Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Good morning all

A whopping 12* here in the hollar.....brrrrrrr. I'm surprised it's as warm as it is in the house at 50*. That infrared heater I bought has been doing a great job, it's just not made to heat the whole house, or for that matter, an old, leaky house! But 50 sure beats 12*!!!! Turned on the cook stove and put on a pot of water to warm things up a tad quicker. Brooder lamp on the pipes in the bathroom and in the well house. Ahhhh, life in the country!

It never ceases to amaze me that no one out here is cutting firewood any more? With all the people out of work, no one wants to do any actual work! My one and only wood guy that I've used for the last 3 years, retired after having 2 heart attacks. Probably a good move on his part, eh?

Vicki ~ I can feel your excitement from here! Can't wait to see what those handsome boys throw!!

 

[gilavina]

Good morning all

A whopping 12* here in the hollar.....brrrrrrr. I'm surprised it's as warm as it is in the house at 50*. That infrared heater I bought has been doing a great job, it's just not made to heat the whole house, or for that matter, an old, leaky house! But 50 sure beats 12*!!!! Turned on the cook stove and put on a pot of water to warm things up a tad quicker. Brooder lamp on the pipes in the bathroom and in the well house. Ahhhh, life in the country!

It never ceases to amaze me that no one out here is cutting firewood any more? With all the people out of work, no one wants to do any actual work! My one and only wood guy that I've used for the last 3 years, retired after having 2 heart attacks. Probably a good move on his part, eh?

Vicki ~ I can feel your excitement from here! Can't wait to see what those handsome boys throw!!

Holy Crap Debbi! I'd take the 12* for sure today...its -1 right now. I bet my birds are NOT having too much fun.

And I totally agree with you in your awe of the fact of so many people out of work, but not one want to do actual work. I see it on a daily basis with my job and it realllly gets to me some days.

I am SO excited....and my hatcher should be here in the next hour or two....again....SO excited. I feel like a little kid haha

 

[Debbi]

Ugh, you can keep your minus 1! Do you have snow on the ground? They are now talking about snow tomorrow night, maybe 4". I knew the other shoe would drop eventually. C'mon SPRING!!!!!

 

[gilavina]

Ugh, you can keep your minus 1! Do you have snow on the ground? They are now talking about snow tomorrow night, maybe 4". I knew the other shoe would drop eventually. C'mon SPRING!!!!!

yeah...last weekend we got about 11", and its hard as a rock right now....looks like by tuesday we should be hitting the 30s again, so I will definitely look forward to that.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Good morning all

A whopping 12* here in the hollar.....brrrrrrr. I'm surprised it's as warm as it is in the house at 50*. That infrared heater I bought has been doing a great job, it's just not made to heat the whole house, or for that matter, an old, leaky house! But 50 sure beats 12*!!!! Turned on the cook stove and put on a pot of water to warm things up a tad quicker. Brooder lamp on the pipes in the bathroom and in the well house. Ahhhh, life in the country!

It never ceases to amaze me that no one out here is cutting firewood any more? With all the people out of work, no one wants to do any actual work! My one and only wood guy that I've used for the last 3 years, retired after having 2 heart attacks. Probably a good move on his part, eh?

Vicki ~ I can feel your excitement from here! Can't wait to see what those handsome boys throw!!

COLD here too this morning. The roos are all shivering even with a heat lamp. The girls are puffed up in the coop. Big snow and big wind too so nobody is going outside here today - except the horses. They love the snow and don't mind the cold. They're tough old boys - and they have a shelter.

 

[gilavina]

Hey Barb....did you ever set more eggs then? Probably not silkie eggs unless you found some. But just was curious. I'm hoping for some blue coppers from these eggs...possibly even a male blue copper. We'll see! 7 days left now

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Hey Barb....did you ever set more eggs then? Probably not silkie eggs unless you found some. But just was curious. I'm hoping for some blue coppers from these eggs...possibly even a male blue copper. We'll see! 7 days left now

Haven't set anymore eggs yet. Still on the hunt for more SQ Silkies. Have tracked down a couple of leads so might have something in a few weeks.

(Holding off on LF until much later in the spring - when breeding pens have been properly set up AND the birds can be raised outside. As much as I enjoy chickens in the basement - they are A LOT of work!!!!)

 

[gilavina]

Haven't set anymore eggs yet. Still on the hunt for more SQ Silkies. Have tracked down a couple of leads so might have something in a few weeks.

(Holding off on LF until much later in the spring - when breeding pens have been properly set up AND the birds can be raised outside. As much as I enjoy chickens in the basement - they are A LOT of work!!!!)

haha...i hear ya on alot of work!!

 

[desertmarcy]

Question for you all about blue and blue copper Marans. I am quite confused about these. I understand the blue genetics--blue X blue gives blue, black, and splash. Where does the copper come into play? I bred a pair of blue copper Marans, kept 3 offspring. I have 1 cockerel that is blue copper. Another cockerel and a pullet show no signs of copper color as yet, they are almost 3 months old now. Will these stay all blue? And if you breed a Black Copper Marans cock with a blue or blue copper hen, will you get black, blue, and blue copper? or just black copper and blue copper? And, as if I didn't have enough questions,

is the dark egg color directly related to the black color gene--what I am wondering, if you get black coppers out of a black copper to blue copper or blue mating, will that black copper lay as dark an egg as a BCM produced from a black to black mating?

I've studied turkey color genetics, but the chicken genetics seems more complicated. Anybody have any favorite sites for chicken color genetics 101? Some of the sites I've visited seem too complicated, I need some basic background info to start. Thanks

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Question for you all about blue and blue copper Marans. I am quite confused about these. I understand the blue genetics--blue X blue gives blue, black, and splash. Where does the copper come into play? I bred a pair of blue copper Marans, kept 3 offspring. I have 1 cockerel that is blue copper. Another cockerel and a pullet show no signs of copper color as yet, they are almost 3 months old now. Will these stay all blue? And if you breed a Black Copper Marans cock with a blue or blue copper hen, will you get black, blue, and blue copper? or just black copper and blue copper? And, as if I didn't have enough questions,

is the dark egg color directly related to the black color gene--what I am wondering, if you get black coppers out of a black copper to blue copper or blue mating, will that black copper lay as dark an egg as a BCM produced from a black to black mating?

I've studied turkey color genetics, but the chicken genetics seems more complicated. Anybody have any favorite sites for chicken color genetics 101? Some of the sites I've visited seem too complicated, I need some basic background info to start. Thanks

I work with both Black and Blue Coppers as well. In fact, all my original birds (Blue and Black) were hatched out of Blue Copper eggs. My Blue lays eggs just as dark as the Blacks.

These are the Blue Copper eggs mine hatched from


Blue genetics work the same way with the copper varieties. I'm not entirely clear how the copper works but I do know it can be and usually is late to appear - if it appears at all. Over-melanization (virtually no copper showing at all) is a big problem with Marans as it is for me with my females so far. I'm hoping my young birds will correct that problem but it will be awhile before I find out!!!

You might try posing your question on the thread on Black Coppers specifically. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/444381/black-copper-marans-discussion-thread even though your question concerns the blues. There is a little less traffic and chatter on that one. I believe there are some genetics experts that hang out on some of the Marans threads.