maransusa.org/varieties.html

As previously stated, the Black Copper and Blue Coppers generally lay the darkest eggs. The breeders of other colors are working hard to catch up, and some of the Wheaten, Cuckoo, and Splash eggs are looking really good too! Don't buy from a hatchery if you are looking for the dark eggs. Breeders are the ones who are constantly working on color improvement, hatcheries just want to produce a lot of chicks!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
With those yellow legs, I would almost bet there was a Barred Rock in the mix somewhere? Oooo, that last pic makes me cringe! Good way to lose an eye!!

 

[gilavina]

hey Debbi,

did you get any rain last night? I was really windy and rained plenty hard here. besides a lot of my sweet corn getting knocked over it wasn't too bad. Should really give the birds, me and my garden a break from the heat and the dryness. Even if its only for a couple of days.