Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

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Kim, This is a sprig and would cull.

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Pinkchick, please answer my PM before you do ANYTHING else!

 

[snowbird]

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Kim, I see things also but believe he is one of the better breeding BC males I have seen on here, I thought we like the Chunky Monkeys right.

Don~ Re-read my post

He is a lovely big boy

And yes we do love the big chunky monkeys your absolutely correct.

I didn't mean to come off wrong just putting it out there.

How does a person go about correcting the short keels Don? I had one male from Florida with a very short keel and stared at him forever wondering how on earth a person would breed that out. I also had an original Black Copper hen that had this. Can it be breed out? Would you use a bird with a better chest?​

Kim, It is really hard to see in a picture what a chicken really looks like, focus and camera have a lot to do with what they look like.

I agree a closeup side full picture should show the actual bird better. I believe if we took this male over some of the long back female we see here most days we could raise some nice young. Now if we did not have to breed the shorter keel birds it would be easier to just cull them. All these faults are just balancing acts and averages. It takes second and third generation birds to really tell if a mating really worked.

You will find that usually the Keel and Back usually correlate to each other.

 

[berkeleysprings]

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Congrats on the incubator!!! I am very excited for your son and his upcoming project. I wish my girls were laying right now so I could give him some eggs. I haven't seen a Marans egg in a couple weeks now.

I haven't gotten any eggs in 3 weeks from my wheatens but my 5 silkiee hens are little troopers they never stop laying

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Question for Don....

I have one blue hen (Dolly Parton) that came from Kims' original "Bill". This bird has been laying 5 or 6 eggs per week ever since she started last summer. All my other birds have quit laying except her. Is this a trait that will be passed on to her off-spring?

 

[stoopid]

OK, so people get a little mad, or uncomfortable having to call me stoopid.
This is why...

The darkest one on the bottom is my pullet egg. The rest are what I just got on e-bay. This is a perfect example of what is going on with the Marans. I am actually lucky some of them came broken. That way I won't be disappointed when they hatch, or not.
For what I just spent, I should chuck the whole pile in the garbage.
The moral dilemma continues.....hatch, and sell, and prolong the agony?
Or dump, and take the loss.
What do you guys think I should do?

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

scramble & eat?

j/k

 

[stoopid]

For some reason, I think they already are scrambled, thanks to the USPS!

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Then hatch them & see if the chicks come out "dizzy"....

 

[stoopid]

OK, so the picture in the e-bay ad looked like a reasonable flock. Shipped quickly, good price.
Now the head-banging starts. If they hatch, and I let them all live, will they set me backwards for the breed?
Should I worry about egg color, if I get good confirmation in the birds?
But we all know, it's all about the egg color.