Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Quote:
This assumption could get you in trouble. Marans are relatively new in the US. They do not have a standard that has been accepted yet, so THEY CAN NOT BE SHOWNED in normal catergories. Someone else in this thread will have to tell you what they can be showed in - - - but it is not normal like other breeds.

ALSO, many have worked long and hard with their marans and do not want to risk them catching something at a show for the sake of a ribbon . . . . Those of us with marans value them greatly and protect them fiercely. . .


Quote:
The pecking order you are describing is NORMAL. . . Anytime you add new bird(s) to an established flock, it will get nasty. The new bird gets picked on awful. It is much better NOT TO INTRODUCE ONE BIRD AT A TIME . . . I think you need 3 or 4 new birds to come in at the same time to make it more peaceful and gentle.

 

[geebs]

dsc6 one word...

egg!!!

Welcome New EGG!!!!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
POST # 3395.

OK help me with my chicken eye - - -is this a bcm or a wheaton marans. I am asking because of that red wing triangle !

 

[geebs]

Math Ace There is no cinnamon triangle... It is BC.. The triangle is lower on the wing

 

[ruth]

I've been reading and studying all the pictures, posts and comments and have been learning a lot. Mostly I've learned I need to start a long list of traits and go back and read again and make notes. There's been so much posted lately I've forgotten things - like, for example, is a single white wing feather an automatic cull or does it molt out, same with a white foot feather.

Most of the pictures have been of roos and there hasn't been much discussion about hens so far. I have a wide variety of traits in those as well and now I'm trying to see if they have "pinched" tails or not. Will "The List" never end????

Here's my personal favorite "look" - a nice true copper collar that does not go down the chest:

But I also have a lot of other "looks" in the hen category. I didn't take pics of those that have little to no color - but here are some of the colored ones (and most are molting so they look pretty bad):

The same applies to roos - some very dark, some more gold:

This is my darkest roo:

Notice the color difference in these two:

So......how does anyone decide what to breed for? I've just been waiting for the proposed standards to get sorted out and accepted. But I'm getting more and more confused the more I read.

 

[snowbird]

Ruth, the first hen has what the old timers call a fan tail. After the Juve molt a white wing or tail feather should be a DQ. This would come under the APA cutting for points section. To say if it is a pinched tail would need to see the hind end,

 

[GothChick]

math ace- The BCM hatching eggs I currently have were bought on the auction section on BYC. One set was from Bargain and the other set was from CRFarm. I saw pics of both the parents but didn't see them in person. CRFarm said "My Roo is pure Jean and the hens are Jean/Presley" and Bargain said "These are Wade Jeane line, C-1" not really sure if these are good things or not. I really wanted the eggs to try hatching and keeping a few for egg production but I can only have so many so if I have a big hatch I will have to give some up. Also both sellers have new auctions going for more BCMs and it has more info and pics of the parents. If you wanted to look and let me know what you think that would be great. I also plan on keeping the chicks until they are older and selling them then. Not right away, so it will be easier to tell the quality of each individual birds. I know when I went to a recent local swap I told them I was looking for BCMs and they said I would have a super hard time finding any near my area and that most of them had never even seen one in person, they had just heard of them and they all gave me their numbers and told me to call them if I tracked any down. Let me know what you think, thanks!

 

[geebs]

Ruth... What I do... Just my way is I find the bird (s) with the best conformation that I can... Starting with the rooster... Use one that has good shape...Then whatever deficits he has use hens that will "correct" that... That is the jumping off point... You will always be thinking ahead for the female line and again for the male line.. You always have to think about the product and what to do with it on the "next go". I have a male line and a female line... You breed the best you have that works together... they can be incorrect looking and still produce good/better offspring.. record results.. You will have to test mate to find out what is going to work... maybe a hen has a hidden gene that is undesirable... It would be unwise to have only bred to that one hen for the season... that is where the test mating comes in... RECORDS RECORDS RECORDS it is not easy at all.. Then you do the same for the male line breeding the best male back to the mothers... and the daughters to the father... you do this for 8 generations. Then you put the males and the females together as breeder stock... This is what I was taught...

It is by far the most difficult way as you will have books of records.

I use pictures also... you will learn alot as you go so the notes are important.. they help you from repeating history.

The very first thing is thriftiness.. the conformation is there because it needs to be for a HEALTHY bird... so health and conformation is first... Your egg color is great on your birds so you don't have that as a huge hurdle, that being said I would consider the egg color for my males a paramount decision... I wouldn't set anything but the VERY darkest when I am breeding for males.. Some ppl breed for both at the same time...I do not... It is too hard for me to stay organized. I look at structure.. the framework and muscleclature... and how things tie together and then I start looking at the difficult things about color and tackling those things.. EYE< SHANK< MELANISER go together as a choice in the male. So one has to consider that balance in the selection. The quality of the red/copper can be improved in subsequent generations. Comb is something that I can decide later also..

When we talk about white feathers and mossy we are talking about color...so these things are AFTER structure. (just me) If anyone else takes offense to this..no worries.. this is my way... just sharing... Feel free to post your way.

A lot of things can be done at one time...always look for the multiple opportunity factor where you can kill one or more birds with a stone....

CULL LATE... As late as you can stand. Always reserve a brother to your head male... (in case of early demise)... He is the cornerstone of your flock.

That is the short version.

 

[bargain]

Quote:
POST # 3395.

OK help me with my chicken eye - - -is this a bcm or a wheaton marans. I am asking because of that red wing triangle !

Okay this might be of help .....I'm quoting from a really good reference:
"The Wheaten Males have the stunning golden cape. With his wings folded to the side, a distinctive gold v-shaped pattern will appear. This pattern is not a standard for the Black Copper Marans male. Wheaten Marans have pearl legs and beaks. The hens have a dark mahogany cape with light wheat fawn underfluff."


My wheatens have the cape, etc., etc. You can also use the lack of pearl legs and beaks as a reference point as well... That is no pearl beak

Interesting male! Like his posture!

So I say no wheaten male here..... Hope this helps Nancy

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Thanks Geebs - very, very helpful. Thanks for posting.

I'm just getting confused on what's good, not so good, less desirable, and cullable. For example, Don just mentioned "fan" tail - is that good, better than a pinched tail, worse????? Never having been exposed to APA before, and there is apparently a "list" of APA faults and DQs and then you have to add, on top of that, the BCM proposed standards (which seem to keep changing).

Don, and anyone else who cares to help - it would be a big help to me, and I'm sure everyone else if you would put together a list that we could sort of run down when looking at a bird - something like:

Wings:
Any white feather, after juvie molt, automatically disqualified (DQ)

_________________ (Fault)

_________________ (Proposed Standard)


Tail:
Any white feather, after juvie molt, automatic DQ

Maybe start with the DQs, then list the faults, for each body part, finally the "standards". Sort of a checklist that superimposes the APA requirements and the BCM standards. That way, when we look at our birds, or pictures online we can do "check, check, oops, check, nope, check.....what the heck????, check...." Because I, for one, can't seem to keep the different lists sorted out in my head. Never was good at memory.

I think this is why I never took up golf. Had an instructor try to teach me once. First, I told them, " don't tell me anything yet, let me first just try to hold the club and hit the ball." We went to the driving range. I was slamming them straight ahead and the guy was calling people and telling them how far I was hitting the ball - with no lessons, holding the club all wrong, standing wrong, and with inch long nails. Then we go to the course and the lessons began. Head down, fingers locked, knees bent, shoulders here, feet there, blah, blah, blah. By the time he finished adding "remember this, remember that" I couldn't hit the ball off the tee. Could not hit the darn ball to save my life cause my head was so full of all the stuff I was supposed to remember......