Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[culler]

Vicki, maybe I misunderstood Hen's question? I didn't think she meant breeding the ones with the carnation or the wave? Hen's did you mean breeding the other siblings that had normal combs, or am I way off here? I sure would not breed anything expressing a carnation...OOOOOOOoooooooo NOOOOOOooooo!

Debbi, to save on headaches I would cull all if they were from the same breeders. I bought one dozen wheaten eggs last year off ebay and had two chicks showup with the carnation Comb, I cull the entire hatch. I have never had a Carnation show up on Marans bred here. Your two BC males should be clean also.

 

[gilavina]

Debbi, to save on headaches I would cull all if they were from the same breeders. I bought one dozen wheaten eggs last year off ebay and had two chicks showup with the carnation Comb, I cull the entire hatch. I have never had a Carnation show up on Marans bred here. Your two BC males should be clean also.

I don't know how I missed Debbi's post...but I think maybe we both were confused? Maybe Hens will come back and clear up what they meant for sure? I admit, I'm in and out a lot today getting stuff done around the house and trying outside but its so blasted windy, I can't handle it and my ears can't take it, even with ear muffs and a hat on.

 

[Keara]

Thread hijacked for chick photos..... Hatched these out this weekend, just to check the incubator was still working!

Yes they are all black.

 

[Cadeau]

How do the wave comb genetics work?

2 copies to show, 1 copy to carry?

Same as with carnation?

 

[gilavina]

Thread hijacked for chick photos..... Hatched these out this weekend, just to check the incubator was still working!

Yes they are all black.

looks like a wad of cuties! how many ya got so far?

 

[math ace]

I tried the MCCUSA directory and the MOA directory and didn't see him,do you know if he perhaps goes by a farm name as well? some are listed as farm names....?

NOPE, but I do know he is out off Tallahassee Fl.

 

[Cadeau]

Aww - cuties!

I need to get pics of my two that hatched, but the one kid is still all icky!
Have to wait until I can work out all the icky stuff and he fluffs up all pretty!!

 

[Debbi]

Debbi, to save on headaches I would cull all if they were from the same breeders. I bought one dozen wheaten eggs last year off ebay and had two chicks showup with the carnation Comb, I cull the entire hatch. I have never had a Carnation show up on Marans bred here. Your two BC males should be clean also.

Don, the problem is like Barb said, the smaller breeders would have nothing to go with if we culled off all. I would at least have to try the breeding once. I strongly believe that at least one of my boys here is clean. He bred one of the hens from the group I got the carnation from, but I have a cockerel and a pullet from that breeding, that I believe came from the hen that did not express the carnation comb. So, I am going to place her and Clyde in a single mating scenario to see what comes of the offspring again. Should a carnation pop up, well, then I will know they are BOTH carriers. I have to work with what I have, I have run out of money trying to get some decent stock! If it wasn't carnations, it was sprigs.

I am going to start by setting up 3 pens, and run Clyde among all three hens, keeping the hens seperate. All 3 hens are being treated as carriers, although none express a carnation comb. If a carnation pops up, then that will dismiss Clyde from the breeding pool as well, which would break my heart! I may have to set up 2 more pens, and breed the daughter back to him, and his sister to him. Hmmm, I may start with the latter one first?? So many ways to go, so little money and energy...

 

[math ace]

Hens, unless you want to test hatch the balance of the hatch and there is one with Carnation type Penne comb I would cull all the group. The wavy comb could still be used if need be. With all the combs type problems showing up it is time to start test mating all the Marans before putting in breeding pens.

I don't mean this to be a lame, REALLY LAME, question .... but how do you test mate for all the issues we are seeing?

For instance, I just test mated a hen that I suspected of carring a recessive yellow leg gene. I tested mated her to my delaware roo to see what was produced. Sure enough, yellow leg chicks were produced...

So what kind of matings should we be doing for these testings ? ? ?

When you say "test mating" .... Is the purpose of test mating just so that we KNOW what each pair is throwing. In other words, selective pairing instead of using a bunch of hens and a couple of roos and being unable to track down where the defects are coming from?

Did we decide HOW to test mate for a carnation comb carrier?

 

[math ace]

Thread hijacked for chick photos..... Hatched these out this weekend, just to check the incubator was still working!

Yes they are all black.

BLACK is BEAUTIFUL ( IMHO)!