Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Pink ~ Just wait till you see the comb on the 11 week old boy. This was the leftovers from Fuglee results, who carried the gene for pene, but didn't express it, and from the hen (evidently) tha HAS a carnation comb. It is truly an ugly mess! These things spread like wildfire, get rid of all birds and suspects! That goes for sprigs too!

 

[rsquared]

Pinks, happy day on your Gbaby!!!

Flgarden..like that pretty hen, have one just like her and mine also lays a nice brown egg though not quite as dark as yours!!! Very nice color on your Avatar

 

[Debbi]

Ok, get ready to gag, and to award me the "STUPID COMB AWARD"!!

Notice the pullet in the shots with the little boy and the last pic, she has one too, as do the other 2 pullets! Couldn't get a pic of the hen, but believe me, it's carnation... the young birds are; roo=11 weeks, pullets=17 weeks. Please note, that up until the pullets were 13 weeks old, their combs looked fine! It's like they are ingrown, and as the pullets get closer to maturity sexually, then the back of the combs start to pop out!

 

[Debbi]

Keep in mind, these are still young birds, so these combs have not yet grown to their full...potential?

These were hatched when I believed that 2 weeks was enough of a withdrawl time for the old roo to be out of the mix. NOT! So, these are brother/sister chicks. The roo evidently carried one gene for carnation, as he did NOT have a carnation. The one sister HAS a carnation, so carries 2 genes for it. So, the resulting chicks got a double dose on some of them, and all have the 2 genes to have the combs present this way. Whoever it was that introduced Pene into the Marans breed...thanks a lot!

 

[Illia]

Whoa, sorry, I don't see high hopes for those combs.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Yeah, lovely, aren't they??

Read my last post, I explained the mess better.

 

[Illia]

I'm with ya on that. . . .

Had to deal with the issue often myself.

 

[Debbi]

They are all going to either be sold off as mixed breeds or to freezer camp! I don't care if the girls lay Sterling eggs, they are outta here!! Makes me ill to look at them..

ETA: From here on out, I will wait no less than 6 weeks to clear the hens from the previous roo's sperm, and preferably two full months!

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
So are these pure Marans or mixed? I have similar combs on my olive eggers who don't present with the pea comb!

You don't see it in the first generation but when crossed back to Marans in the second. (I did some experimenting with OE egg color) The ones without the peacombs can lay a Marans colored egg as well.....
I will take some pics of them and post later.

 

[Debbi]

Yes, pure Marans. Davis/Jeane lineage, but NOT direct, so who knows how this guy breeds them. It comes, I suppose, from the earlier breeders infusing Penedesenca blood into the Marans to try to darken the eggs. Too bad they didn't cull those birds instead of passing them on, which was evidently the case. ETA: The only breeds I have here are Marans (Black & Blue Copper), and Silkies, who haven't made it out of the house yet.