Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[chickeneyfoot]

I don't have any pure WJ lines but supposedly one roo, and he won't breed, so can't tell you with any great certainty...BUT! An old adage.."Never say Never" comes to mind. I have people also tell me they have NEVER had any comb problems as well, then when the chicks hatch I got Carnation combs?? Take it with a grain, or a pound, of salt!

Very true.
Also, I think people don't like to "see" flaws in their chickens. If mine had smooth legs I wouldn't hide it. Because I don't think anyone has a perfect batch each time.

 

[Debbi]

LOL I was just reading up on the history of Marans and realized the whole "s" thing, haha. I will have to post pics once we have them. We have someone hatching our eggs for us until we build an incubator. Hubby is handy that way but he has to have the time to devote to a project like that. I have been keeping him busy building coops instead, lol. I can't wait to see what hatches from our stock of Marans, they are so pretty. I wasn't happy with our Golden Salmon boy so I have him in reserve and bought a better looking one a few weeks ago. I won't see the results of his breeding for a few more weeks yet but excited to see if that changes things up. I love my little blue splash pair but I only have the one pair. How do you go about finding more breeding stock? Would it be okay to breed our blue splash roo to his own offspring? I mean I don't have this issue with my black copper or my cuckoos because I can find those locally for breeding but we just started with the Blue Splash.

thanks

You never said if you are just raising backyard chickens for your own useage, or trying to sell eggs/chicks in the future for breeding or possible showing. If they are just for you, the SOP won't matter. If it is the latter reason, you need to read the SOP for the Marans breed, and also for the variety (color) of the breed. Breeding Father to Daughter is fine, IF both are worth breeding, (as in NO DQs and of good type) and will take your breeding program forward. With the Splash color, it is wise to breed back a Blue bird from time to time to keep the Splashes from getting too light with no patterning. Otherwise, with a constant Splash x Splash breeding, you will end up with nearly white birds. This is from what I've garnered over time on here, so I don't yet have any first hand experience with the Splash variety...yet! I do have one Splash pullet, who is now starting to come of age, (the boys are now interested!), so time will tell. I really love the look of a well marked Splash bird!!!

 

[Debbi]

Very true.
Also, I think people don't like to "see" flaws in their chickens. If mine had smooth legs I wouldn't hide it. Because I don't think anyone has a perfect batch each time.

Oh yes! Some people, hmm make that MANY people, will take your questions about their birds' faults as a personal affront! Hey, it's chickens, and it's not like I'm telling you your child is ugly!

It should NOT be a personal thing, and any reputable breeder will tell you of their birds' good points and also their faults! If they don't, run in the farthest opposite direction, quickly!!! There are a lot of people out there on the gravy train....just saying.

 

[gilavina]

Debbi...im tryin to get some shots for ya....so far its just blurs and streaks instead of actual chickies. I'll try again here in a bit, gave them a treat, so we'll see if it slows them down some haha

 

[Debbi]

Debbi...im tryin to get some shots for ya....so far its just blurs and streaks instead of actual chickies. I'll try again here in a bit, gave them a treat, so we'll see if it slows them down some haha

Feed them some oatmeal, maybe it will weigh them down!??

 

[gilavina]

Oh yes! Some people, hmm make that MANY people, will take your questions about their birds' faults as a personal affront! Hey, it's chickens, and it's not like I'm telling you your child is ugly!

It should NOT be a personal thing, and any reputable breeder will tell you of their birds' good points and also their faults! If they don't, run in the farthest opposite direction, quickly!!! There are a lot of people out there on the gravy train....just saying.

haha....i'm not afraid to say my giant birds taste good with gravy!

 

[gilavina]

Feed them some oatmeal, maybe it will weigh them down!??

haha that's what they are getting!!

 

[Debbi]

haha that's what they are getting!!

Oh that's so scary how our brains work!

Now if I had said turkey and you responded the same....EEEERYYYYY!!!

 

[gilavina]

Oh that's so scary how our brains work!

Now if I had said turkey and you responded the same....EEEERYYYYY!!!

haha too true! we do think a lot alike!

 

[Debbi]

Just heard on the news that a huge solar storm from the sun will hit us tomorrow, possibly knocking out GPS and sattelite communications between 1-5am. Hmm, wonder if it will make the girls lay more and darker eggs??