Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Thought we could use a little levity. Hot one here today again. We were supposed to get storms today, but there isn't a cloud in sight. It is far too dry for this time of year here, and everytime it gets like this, some yahoo decides it's a great time to burn off a pasture. We usually don't have to worry about fire season here till mid July, but it is very brown here now. Not good...

they're calling for storms tonight and tomorrow...and same here, not a cloud in the sky! Hope it doesn't unleash wild storms. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the pasture pyros lose their matches or lighters...haha Its the same here too...every year someone pulls it. A couple weeks ago someone started a fire that started heading the whole west side of town, luckily there were enough people with wherewithall to call the fire dept when they saw smoke and didn't wait til flames were at their back door...although it was a really close call for a few of the homes.

 

[Debbi]

LOVE the Pip and turkey tale! I'm going to have to try to get some video of my girls playing "ring around the tree" with the baby squirrels or of Jackson, my Blue Copper cock bird tearing into the cats for trying to spook my ladies!!

(Jack is the nicest cock I've EVER had around here but he has ZERO tolerance for cats!)

I never seem to have a camera when all the good stuff happens! When I do have the camera, they all either run off or stand still. Pip used to go after the cats at dinner time, peck them on the heads, and steal their food. Finally, the big tom cat here had enough of that, and when Pip popped him in the head, this cat jumped in Pip's face and bloodied his comb pretty good! Guess the other cats figured that looked like a plan too, cause they all started doing it. Figured at this rate, he wouldn't have much of a comb left before too long, so now I feed the cats after I put up the chickens. Still have to take some cat food out to the chooks, they LOVE IT!! Try to get some pics, these animals can be so entertaining!

 

[snowbird]

Vicki, I must of missed your post. I have been thinking of doing a post on head size related to body type and overall Marans type. Will see if I can find the post and might just do the post now since my internet service seems to be working ok today.

 

[gilavina]

Hey Debbi, better than what we have been getting on here today. weather has cooled down some today with coolor for a few days. Sure glad I am not working with a bunch of young fowl.

haha...agreed. cooler here today too, and its no fun sorting young birds in crazy heat like we've been having indeed... I've got the youngest batch to go yet with the first round of culling, but the neighbor is out with his giant skag mower right on the property line, and they are terrified, so that's out of the question to try to catch them right now haha

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, I must of missed your post. I have been thinking of doing a post on head size related to body type and overall Marans type. Will see if I can find the post and might just do the post now since my internet service seems to be working ok today.

If you need me to find it, I can go back and do so, just let me know

 

[Debbi]

Hey Don...did you happen to see my post I think yesterday (?), maybe, with my question on your perspective of the width of head and etc when breeding for a larger framed bird. I posted a pic of one of my biggest young cockerels, to see what you thought about how he's looking so far.

Tell him you want a critique, and not a pretty bird!

 

[gilavina]

Tell him you want a critique, and not a pretty bird!

hahaha...I can't imagine Don will do anything other than tell me exactly what he's thinking! Just what I'm looking for. I've been thinking on it and we'll see if I'm on the right track or if I landed in a ditch somewhere heehee

I went back and found the post. Here's the link to the page its on, towards the bottom if you haven't already found it

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/383387/marans-thread-breed-discussion-pictures-are-welcome/36800

 

[snowbird]

Vicki, I saw this and did not read the caption. I like how his head is shaped along with his large frame. I like that his lower part of comb stops at the first of the eye. Keep in mind that the female is in my mind more important when trying to breed fowl with a fairly large head. Make sure the length and width are in preportion or you will have fowl looking like they have the long narrow Crow head. Nothing nicer than fowl with the nice large well rounded head to go with good breed type.

The head size is one of the hardest things to keep correct when breeding forward. This is one of the faults the oldtimer always bring up when they say a new owner can destroy a lifetime breeding program in three years.

The silver birchen pullet you pictured before looked like she was leaning for to a small pea head type.

One other thing is size of head is related to condition also. I have done research with the Brahma and lower the protein level and increase the fat content. If you have the nice large skull and cover it with the right amount of protein it will amaze you what the head will look like.

Hey Don....question for you. You know how we were chatting on PM the other day and you mentioned the size and width of the head on birds when working to increase size. Can you tell me on this boy how you feel his head fits with his body? He's a beast and to me has a wide head, but am just trying to get a stronger picture in my mind of what you think is a good balance.

 

[Debbi]

Don, What do you use to increase the fat content of the feed? Flax, sunflower, something of that nature?

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, I saw this and did not read the caption. I like how his head is shaped along with his large frame. I like that his lower part of comb stops at the first of the eye. Keep in mind that the female is in my mind more important when trying to breed fowl with a fairly large head. Make sure the length and width are in preportion or you will have fowl looking like they have the long narrow Crow head. Nothing nicer than fowl with the nice large well rounded head to go with good breed type.

The head size is one of the hardest things to keep correct when breeding forward. This is one of the faults the oldtimer always bring up when they say a new owner can destroy a lifetime breeding program in three years.

The silver birchen pullet you pictured before looked like she was leaning for to a small pea head type.

One other thing is size of head is related to condition also. I have done research with the Brahma and lower the protein level and increase the fat content. If you have the nice large skull and cover it with the right amount of protein it will amaze you what the head will look like.

good deal. I agree on the nutrition levels affecting them. The birchen pullets are where I have to watch really closely because they grow so unevenly. I was telling Debbi earlier that I was out watching them this morning when I should have been doing chores and they are in another growth spurt, so will keep an eye on them for sure. I think the black girls I have should help out with any issues I might have with the head shape/size etc.