Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

I think Becky may have come through with some help in my Cuckoos. I got a blue roo, with very little pattern on his hackles and saddle feathers and he has feathered legs and he came from a darker egg

Now what? My guess is he will be like a sex link, only one copy of the barring genes..... so I am thinking of putting him with my feathered pullets/hens and keeping only the cuckoo pullets with feathered legs. Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration........ I KNOW .... NOW YOU WANT PICTURES.....

yup...pics of boy and girlies please! haha

if you hold the best boy from the cross you do, then put him back with the hens, that should be your fastest way to patterning. Going the other route might take you an extra generation because you wouldn't be using your original boy to girls that don't have full patterning. Does that make any sense?

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I will see what I can do when I start moving everyone..... any day now....(I have been saying that for several weeks)

 

[gilavina]

I will see what I can do when I start moving everyone..... any day now....(I have been saying that for several weeks)

haha don't worry! I have too. Its hard to just carve out photo time when there's so much other stuff to be doing! I added to my original comment lady

 

[DMRippy]

Ok.... I had not thought about that.... but the roos from that cross some will be sex linked (1 copy) and can throw solid chicks. I have a GREAT SPLASH CUCKOO ROO, no feathered legs so once I got some chicks/pullets with feathered legs, I thought I would use him as he is near perfect looking to me.... and Becky. He is a hunk..... I have some pics but they are not great.



His comb would be PERFECT if the points had not been frost bitten and gone. BUT that is not an issue in his chicks.

 

[gilavina]

Ok.... I had not thought about that.... but the roos from that cross some will be sex linked (1 copy) and can throw solid chicks. I have a GREAT SPLASH CUCKOO ROO, no feathered legs so once I got some chicks/pullets with feathered legs, I thought I would use him as he is near perfect looking to me.... and Becky. He is a hunk..... I have some pics but they are not great.



His comb would be PERFECT if the points had not been frost bitten and gone. BUT that is not an issue in his chicks.

sounds like a plan! He looks like he will give you a start and the comb thing is not a big deal. I both big boy and Gigantor lost the tippy tips of there points because of the severe unexpected dip in temps during the winter. Even with Vaseline at night they still got a tinge of frostbite. I say as long as you know what they comb was like before, it will help you understand how to select for breeding.

 

[gilavina]

Now that its cooling off I might try to get a couple shots of chicks I got from Anna. I'll try for the ladies tomorrow if I have time. They are starting to look for roosting places, so I want to get them guided into their home for the night til I rearrange pens early tomorrow morning when its not so hot.

 

[gilavina]

ok...here are the blue cuckoo project boys I got from Anna. They show the least amount of patterning and will be using them with my solid blue girls. I know for sure the first one is a splash, the other appears to be a blue so far.
They have fantastic leg feathering too! Excuse the photos, I took them in the wheelbarrow I was using to haul compost materials earlier. Everything else I tried they just ran, so I'll take what I can get.

 

[zooweemama]

I breed so I always keep two roosters and one/two cockerels growing. The reason is the way a roo protects his girls is by putting himself in the way of the predator while the girls run and hide. The rooster often losses his life doing this. That being said you really do not want more than one rooster per 10 hens. so you will have to work out what is best for you.

Thank you so much, Keara. I am just starting out. I purchased the best I could afford (just a couple of Bev Davis line of BC Marans). I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with too many and I want to keep my Marans line pure while I decide exactly what I want to do with their breeding and egg production. I really love this breed so far.

 

[SoCal Chick]

Sorry for the mistaken breed ID. I'm a first time owner and still learning. I thought all Marans orginally came from France. Thank you

 

[DMRippy]

Sorry for the mistaken breed ID. I'm a first time owner and still learning. I thought all Marans orginally came from France. Thank you

They did.... the french had feathered legs. The English decided they didn't like that and breed without feathered legs. So French is with feathered legs and if you leave the French off "I" assume they don't have feathered legs. The USA adopted the French version as the standard.