Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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Slate is what I believe Walt said. Of course it would be lighter than the BCMs. As for the feathering..all of the above are possible. You better your chances by breeding correct feathering to correct, but there are always some that will still come out sparse or clean legged even. I like my roos with heavier shank/toe feathering. In the future, there will be no naked legged birds here, especially males!

 

[Cattitude]

I believe I got some eggs from the guy Debbi is talking about [post #21613]. He did package them very well, which is probably what earns his 100% positive rating. I had several power outages due to a building project on my house, so I only hatched 3 of the 12 that he sent. They *were* from nice dark eggs and will be good for making Olive Eggers. Now that I know more about what to look for, I'll get better eggs next time. I appreciate all the people on BYC who educate chicken newbies like me! Before last year, all I knew about chickens was Leghorns, RIRs, and a nasty Dominique rooster who flogged me when I was 5.

ETA: a qualifier on which post

 

[Debbi]

I felt so bad about giving you that news, Cat! Just keep an eye out for the combs. Out of 12 eggs I recieved from him, 4 hatched. One roo, 3 pullets. Three had single combs, but one of the pullets had a full blown carnation comb. When they bred back to the roo, and this was a test mating, and a real lesson learned, all chicks had carnation combs!! I still have one pullet and one cockerel from this mating, both with godawful carnations. It makes me ill to see the little boy as he is a real chunker, shank feathered, and has beautiful and balanced copper coloring! The pullet just started laying, and is putting out a #5-6 colored egg!

These combs showed up on the male at about 5 weeks, on the pullet, it was more like 10-12 weeks. It will look like the back end of the comb is ingrown, start to swell as they mature, then POP! A full crown of thorns!!

So, I'm ridding myself of all of those birds, and from here on out, thanks to Don, will be single mating pairs until I know who produces what!

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Most of my birds have comb issues, but I either eat my eggs or sell them to 2 customers who also use them for consumption, not hatching. That said, if I did not consider hatching more chicks (for consumption eggs) I would probably get rid of my Roos......except that "Jake" is a kewl Roo!

 

[flower]

Does anyone have a good picture of a carnation comb to post for an example for those of us who need to learn ?

 

[Cattitude]

I suspect from what I've read here that getting rid of the carnation comb in a strain is much more work than fixing the shanks or the body type. Seems like every breed has something that you have to get right *first*, and combs for Marans looks to be IT. I'll be watching these three babies closely as they grow. Even if they are good, they have a chance to transmit undesirable traits to their chicks, if breeding to a standard. Fortunately, the comb type won't affect their ability to make Olive Egger chicks! I do love my chickens who lay odd colored eggs!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
When I bred show dogs, before the AKC came along with the "Pet Quality" papers, I sold my pets on a spay/neuter contract. When you gave me the bill or letter of verification from the vet that the dog had been fixed, then, and only then did you get the papers. When I first started, with my very first litter, I went to a show where one of my pet quality dogs showed up in the show ring. Needless to say, I was mortified! That day I made up the spay/neuter contracts! I am afraid of the same thing here with the Marans. If sold as "Marans", some idiot will get the idea, "hey, I can breed these and make mega bucks!". Then they go on to pollute the gene pool by selling culls as Marans. Mine are sold either as plain old layers, and if pushed, I tell them they are Marans crosses, not purebreds. People lie with their intent, some folks change their minds and decide they may like to hatch some, and of course get rich by selling some!

Just saying, not all folks are honest in their intents..if they are fertile eggs, you'd better believe some of the folks will try hatching some to try to recoop their feed bill...JMO

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
You can look at that ebay link I posted a page or so back. Or, here is one of my carnations...

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Cat,

My first priority is type. Nice chunky frame, with width and depth. Second, get rid of all DQs, ie, combs, clean shanks, white feathers, wrong colored eyes, etc. So far I have the type, I'm progressing on the shank feathering, and most of my birds have nice eye color. White does still show from time to time, but most of those molt out. For the time being, combs and shank feathering are my main needs of improvement. Egg color could be improved too, but mine are dark enough for me right now, and do qualify as a true Marans color, so darker eggs at this point is a luxuary fix for me!

 

[Cattitude]

Your roo is pretty, for certain! It's a shame that the comb problem cropped up. If these chicks turn out to be hens, they'll *have* to be chunky to live with my Ameraucana roo... he's a big boy! I can never seem to get a good pic of him, but here he is with his black pullet. If it turns out that the BCM chick is a pullet, they'd make some gorgeous OEs.