Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[sshavney]

Good morning folks! I have a question regarding the maturing of Black copper Marans. I have three that are all the same age (give or take a day or two). I thought I was lucky enough to get 2 pullets and 1 cockeral. They are all turning 6mths. The Cockeral has already started to do his thing with the other ladies, however I was wondering about one of the "pullets". It seems as though it can't make up it's mind on what it wants to be. It hasn't crowed nor has it tried to mate anything. It hangs with the ladies mostly. On the male his spurs are definately beginning to show. On the she/he that is the same age it looks like there could be some small pimple size size bumps on the legs. It's also hard to tell with the tail feathers. I was wondering if anyone else has had this kind of trouble?

Here is the one I know for sure is a young rooster (his tail feathers look awful because he was attacked by a dog)

This is my pullet

This is the one I am questioning because they are all the same age!

One more to compare to the hen

One more to show that there is a mark where spurs should be but there aren't any so far. The other guy has spurs that are about the size of pencil erasers now. Sorry for so many pics.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Hi and welcome to the thread! It's pretty typical to have one roo be the alpha and the other one be submissive to him. It's in all breeds that I've had. The lesser roo may be trying to keep a low profile so he doesn't get the tar beat out of him by the alpha!

Pics would help, but this is a pretty common event.

 

[Keara]

Quote:
x2 on the Way too funny!

So, how are you cooking them?

Where do you find this "SPIKE" seasoning?

That's what i was going to ask too.... I've never heard of "SPIKE" before.

I am just boiling them. But once cooked it is the tenderest meat. We pull it off the bone, and freeze it for later use in chicken salad, of chicken enchiladas...etc.
Then I continue to boil the bones and skin for stock.


Spike is http://www.spike-it-up.com/products.php

"Ingredients: Salt crystals (earth and sea), nutritional yeast, hydrolyzed soy protein (NO ADDED MSG), mellow toasted onion, onion powder, orange powder, soy granules, celery leaf powder, celery root powder, garlic powder, dill, kelp, Indian curry, horseradish, ripe white pepper, orange and lemon peel, summer savory, mustard flour, sweet green and red bell peppers, parsley flakes, tarragon, rosehips, safflower, mushroom powder, parsley powder, spinach powder, tomato powder, sweet paprika, celery seed ground, cayenne pepper, plus a delightful herbal bouquet of the best oregano, sweet basil, marjoram, rosemary and thyme."

 

[Debbi]

Thanks for printing that Keara!

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Combs that have flopped during egg production are totally acceptable....its the combs that are flopped from the beginning and stay that way forever that can cause problems. Hope Snowbird comes by and explains it for us, he is better at explaining combs than I am.
She has nice copper color.

Kim, I can give my opinion and what I saw in my Marans. When the SOP say a loped comb is acceptable when female is laying eggs they mean the entire comb turns side ways. This female just has the rear of the comb turned sideways signalling Penne influence. The Black Copper I started with from Tom Dean had this kind of comb and I culled everything male and female and about three year later it was basically gone from the flock. The only way to eliminate it from the flock is to cull very heavy. What we have to remember is that the young will look basically like the parents.

I would recommend that anyone wanting to breed to the SOP just start with some BC and cull very hard until you get what you are looking for in the BC. The way the Marans are so mixed up at present if you keep bringing in new bloodlines it will be most impossible to breed good fowl. Keep good records and mark all the chicks and it is possible to breed the BC up from where they are at present.

I saw a post where someone was looking for the golden Salmons, look for someone that has Welsummers and wheaten Marans and they might be able to help.

It is kinda disturbing seeing all the mixed Marans showing up on BYC where people bought as Pure breds. I believe it is unethetical to release all these mixed up Marans to the new people that are really wanting to get into breeding to the SOP.

 

[DFCottage]

Thanks for the great info. She's a lovely bird but I think I certainly want to have the best breeding group I can, so I'll try to find her a good home. I've done my best to educate myself, bought eggs to hatch from private breeders, but the breeder that I got this bird from (as an egg, of course) also sold me some blue copper eggs, and the blue coppers were born rumpless (I'm not kidding!) and so far the BCM's while huge and beautiful just have faults I wasn't expecting, considering the price I paid for the eggs. I realize anomalies can pop up now and again of course, but I've sold 75% of the birds from them so far. She and 2 other pullets are all that's left. It's just kinda disappointing.

But, it's all a learning process. There's still so much more for me to discover with the marans, they're such a fun breed! While I know I'll never have the best birds out there, I think breeding towards the SOP is so important.. especially with these guys considering the limited lines in the US that are of great quality.

Oh well.. at least I can breed the small group I've got, pick the best from the chicks next year, and just move forward

 

[Peach2u]

Okay, I have a few gene questions. This weekend I got rid of all my rooster except 1. The yard is soo much calmer. I kept my Splash Maran very nice roo and the ladies love him. He never takes thier food and when he find something good he shows it to them. I have five breeds of hens. What I need to figure out is what is a good gene cross with him and what would be called mutts and not worth the time? I know my Black copper marans under him will produce blue copper marans a good thing. My questions go outside of the maran breed.
Splash Copper Maran roo over:
(1) Araucana {blue eggers}
(2) Ameraucana {green/blue eggers}
(3) Easter Eggers {sage and brown eggers}
(4) RIR
(5) Golden Comet
Will he turn all the breeds offspring blue?
How about the egg color in offspring?
Would the mix of any of these breeds be a marketable offspring?
I'm thinking the RIR and Golden Comets would be mutts and not worth the time.
Thanks for looking!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Are you meaning "mutts" when you are saying mutes? Anytime you cross one breed with a different breed, you have a mutt. As for the color of the offspring, it will depend on what colors the hens are. You'll get Olive egg layers out of the Araucana and Ameraucanas, that is if your Splash boy came from a nice dark egg.

 

[Peach2u]

Yes Mutts not mutes. Yes the roo is a french standard, everything looks right for his breed. And he came from a #7 egg on the color scale dark for a splash. As for the hens, I have many colors. My favorite being the gold and blue pencil. But, crossing the maran with the araucana and ameraucana would turn the breed to Easter Egger olive eggers?

 

[Debbi]

Quote:


Yes, the offspring would lay olive colored eggs. EEs and OEs in reality, are mutts too.