Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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Aww..that's too bad! Its gotta be hard to see that...will you be culling back before winter then and trying again in the spring for some BCMs from somewhere?

Yes, that's the plan for now. Now with the statement Walt made about the slate legs being required on the Splash birds, I'm really leery. Seems like almost all of the Splashes I have seen have the pink/whiteish legs. I do have one thing going for me, ALL of my birds have lovely, white toenails!!!

Maybe I'll make lemonade out of lemons. New breed: "The Crown-Crested Marans"

JUST KIDDING! Don't anyone get their panties in a knot!!!

 

[gilavina]

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Ahh...I get ya...i was thinking the other way around. I hear ya on having the number of birds, but no eggs to show for it...I'm just now starting to head into molting season and no matter how much you know its coming, its still depressing. I hope they pick back up for you soon. That one you showed yesterday was certainly a beauty!

 

[pinkchick]

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Not one of the BCM's have stupid combs or even a hint of a sprig...matter of fact they all have very nice combs. A bit bigger than I like but nice combs none the less.

Time will tell as all of the birds have been moved and rooster stuff from Gnarles should be gone from the BCM's so I can start testing one on one. Watch it be the girl that lays that pretty egg I post a couple pages back.

Can't wait for this testing to be over so that I can get a move on with my Lil' Bill.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Aww..that's too bad! Its gotta be hard to see that...will you be culling back before winter then and trying again in the spring for some BCMs from somewhere?

Yes, that's the plan for now. Now with the statement Walt made about the slate legs being required on the Splash birds, I'm really leery. Seems like almost all of the Splashes I have seen have the pink/whiteish legs. I do have one thing going for me, ALL of my birds have lovely, white toenails!!!

Maybe I'll make lemonade out of lemons. New breed: "The Crown-Crested Marans"

JUST KIDDING! Don't anyone get their panties in a knot!!!

haha too funny! yeah...the splashes I've seen are the same thing. I have quite a few running around with the bluish slate color, but am just going to be heading into a breeding pen of them...so I'll be culling really hard for that this next spring. Step at a time eh? Patience is definitely a virtue in dealing with the Marans

 

[Debbi]

I wonder if this all didn't start in France?? Do the French have this problem with combs too? May have to ask them on the French forum. If they were experimenting with Pene blood, that may explain how it got here in the early days? I can't imagine that there were a bunch of Penedesencas running around the USA back then, but I've been wrong before...just once or twice.

 

[gilavina]

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you'll have to tell us what they say!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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Dang! That IS depressing. I thought I was bad off with 23 girls and only a couple of eggs a day. Sheesh.

 

[gilavina]

This is a random question for those that have been breeding marans for a while. I was wondering when working on egg color, how long was it until you started seeing results in breeding within a line if that makes sense? I'm working on the 'building the barn' on the birchens and am starting to think ahead to the egg color now as I am making progress in the size of my birds.

 

[flgardengirl]

You can see results right away if you have a roo that came from a dark egg. I know this because I purposely bred a black orp girl to a roo that hatched from a dark dark egg. The black orp girl's offspring (half bcm and half orp) lays a #4-#5 egg depending where she is in her laying cycle. I did this because I am working on a color project and wanted to see just exactly what it would take to get the eggs up to a 'Marans' coloring. If there is anyone out there that doesn't know what color an orpington normally lays, it is a light tannish peach color.
I haven't tried it the other way around yet. (with the roo coming from the light egg color, and the hen with the dark egg color and evaluating the egg of thier offspring).

ETA: The tricky part is keeping track of which roo came from a dark egg. SO if you set only the darkest eggs and tag/band the roo that came from the darkest ones then when he matures mate him to the hens that are laying the darkest eggs you should see excellent results. Lots of background genetics can come into play too but in general it does seem to work. I think egg color is the easiest thing to get but I have been lucky in getting some good dark layers early on. Wish I could say the same thing for the other stuff lol. I guess I am building the barn backwards but hey what else is new LOL!

Here's some examples of the eggs I get from my 'good' layers:

 

[Debbi]

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I'm no help here. My F1s haven't started laying yet. You watch, I'll get 7 & 8s out of them! Talk about pulling my hair out!

I should know within a month if I see baldness in my future!

Olive egger folks, do you get the same eggs with BCM hens and an Ameraucana roo? Or do you need a Marans roo x Ameraucana hens? Or does it matter??