Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Quote:
Debbi, you make such a GREAT "Comb Cop"!

I was just thinking, "Man that looks like a carnation comb

".
I think the only way we are gonna stop these things is by policing them like you are doing.
Folks are just not use to dealing with the problem.

It is a good thing that the fault can be spotted so early on.

Keep up the good work, Debbi, and maybe they will promote you Chief Comb Inspector

 

[Cadeau]

Thanks, Debbi!

Most of the post you were replying to was mine - the end paragraph was from Lotsapaints!

Sigh....that's what I thought about that cochin roo....
He's just SO nice, but I don't want to add troubles to my journey!

I check and cull any sprigs - I do find a sprig every once in a while.
My darkest laying hen just showed up with a sprig

It wasn't noticable until she was well into laying....so now have to look out for her chicks...

As for my Marans roo - he came from a super dark egg and his half-bred daughters are laying a nice #7 egg!

I was wondering if the hens contribute dark egg, too?

Meaning:
"plain brown egg" x Marans = #7
so - Marans x Marans = >7??


or is it not that straight forward? (like everything else!!)

 

[Lotsapaints]

I sure hope this garbage misses my birds (carnation combs) I cull any hen with a floppy comb coming into lay my main cock has only 4 points not 5 so far so good now I'm getting ready to use him with his daughters and going to try and single mate. So far so good with my Cuckoos so maybe this fault is mainly in the Black and Blue Coppers those old timers were right about mixing strains you can get a lot of garbage to show up we just have to be diligent with the culling I am so happy I culled the whole hatches of carnations I got they were black coppers 2 different breeders who swear they haven't had it happen before. That's why I only have 3 hens and there is one who after I choose my Blue daughters that will need to go first though I want to see what happens with my daughters back to the dad.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
If it clearly shows the fault then I don't think it will matter that it is a Cuckoo... Go ahead and post it

Paulo ~ If the bird(s) in question are approaching a molt, I would not worry too much. Are the white feathers white down to the skin? Or are they white in the middle of the feather, like someone painted it in there? Mark the feather with a Red/orange marker, and see if they don't molt the feather out in about 2 weeks or so. I'm thinking a lot of good roos are being lost to people panicing at the sight of these white sickle feathers!! If they are NOT white at the skinline, they will almost always molt out! Just what I've seen here, but it happens all the time! Also, my roos tend to molt in bits and pieces, not all at once like my hens do. Roos need more time to mature, and color up and bulk out! Up to 2 years!! Don't let a white feather deter you, unless it does not molt out in a few weeks, or goes to the skin and has white in the shaft! JMO!!!!!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Roo and Hen BOTH bring something to the table when it comes to egg color.

If the roo didn't bring something to the table then you wouldn't get OLIVE EGGERS when you cross ameracauna hens with marans roos.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I will CONFIRM that the white can disappear over time. My roo is around 1 3/4 years old. He has finally LOST all the WHITE in his wing feathers.
He DID NOT MOLT it out! It has slowly disappered over time. A few months ago, I posted pics of the wing feather when the white was about the size of a quarter. Now it is TOTALLY GONE! The wing feather use to be over 1/2 white a year ago.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
All I can say is CLOSE YOUR FLOCK NOW.... because this seems to being running rampid in the marans community right now!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Debbi, you make such a GREAT "Comb Cop"!

I was just thinking, "Man that looks like a carnation comb

".
I think the only way we are gonna stop these things is by policing them like you are doing.
Folks are just not use to dealing with the problem.

It is a good thing that the fault can be spotted so early on.

Keep up the good work, Debbi, and maybe they will promote you Chief Comb Inspector

Well thank you Lisa! I am starting to feel more like "Debbi Downer"!!

I see these combs now in my sleep, not kidding! This is a MAJOR problem if folks are hoping to breed quality birds, and ever hope to reach the SOP. Ignorance and denial is abundant when it comes to this, and I am tending more to the denial factor since I have posted these pics, and brought it to the attention of the "club". It still makes me sick to see it in my own birds; otherwise sweet and handsome specimens, with these Godawful combs!!! If I see it, I will point it out. If you want to know more about it, you will have to look in the SOP thread, or go back in this thread to look up what I've found. I'm tired of repeating myself! Do a search in the Search Box here on BYC, for "Carnation Combs in Marans"; that should show you some threads. In the meantime, until I can set up some breeding pens, I am going to just enjoy my chooks!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
All I can say to that is to breed the darkest to the darkest. Then there is still no gaurantee, but it does help. Number 7 eggs are hard to come by, some folks are still using old egg charts that are waaaaay off! I think I've had two eggs since i started that even came close to a 7! Most fall in the 5-6 range, but on a steady basis. Yes, both the roo and the hen/pullet contribute to the egg color.

 

[Cadeau]

I guess I need a new chart - which club has the correct color chart??


Math - LOL - I know the roo contributes b/c Red Star x BCM roo are laying a darker egg and heir mothers lay a light brown egg! LOL



How do you grade a spotty egg?
I have 2 BCM and one Blue Marans hen who lay a brown egg with really dark spots.

Is that their systems just getting primed or will they always lay a spotty egg?

What do the rules say about spotty eggs?
Do they get graded on their "base" color??