This is probably a dumb question, but how do you breed to get a solid Blue Marans? I guess what I am wanting to know is, what is the origin of these birds?
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I'm guessing here based on what I've been reading - Blue birds (solid or with copper added) are based on the ER allele (Birchen). Black and Blue Coppers are (aka. brown-red) start with ER/ER with s+/s+ to get the copper (red) - and a bunch of other things. For a Blue bird without copper I assume you would want to replace the s+ (red) with S (silver). Black and Blue Coppers also carry Mh (mahogany) which intensifies red. I'm betting you'd likely want to get rid of that one too. The Black and Blue Coppers also have a Ml (melanotic) allele which when carried to extremes and combined with other factors, hides the copper expression which is what Debbi is talking about. I assume this allele would be useful when creating a solid coloured bird.
I don't believe the solid blue or black Marans are an officially recognized variety anywhere in the world at this point.
There is some good information here on the Australian site (which suggests what I just mused about above is pretty much on the mark!)
http://frenchmaransclubaustralia.yolasite.com/notes-on-breeding.php
