Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Quote:
I have some hens with little to no feathering. The high tailed ladies with no leg feathering are the ones I would pair him up with....

My goal is always to get the next generation closer to the sop. . ... .

I would never keep this boy for himself..... but I would keep him for the extremes that he brings to the table.


I am so glad you got those bees under control. My daughter tangled with a nest of them about a year ago. She ran all the way back to the house with them chasing her. When she got in the house, we killed another 10 - 20 that were in her shirt. SHE IS NOW TERRIFIED of bees.

 

[math ace]

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OMG, That second photo is TOTALLY adorable! I have seen some folks post pics of their chicks and they are almost totally black. I see yours have as much as mine so I feel better now! THANKS

 

[snowbird]

Lisa, Breeding the other two males to your females. The old male has the wheaten influence by having the brown soft feathers on the bottom half of the body. He also has the high tail set and he has had the white in tail and wing also I believe. I would never breed a male after the Juve molt if he had white feathers. He has a very short back.

I do not see a lot wrong with the young male except for the high tail.

The young male or old male should never be bred back to your females old or young because they all have major faults and if bred back to each other the young from them also only worse. You have bred the faults together one time already and if you do it in any combination again you will only be loading up on the genetic faults you have working for you. What you have is the popular slogan breeding what I have available. This Slogan is nice to hear but if you have birds with major faults you will get more of the same if you breed more of the same.

This is not just for Marans , you breed most all breeds of chickens the same way if you are breeding for the APA SOP. The same methods have to be used regardless if you are breeding for quality or SOP type fowl.

Lisa, compare the two young males and you see that the dark male just does not have the inside the box Marans look . If you have any questions.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
So, I think we are saying the same thing..... Something ain't right with this bird AND he is missing the bottom half of his bod....

With that said, I have seen a few of my boys not really start filling until another month or two. Do you think that is possible here or does the tapering of the back indicate that he will never be as beefy as he should be?

ALSO, this tapering of the back . . . that is what you were warning to watch out for with my SS as an indicator that pinch tails were in the future?

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
So, I think we are saying the same thing..... Something ain't right with this bird AND he is missing the bottom half of his bod....

With that said, I have seen a few of my boys not really start filling until another month or two. Do you think that is possible here or does the tapering of the back indicate that he will never be as beefy as he should be?

ALSO, this tapering of the back . . . that is what you were warning to watch out for with my SS as an indicator that pinch tails were in the future?

Lisa, as for the filling goes, you have to have something working to fill out later. This male does not have the skelton to fill out, The narrow back end will cause pinched tails and it will get you more females that will be egg bound because of the narrow end of back.

If you have a male or female with open tail set, look and see if they have a nice wide back. Look at the SOP where it shows two skeletal views and notice the difference. Also look at the two with pictures of Vigor and productiveness. A lot can be explained by looking at these APA sketches.

 

[kfacres]

Quote:
I have some hens with little to no feathering. The high tailed ladies with no leg feathering are the ones I would pair him up with....

My goal is always to get the next generation closer to the sop. . ... .

I would never keep this boy for himself..... but I would keep him for the extremes that he brings to the table.


I am so glad you got those bees under control. My daughter tangled with a nest of them about a year ago. She ran all the way back to the house with them chasing her. When she got in the house, we killed another 10 - 20 that were in her shirt. SHE IS NOW TERRIFIED of bees.

the breeding of one extreme to another, will most of the time, get you deeper into a hole of non consistancy and poorer quality.. Look at it this way, you take a orange and breed it to an apple... you get something in the middle... But when you take those two offspring and breed them back togther-- you get apples, oranges, grapes, watermellon, and everything else in the basket...

You have to remember when making "peice" matings... with that good piece, also comes a terrible one ( and in almost every single case, that terrible peice will be far harder to breed out of them; than that good peice would be to get into them with another breeding stock selection.

What I'm saying is that you want to breed for the middle of the road, and not towards any extremes. the most complete to the most complete...

 

[marquisella]

Quote:

This is the chick that hatched out of the #7 egg that I posted first. 1 day old, no copper on him at all or white on head. He has grown into a nicely colored cockerel, with a little copper on breast, but acceptable as of now. No white undercoat, but then I haven't had any cockerel have white undercoate or base of tail for 2 years now.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_chick_from_darkest_egg2.jpg
This is the chick that hatched out of the #7 egg that I posted first. 1 day old, no copper on him at all or white on head. He has grown into a nicely colored cockerel, with a little copper on breast, but acceptable as of now. No white undercoat, but then I haven't had any cockerel have white undercoate or base of tail for 2 years now.

Why do his feet look so yellow? Did you put something on them?

Nice leg feathering at such a young age.

Do you have a picture of what he has grown into ?

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Thanks. I keep forgetting that some of this stuff is in the SOP. I just have not flipped through the book enough!

A long time ago, someone posted a picture of the BOX marans were suppose to fit in. If someone has that picture and would be so kind as to repost it, I would be much appreciative !

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Thanks. I keep forgetting that some of this stuff is in the SOP. I just have not flipped through the book enough!

A long time ago, someone posted a picture of the BOX marans were suppose to fit in. If someone has that picture and would be so kind as to repost it, I would be much appreciative !

you mean these?

I keep these on my desktop at all times and have a copy of each on paper laminated that hangs in the barn along with the standard. I do this for each of the breeds I raise so it is always just within reach. Nerdly I know.