Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Hi

A bird with the dwarfing gene looks like a standard bird with shorter legs. A bantam is a small version of a standard bird.

Bev

I can tell you from personal experience that a dwarf does not look like a standard bird with shorter legs. I have had 3 dwarf Delawares ..... they have more than short legs! They also have larger heads, the eyes are not right, the beak isn't either. The feather quality is poor, etc..... I could go on and on....

My understanding is that they have to get a double dose of the dwarfing gene; one from each parent.

These chicks looked perfectly normal when hatched. All of these things "developed." (the feet too)

 

[bikechick]

so much information-all good

but my brain cells are struggling to absorb it all.

 

[geebs]

Thanks Kathinmo... That is an awesome picture!!! I am glad to have someone clear up my misinformation...I struggle to understand all these aspect as well... Reading up on that.... Still don't know which has more influence the male or the female... Maybe I can send the read over to you and it can make you blind... Maybe you understand it better kathyinmo

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Hi

A bird with the dwarfing gene looks like a standard bird with shorter legs. A bantam is a small version of a standard bird.

Bev

I can tell you from personal experience that a dwarf does not look like a standard bird with shorter legs. I have had 3 dwarf Delawares ..... they have more than short legs! They also have larger heads, the eyes are not right, the beak isn't either. The feather quality is poor, etc..... I could go on and on....

My understanding is that they have to get a double dose of the dwarfing gene; one from each parent.

These chicks looked perfectly normal when hatched. All of these things "developed." (the feet too)

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/12-20-09 Delaware comparison/12-20-09038.jpg

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/12-20-09 Delaware comparison/12-20-09034.jpg

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/12-20-09 Delaware comparison/12-20-09025.jpg

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/12-20-09 Delaware comparison/12-20-09084.jpg

Kathy, In my favorite chicken book, Poultry Breeding by Morley Jull, on page 220 it explains Dwarfism to be just as your pictures show.

 

[geebs]

http://ps.fass.org/cgi/reprint/79/11/1507.pdf

This is the article I was basing part of my information on... Of course it is not the only source but it is relavent and easy for most ppl to read.. some of the others will make you go blind...

This may well explain some of the curled toes, swollen head etc...that we get in hatchery birds and also the reduction in hatch rates in some small birds. The use of dw vs. dwb

 

[Debbi]

I know nothing about dwarfing genes in chickens, but it is my understanding, that in humans there are dwarfs and midgets (now PC called "little people"). With the dwarves, the head is enlarged, the limbs shorter in proportion to the torso. The midgets are basically smaller versions of regularly shaped people. I went to school with one of each, and they will promptly let you know which type they are if you made a mistake. Both kids came from regular sized parents. Geebs, are you breeding Marans bantams or is it a different breed??

 

[geebs]

Different breed.

 

[flgardengirl]

I have a wheaten marans that hatched from some eggs I bought last winter. He hatched out very small, about half the size of the normal wheatens. He sounds very similar body wise to a dwarf. I kept thinking he looked like one when he was young lol. He also has curled toes on one foot just like kathy's photo. I kept him but am not breeding him. He is in a bachelor pad.
He is still smaller than a normal wheaten but not super small.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Hi

I had a hen that laid the prettiest mauve egg and tried my hardest to hatch them to start a line but never could. Did the off spring from that hen lay the same colored eggs they came from? In the second year that hen laid the same colored eggs as all the other, it was strange!

Bev

Bev,

I did finally get a few to hatch earlier this year after many attempts. One of her offspring lays the same colored eggs but she doesn't lay like that everyday like her mother did. I have yet to get a photo of one of them from my best friend who has her. I only hatched them to see if it would pass on to the babies, one out of 4 or 5 isn't bad, but of course it had to be the one the one chick I gave away. Now if I could get my dear friend to give her back to me for some more tests that would be great but she is like geebs and very protective of her and won't let me near her without supervision because she knows I'll toss her in my truck and take her home.

Silly me I gave her, the original hen, to a man and his developmentally disabled adult son who fell in love with the "white speckled bird" as he called her, she was very friendly and he wanted to hold a chicken so I let him hold her........needless to say it was over right then and the smile on his face while he was sitting there contently petting "Indy" (short for Independence as she hatched on the 4th of July) did me in.....I knew he had to take this bird home, lol, he wouldn't let his dad put her in the carrier......she was going to ride home in his lap, but thankfully dad prevailed. I heard from them about a month ago and she is still laying that purplish egg.

Here is one of her eggs (far left) that I would get almost daily from her. Apologies to those of you that have seen these before, but Bev wasn't on the forum when we had this discussion about the purplish eggs in the other thread.

Here's one that she gave me that was as white as could be but you can see the color under one of the scratches.

Far left of the photo are some of the last eggs that I got from her and put in the 'bator......wouldn't you know it but the last attempt at hatching some of her eggs I would get a few babies, but only one has continued on with Mamma's egg color.

 

[geebs]

I will hold the mama for you Pinkchick... I promise not to smile too much.....(hoping for a repeat performance here)