Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Hens and Roos]

We are up to 3 marans chicks hatched so far-looks like a blue, black and splash

there is also 3 more pipped and working on zipping out

can't tell what the other 6 marans eggs are doing

we also have 2 lt brown leghorn bantams out and 2 more eggs to go

 

[chevgrl]

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Can't wait to see pics!! Congrats! I have 2 chicks out and 3 eggs doing nothing on the 22nd day

 

[gilavina]

Hey Everyone! I know I'm late gettin on here today, but just got back from the sale. It was the usual market for a fall sale. I made enough to pay for a big chunk of feed, now just to process the rest of the roos I have for the freezer and that will significantly help my situation getting ready for winter.
I was eyeing two young pygmy does born in April, but they were not going to be getting to those for a LONG while and with as slow as the sale was I couldn't justify staying when I have stuff to do here at home, so I passed them up. I was also afraid that one of the ones I really wanted was already bred...and at that young of an age, I wasn't really willing to risk it...lost one last spring to a surprise pregnancy and complications...so not sure I could handle it if I had problems with one...esp in the middle of winter. One looked like it was about a month or so out from birthing...eeks! Winter Babies? NO THANKS.

Congrats to everyone hatching all the babers! Can't wait for pics!

 

[gilavina]

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Can't wait to see a pic of her Debbi!!

 

[gilavina]

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So I'm wonderin... Is there anything to be done with the birchens with gold leakage on the back? Or would they for sure be culls?
And if not what would you breed them to?

I am just getting into Birchens, so I am not 100%, but in my mind I would say yes that something can be done about the gold leakage and yes they can be used. Just like selecting and breeding for darker or deeper copper in the Black Coppers and Blue Coppers. the Silver Birchens would be the same... but a person would select and breed for better silver. My large Birchen boy has some gold leakage......I am test mating him to a Blue Copper (who has very little copper...just a slight hue) hen that I believe may carry the silver Birchen gene, the offspring should be split for gold/silver.....I will raise up the best pullets that show the best silver coloration and the least amount of gold leakage and I will breed them back to their father to see if the next gen. will (should) produce even better and cleaner silver.

So after I said all this.....Vicki can come by now and correct me.

Aww....I hope you guys don't think I'm a pain in the you know what about the birchens and color and etc...

Something can indeed be done with the gold leakage on a birchen male...on a female...I would cull them. The males carry two genes for the color...if they have leakage in the silver they have one copy silver and one copy gold. When mated with a proven solid blue girl...it will take you longer to get to where you want to go, but it is possible with careful breeding and recordkeeping. Now if you have a birchen female, make sure you breed to silver birchens, they will help to determine the coloring of the offspring. If you have a gold birchen, you will get more gold birchens and will head you in the opposite direction since they only have one copy of the gene.
On the venture of mixing the birchen with copper, it is also doable, just again, will require test mating and careful record keeping to make sure one is culling the ones of improper color and can trace it back to the parent stock in case one of them proves to consistently throw the wrong coloring.

 

[gilavina]

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haha I wouldn't mind, but I can see where it would be hard for people to keep up...so maybe we'll just have to keep postin them here so everyone can see all the pretty birds.

 

[gilavina]

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Get it together lady......first things first, you need to get that Splash roo, then we can get you a Blue Birchen male.

Heck, I just may as well get one in every darned color! I'll settle for a nice Blue or Blue Copper roo, one of these is already looking promising. Then, if I decide I need one, I can keep back a Splash at a later date. I can see a roo kennel in my very near future!

uh oh!!! Am I gonna have to set a human sized trap in case Debbi comes a Splash and Birchen Boy huntin?

Just kidding....might have some stock available before too long if you're ok with continuin the work on them...I've made excellent progress, but you know how it goes, there is allllways room for improvement.

 

[gilavina]

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I am just getting into Birchens, so I am not 100%, but in my mind I would say yes that something can be done about the gold leakage and yes they can be used. Just like selecting and breeding for darker or deeper copper in the Black Coppers and Blue Coppers. the Silver Birchens would be the same... but a person would select and breed for better silver. My large Birchen boy has some gold leakage......I am test mating him to a Blue Copper (who has very little copper...just a slight hue) hen that I believe may carry the silver Birchen gene, the offspring should be split for gold/silver.....I will raise up the best pullets that show the best silver coloration and the least amount of gold leakage and I will breed them back to their father to see if the next gen. will (should) produce even better and cleaner silver.

So after I said all this.....Vicki can come by now and correct me.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_img_20111017_135716.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_img_20111023_145236-1.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_chickens_067.jpg
The first 2 are from acouple months ago $ the last one was a really long time ago but he's. Molting nw so hopefully these will work.
So if I bred this roo to solid blue girls would I get hens with heavy coppering?

I'd test your blue girls to make sure they are solids first if you haven't already. that will clear up how to handle moving forward with your boy.... also...you'll want to test him for comb defects if he came from that same batch of boys that had those issues...I can't remember now where you said this boy came from. I can help you with getting on track with birchens if you want lady! No problem. Step by step is the easiest way for sure and keeping a notebook and banding system will be essential as the color won't appear on most of the F1 stock if you do have solids to work with.

 

[gilavina]

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Nice coloring on those birds. Looks to me though, that your roo may have a huge side sprig, or even a carnation comb? Not a good thing if you are breeding or selling to those who may want to. Do you have a closer shot of his comb you could post?

x2

 

[chevgrl]

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https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_img_20111017_135716.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_img_20111023_145236-1.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/79188_chickens_067.jpg
The first 2 are from acouple months ago $ the last one was a really long time ago but he's. Molting nw so hopefully these will work.
So if I bred this roo to solid blue girls would I get hens with heavy coppering?

I'd test your blue girls to make sure they are solids first if you haven't already. that will clear up how to handle moving forward with your boy.... also...you'll want to test him for comb defects if he came from that same batch of boys that had those issues...I can't remember now where you said this boy came from. I can help you with getting on track with birchens if you want lady! No problem. Step by step is the easiest way for sure and keeping a notebook and banding system will be essential as the color won't appear on most of the F1 stock if you do have solids to work with.

I have a note book with pictures of the roos and hens in my blue cuckoo project but as far as all my blue cuckoos I have their bands from when they were younger in the notebooks with their pics but didnt have time to band them since...

Also I am going to test my solid blue girls on my solid blue cochin roo.