Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Sounds like he will needs a little time in rehab before transitioning home! Probably all depends on how he progresses.

indeed. it helps that they've been doing a lot of therapy...like 3 to 5 sessions a day to help him build confidence without using his leg so he'll have an easier time transitioning to life without them. They've gone above and beyond in some of the therapy training to help him and appreciate it all and think it will make a big difference when he goes to do therapy after the surgery.

 

[Wynette]

Gilavena, I like your male's topline & undercarriage!

 

[gilavina]

Gilavena, I like your male's topline & undercarriage!

thanks! Been working on the coppers with three different roos and each give me things I really like. Hoping to keep merging the offspring from the three different males to work on developing birds that carry the best of each of them. So far so good! Still have everything marked and logged very carefully tho, so if something pops up I can track it and test mate birds for anything I don't like and etc.

I don't know why, probably lack of sleep but the undercarriage comment cracks me up. Reminds me of my brothers talkin shop with cars when I was younger.

 

[Arielle]

I tried to envison the under carriage of a car too, the image was too funny, it cracked me up. THought it was just me, so I didn't mention it ! LOL

 

[snowbird]

I'm lost!!!! We were talking about eliminating the dark faces and now we are talking about keeping them?

Help!

Don, maybe you can expand on your take on the dark faces as it applies to FBCM.

What we all fail to realize part of the time is that Marans fall into the same category as all other poultry. The process of breeding the Marans is the same as any other breed of chickens. The Brown Red and Birchen the dark face is cherished by serious breeders. All the individual color variety should basically the same. This is one of the things that brought up the tightening of the rules for new breed being approved into the standard.

Take the Wheaten Marans for instance they had to follow the guidelines of all the other breed where there were Wheaten varieties.

This is where owning the APA and ABA Standard is important as no one can remember all the points to look for.

Same old rules apply breed for good type and work on everything else as you go along. I sure do not recommend working on type for five year and then start on everything else. One thing to remember is if you start with fowl with real inferior type you are wasting your time and money. This is something we can discuss and should be by anyone planning on buying eggs and fowl.

 

[Wynette]

One thing to remember is if you start with fowl with real inferior type you are wasting your time and money.

I wholeheartedly AGREE!

Always get the very best that you can find - you will be SO thankful later that you did!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THis is the most difficult step for beginners. Many will claim, AND I"M SPEAKING IN BROAD GENERALIZATIONS HERE, that they have good bloodlines. It is easy for beginners to be misled. ANd then learn by big mistakes who has the better breeding stock. THat's why I like breeding Dutch horses, I have a list of sires to select from that the stallion committee agreed upon. ( THis is an old European system of breeding). As a beginner, I already have some guidence. As for chickens, this is trickier. You need to know someone who specializes and is a master breeder of that breed and hope he/she will share that information, and in my experience, chicken people love to share. Who are the master breeders of marans? ANd perhaps they are not a master breeder of all varieties.

Is this heavy duty enough?

 

[gilavina]

THis is the most difficult step for beginners. Many will claim, AND I"M SPEAKING IN BROAD GENERALIZATIONS HERE, that they have good bloodlines. It is easy for beginners to be misled. ANd then learn by big mistakes who has the better breeding stock. THat's why I like breeding Dutch horses, I have a list of sires to select from that the stallion committee agreed upon. ( THis is an old European system of breeding). As a beginner, I already have some guidence. As for chickens, this is trickier. You need to know someone who specializes and is a master breeder of that breed and hope he/she will share that information, and in my experience, chicken people love to share. Who are the master breeders of marans? ANd perhaps they are not a master breeder of all varieties.

Is this heavy duty enough?

I agree with most of your post, however being raised in a poultry breeding family , some of the best breeders I've ever known are people that just do it because they love it and breed fantastic stock. Not everyone will pursue becoming a master breeder with the APA or even care to be recognized by a certain club or organization because it is a passion they do for themselves to further the breed. I look more at the length of time someone has been working with stock and the evidence of the work in the quality of the birds. I also pay attention to the frankness and openness of a breeder. I just don't want breeders without a fancy title to be discounted, because there are some fantastic ones out there that still will have things to offer. Its just like we talk about in one of the poultry clubs I'm a member of. There are as many opinions on how to raise a certain breed or make improvements as the number of people in the conversation. The proof for me is in the pudding of the quality of what they produce.Those are the people I want to listen to, master breeder or no.

 

[Wynette]

Arielle, I agree with most of what you say - but just because someone has a line of birds that is a well-known line that's known for quality doens't mean they are good. Most of we serious breeders keep 10% or less from a hatch; only the best of the best are held back for breeding. When I make decisions on which birds to keep after hatching off someone else's line, they are now MY line, since I have made the decisions on which to move forward with breeding from. That's not to say this it is not important what the bloodlines are...we've bred Marans long enough to know that some lines carry things that others do not. So, it's helpful info. to have.

Folks breeding to the SOP need to "arm themselves" with a copy of the SOP for the breed (that goes for any breed of course). Learn it forwards & backwards, and learn to recognize the type you are looking for. Don't purchase stock or hatching eggs from inferior parent birds. If you're buying eggs, ask for pictures - lots of them - of the parent flock. All JMO, of course!

 

[gilavina]

Arielle, I agree with most of what you say - but just because someone has a line of birds that is a well-known line that's known for quality doens't mean they are good. Most of we serious breeders keep 10% or less from a hatch; only the best of the best are held back for breeding. When I make decisions on which birds to keep after hatching off someone else's line, they are now MY line, since I have made the decisions on which to move forward with breeding from. That's not to say this it is not important what the bloodlines are...we've bred Marans long enough to know that some lines carry things that others do not. So, it's helpful info. to have.

Folks breeding to the SOP need to "arm themselves" with a copy of the SOP for the breed (that goes for any breed of course). Learn it forwards & backwards, and learn to recognize the type you are looking for. Don't purchase stock or hatching eggs from inferior parent birds. If you're buying eggs, ask for pictures - lots of them - of the parent flock. All JMO, of course!

good word Wynette. The SOP is our best friend when it comes to understanding what we should be looking for...and what we need to add to our existing stock if we are lacking in some area.