Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Organics North]

Hmmm..Don't feel bad southpaw52 ...He looks similar to the 8 "blue" roos I culled with Copper in the neck. Not a bad thing as Geebs says, just bad if you are trying to produce BB/S birds without copper on the neck. Maybe go for Blue copper.??..

Hey pink.. thanks for the notes on the bator..
Dave, Good luck...

ON

 

[daegorn]

southpaw52 if you don't want him I'll take him!

I want a nice Blue Copper Roo.

 

[geebs]

Actually a necessary step, I think in Copper blue production... I hope I am correct here as I only bred a few for a short time but it took 2 generations for me to get good copper... The first one looked like the roo... It gave an indication but wasn't the finished product.

 

[southpaw52]

so, geebs & daegorn.....should I gather some eggs from these three to hatch and see? Would I be better off to find different hens? Different roo?
I am not in this for any major breeding program, but would like to get something the Gr-daughters could show with 4H.
Thanks,
Anne

 

[snowbird]

Lately I see several people posting pictures of young Marans from the same hatch and asking if they would be good enough to breed together. Some breed brother and sister matings, I f you do it this way you better be prepared for all the faults as this will bring on all the bad faults that they have in their Genetics.

I strictly breed father to Daughter and mother to son, Any combination except for brother and sister.

The Marans have so many genetic faults that you do not want to multiply them.

With my Black Copper I am finding that they produce more good female than male. Will make some matings this year to try and produce some better males. Will offer some eggs after the next hatch I have to the people that have been ripped off on the high price of eggs. Email with your info. and will ship some after the hatch is confirmed as a success.

 

[keithallen1965]

Quote:
Quailladyoffortmyers in your earlier post you said Not likely Wade jean lines! Now you are saying Wade jean lines, Im not sure what the chick in queston is however you alone know what your breeder birds are and if they are seperated we can only call it from what we see. There are a lot of people on this list that have Ate, Slept, and worked the marans breed for many many years and they would know by the color if they have ever seen that in a marans. Just saying if you are gonna post what you have and have not you should keep the post consistant!

 

[southpaw52]

Don, just in case your last post was meant for me....these hens are from one home in OR, the roo from another in WA. Not related.
as I said, just in case. No offense intended. I agree with your concerns as stated.
Thanks,
Anne

 

[geebs]

Okay Snowbird.... We can trade.

Full line disclosure... I want to prove my egg color first!!! DANG SLOW PULLETS... ( no eggies)

I agree about the brother sister thing... What I like to do... (to all you brand newbies... this is a nice short cut) is buy an adult female and an adultmale from a breeder.. (if I can) and then the eggs... then I use the babies against the parents... You can sometimes get a buy on the older adults or even a cull bird... (they are just parts of the recipe) and use the pullets that work best against the male and the male that works best against the female..

Option B... I order eggs two years in a row.. That way I have a better chance of different parent stock... I really like it when breeders list the parents that they are using so you know what you have to deal with (not very many do this)... Littlepeddler does... You have to talk to the breeder no just get an Ebay order etc... In the meantime I would use a different male on the females from the hatch... I should have saved a male and bought a female but I didn't so one line is a generation ahead of the other for me personally. An open dialogue is important to making big strides.

Just a thought... If you already have some growing out... Call and order another dozen or a shipped bird from different parents from the same line.... (just my thoughts)

A good male seems harder to reproduce... Any help here would be welcome... I am trying to reproduce a good male again for this next generation and my attempts are less than fantastic... Though, I think I have a good working theory... If anyone out there would post a good theory for the male... Please do... All eyes are watching... I am looking a generation ahead in the female to produce the male making the female redder to balance out the ligthter hackle. Is this a good theory... you experts... What other qualities am I wanting... I have kinda gotten there so far by mass hatching... Now I am trying to narrow the chances... Any help???? Or is just mass hatching the way to go???? I am using females of good type... proper eye color and different amounts of copper and different grades of mahogany.. I will be test hatching this time and saving my results.

(would love a shortcut here)... Walt??? Bev???

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
He would be considered a Blue Copper. He will probably get more copper in the neck area as he matures but I am thinking he may not get any or show very little in his shoulders or saddles just a hunch.

 

[Criskin]

I think what she meant was "Not likely (because they are) Wade Jean lines".