Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

I think that perhaps Math may have quoted the wrong post....she was probably reading back through the thread and ran across Anna's post about the animal coming into her coop via the roof....just a quess and with some of the quirks that the new BYC is having probably the wrong post was quoted. I know I've been whacky things go on lately as I have tried to quote and post.

Ok, that makes sense! Phew! I would've thought Vicki would've mentioned that one!

 

[ruth]

Thanks Kim, I was starting to think I lost my mind there!

He is a lovely boy, but I don't know if I'd risk breeding him. Like you said, test mate and see what comes up maybe?

I know here, I have a couple of cull roos with sprigs, and on the one, it is very hard to see, but you can definately feel it with your finger.

Thanks ladies. I think it's just a peck mark but I'll defer to your more experienced knowledge and judgement. I thought a sprig was obvious sticks out) and not something that needed magnification or feeling to find. As I posted he is from the Whitmore farm blue copper roo (who is definitely NOT SOP) over my black copper hens. I'm just getting started on trying to get a line of blue coppers going and I certainly don't want any problem child in the mix.

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks Kim, I was starting to think I lost my mind there!

He is a lovely boy, but I don't know if I'd risk breeding him. Like you said, test mate and see what comes up maybe?

I know here, I have a couple of cull roos with sprigs, and on the one, it is very hard to see, but you can definately feel it with your finger.

Thanks ladies. I think it's just a peck mark but I'll defer to your more experienced knowledge and judgement. I thought a sprig was obvious sticks out) and not something that needed magnification or feeling to find. As I posted he is from the Whitmore farm blue copper roo (who is definitely NOT SOP) over my black copper hens. I'm just getting started on trying to get a line of blue coppers going and I certainly don't want any problem child in the mix.

I am crossing my fingers for you that it is a peck Monique....I truly am and that would be fantastic for you if it is.
I too thought that sprigs would be larger and more prominent until I was blessed with the carnation comb (or as I refer to them as bi-lateral side sprigs or sprigs, which may or may not be the correct terminology, but I believe they are sprigs combined with certain comb modifiers) popping up in my flock. I have culled every bird that had any funky-ness to their combs...including 2 hens that had bumps......so far and I am keeping my fingers VERY crossed on this....but so far.....no sprigs or carnations are presenting out of my recent hatches. Still waiting on 4 birds to start laying again so that I can test mate them to see what they carry...Ithink they secretly know I am waiting on them and they are holding out because they don't want to be found out.

Slackers!!!!

 

[Debbi]

Thanks ladies. I think it's just a peck mark but I'll defer to your more experienced knowledge and judgement. I thought a sprig was obvious sticks out) and not something that needed magnification or feeling to find. As I posted he is from the Whitmore farm blue copper roo (who is definitely NOT SOP) over my black copper hens. I'm just getting started on trying to get a line of blue coppers going and I certainly don't want any problem child in the mix.

Hi Ruth,

I've learned more about side sprigs and Carnation combs in the last year, more than I ever wanted to know! Seems like, here any way, that they show up on some of the nicest birds too. I hope you didn't think I was "bashing" your stock, I have just gotten so darned passionate about these comb problems popping up, that any more, it's the first thing I look for. A sprig can be small like a pimple, and can also look like a pyramid coming off the comb as well. Carnation combs range in size and shape too. The reason I had asked if you've seen any of the Carnations in your flock, is because I have a roo here, supposedly from Jesse Bryant's birds. While he is not the best Marans roo I've seen, he does not have any DQs. Shank feathering could use major improving on him too, but he does have some. The odd thing about him, he is now over a year old, and I have NEVER seen him breed or even attempt to breed! Figures...

 

[Debbi]

Wouldn't you know it, now I have comb issues in my Silkies too!!!

They all got wet standing out in the drizzle the other day, and I was looking at them one at a time. Wouldn't you know it, my promising Partridge boy, Kramer, who is in my avatar, has two horns at the very top of his comb that were well hidden by his poofy crest!

 

[PrairieFarmer]

Hi Maran's people! I'm looking for eggs or chicks of show quality Black Copper Marans preferably on West Coast. I'm seeing lots of BCMs eggs on the auction but all seem mostly east. I'm in Washington State and would preferably a closer (less risky) shipping distance than Virginia or Kentucky and what not.... Anybody gonna have anything? Message me if so! Thanks!

 

[pinkchick]

Hi Maran's people! I'm looking for eggs or chicks of show quality Black Copper Marans preferably on West Coast. I'm seeing lots of BCMs eggs on the auction but all seem mostly east. I'm in Washington State and would preferably a closer (less risky) shipping distance than Virginia or Kentucky and what not.... Anybody gonna have anything? Message me if so! Thanks!

Hi!


What part of Washington state if you don't mind me asking? You can Private message me if you like with the answer.

 

[pinkchick]

Wouldn't you know it, now I have comb issues in my Silkies too!!!

They all got wet standing out in the drizzle the other day, and I was looking at them one at a time. Wouldn't you know it, my promising Partridge boy, Kramer, who is in my avatar, has two horns at the very top of his comb that were well hidden by his poofy crest!

See....I always believed that Silkies had an evil little way about them.

Yep...sprigs can happen in every type of comb.

 

[ruth]

Thanks Pink and Debbi - and no Debbi I didn't think you were bashing my birds. I wouldn't have posted the picture if I didn't want comments. It's a project pen, starting with nothing but faults and I'm trying to work them out over time but I'm just getting started. No bird from this pen will ever be mixed in wiith my regular Black Copper Marans whose line will always remain true because my blue project started with a Whitmore farm roo who is also still in the project pen. I simply needed to know what you were seeing and calling a side sprig.

As far as leg feathering the original French said "sparsely feathered" and that's pretty much what my birds have. I see all the photos of heavily feathered shanks and to me that's not in keeping with the original French standard. I think they even kept that wording in the APA or used "lightly" but I think it's been debated just what that means.

As far as your roo being from Jesse Bryant - I can't offer any credentials for anyone's birds other than my own. If it came directly from Jesse it probably came from the stock I eventually bought but some of those original birds had problems. For example there was a Wheaten roo in the bunch which probably accounted for all the "surprise" chicks people refer to when they talk about the Wade Jeane line. Jesse didn't know and I only learned by reading all of these theads and discussions. I removed that roo the first year as well as some problem hens (yellow legs); too mossy; and any birds that had white feathers anywhere and now I have a flock that meets SOP and reproduces same. After four years I'm still learning and trying to improve my flock.

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks Pink and Debbi - and no Debbi I didn't think you were bashing my birds. I wouldn't have posted the picture if I didn't want comments. It's a project pen, starting with nothing but faults and I'm trying to work them out over time but I'm just getting started. No bird from this pen will ever be mixed in wiith my regular Black Copper Marans whose line will always remain true because my blue project started with a Whitmore farm roo who is also still in the project pen. I simply needed to know what you were seeing and calling a side sprig.

As far as leg feathering the original French said "sparsely feathered" and that's pretty much what my birds have. I see all the photos of heavily feathered shanks and to me that's not in keeping with the original French standard. I think they even kept that wording in the APA or used "lightly" but I think it's been debated just what that means.

As far as your roo being from Jesse Bryant - I can't offer any credentials for anyone's birds other than my own. If it came directly from Jesse it probably came from the stock I eventually bought but some of those original birds had problems. For example there was a Wheaten roo in the bunch which probably accounted for all the "surprise" chicks people refer to when they talk about the Wade Jeane line. Jesse didn't know and I only learned by reading all of these theads and discussions. I removed that roo the first year as well as some problem hens (yellow legs); too mossy; and any birds that had white feathers anywhere and now I have a flock that meets SOP and reproduces same. After four years I'm still learning and trying to improve my flock.

Monique~

I personally prefer the lightly feathered shanks and no feathers on the outer toe and used to breed for no feathers on the outer toe.....I am still breeding for lightly feathered shanks (lightly to me means, one nice neat row of nicely developed feathers down the outside of the shank, not the street sweeper look) but have recently intergrated birds that have a couple feathers on the outer toe into the program because that is what the SOP calls for, I just will not be breeding for heavily feathered shanks, though I do keep some birds with heavy feathered shanks to kinda even out the balance that is produced in the offspring. If I let the feathering get too light, I start seeing more and more clean shanks or birds with sparse (sporadic) shank feathering. When I see this I cross back to a heavily feathered bird and it helps out tremendously.