Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[BevDavis]

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Hi

You have to breed two blue birds together to get black, blue and splash chicks.

Yes, you need both parents carring silver to get a birchen and two parents carrying gold to get a black copper. A gold birchen is called a black copper.

Bev

Ok! I do get it!
Thank you very much!
You mentioned that sometimes it's hard to tell a Black from a very dark Blue. How do you tell?

Hi

Only by breeding it, you will be able to tell by the chicks it produces.

Bev

 

[jeremy]

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Blue birds will always (or should always) have laced feathers, even if they're dark. Black birds don't.

 

[BevDavis]

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Frizzy like this?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2086/4508881117_d1b9242eaf_o.jpg

Hi

The feathers will settle down, I think I read once that it was because the feathers got too dry but my memory isn't all that good so might be wrong on that.

Bev

 

[BevDavis]

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Bev,

Do you mean the fish meal Like I use in my garden ? ? Like the fish meal I buy in the garden section at home depot ? ?

Stinky REALLY stinky stuff ? ? ??

If so, how much do you use say on 10 hens ? ?
Do you just mix it up in their crumbles ? ?

FISH MEAL - - REALLY ? ? Does it make their eggs taste - - - well - - FISHY ? ?

Hi

I don't know if it's the same, I get mine from the chicken food store but it doesn't make the eggs taste. I just sprinkle a little bit in their food and they love it.

Bev

Bev

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Hi

You have to breed two blue birds together to get black, blue and splash chicks.

Yes, you need both parents carring silver to get a birchen and two parents carrying gold to get a black copper. A gold birchen is called a black copper.

Bev

Ok! I do get it!
Thank you very much!
You mentioned that sometimes it's hard to tell a Black from a very dark Blue. How do you tell?

Visually determining a very dark blue that appears black can sometimes be pretty tricky and hard to do, lets see if I can help you out here.

Here is a photo of my rooster Bill who was suppose to be a Black Copper........this photo is at 4 mos old if I remember correctly.

Looks totally black doesn't he?

Not the best photo but here he is at around 7-8 mos., you can see that he doesn't really look true black anymore.

Here he is yesterday. He is now 1.5 yrs.
Notice his chest feathers have a very dark lacing. Black Coppers will not have lacing.

I don't know if all very dark blues show this, this has just been my experience and what I look for. Also if you have a bird that you suspect may be very dark blue, cross it with a genetically black bird (a barred rock is a black bird) and if you get blue offspring you have yourself a blue bird that appears black.

 

[BevDavis]

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ROAD TRIP TIME - - - Who wants to catch a ride with me to Pink's house? She has to sleep sometime and I am not above borrowing the hen laying those FANTASTIC eggs for a little while. I here the roo's loving is good for several weeks. We could hatch a couple dozen of eggs FOR SURE and then return the little girl . . . . .

Hold onto your horses Math............ready for this.........DH said that he was up for a road trip and asked me when and where that big poultry show in Georgia is at that I always talk about......lol....my ears perked up and he had my full attention. The rest of that evening I asked him over and over if he was serious and he kept saying he was and told me to work out the details but to be sure it's by way of Texas and Oklahoma so he can see his daughters and grandkids. Now what's funny is I am the one being a little hestitant about traveling across country in February and who do I find to take care of my birdies for 2 weeks and where I live if we had a winter storm that included snow.......the sitter may not be able to make it in or out. When it snows at my house....we usually can't get out of our driveway. We live 18 miles east of Mt. St. Helen's up in the foothills.....beautiful but can be very dangerous when snowing. I have some homework ahead of me if I want to take him up on his offer. Got any ideas?

Hi

That is some drive!

I went to Mt. St. Helens once and experienced the snow sliding from the hills, it was quite something.

There will be an egg show for sure and lots of Marans people there.

Bev

 

[jeremy]

Pink, he's a very nice dark blue boy! He looks HUGE!

 

[pinkchick]

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Hold onto your horses Math............ready for this.........DH said that he was up for a road trip and asked me when and where that big poultry show in Georgia is at that I always talk about......lol....my ears perked up and he had my full attention. The rest of that evening I asked him over and over if he was serious and he kept saying he was and told me to work out the details but to be sure it's by way of Texas and Oklahoma so he can see his daughters and grandkids. Now what's funny is I am the one being a little hestitant about traveling across country in February and who do I find to take care of my birdies for 2 weeks and where I live if we had a winter storm that included snow.......the sitter may not be able to make it in or out. When it snows at my house....we usually can't get out of our driveway. We live 18 miles east of Mt. St. Helen's up in the foothills.....beautiful but can be very dangerous when snowing. I have some homework ahead of me if I want to take him up on his offer. Got any ideas?

Hi

That is some drive!

I went to Mt. St. Helens once and experienced the snow sliding from the hills, it was quite something.

There will be an egg show for sure and lots of Marans people there.

Bev

Hi Bev!

Did you visit it before the eruption or after? It was something to behold when I was growing up.....we spent all winters up and summers up there. Sad day when I awoke to the world being covered in ash and the beautiful mountain that is still etched in my mind gone. I have not gone back since it blew, in my mind it will never be the same.....crazy huh?? and it is in my backyard.

 

[pinkchick]

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Thanks Jeremy. LoL!!!! Debbi says he's part turkey.

Yes he's huge........I don't know what is in the water around here but I have some big big birds. Bill last weighed in at just over 12lbs. I have no knowledge of his background and he has some faults but I love him and I love his size. I have done some test crosses with him with some of my Bev birds and they make very pretty babies but he is so dark it's hard to keep that from passing to the kiddos, but he definately passes along the size factor to his offspring, his girls are huge.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Thanks for the excellent, collective, explanation everyone!
pink~ Pictures always help!!! And he is drop dead handsome!!!