Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

Don, are you referring to the black copper in the background of the middle picture?

rollout/trap nests - are you using your barrels? There is a thread on here by member Opa with plans for a rollout nest box, I wonder if they might be helpful to you in making your trap nests/rollouts?

Wynette, yes that is the male I was looking at.

I looked at the trapnest you mention and went on line and look at some more, I decided to go with the old Cornell trap nest in one of the old books I have. I have to add the roll out part. Making a one hole one first as most that use single matings will be able to get more eggs before they are broken. One of my hobbys is woodworking and sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

 

[Wynette]

I will try and get some tonite if I get a chance. I took those in the evening before it rained so It wasnt really bright out. He has some nice coloring coming in. Again they are like 4 months. Looooong ways to go on the growing.

Most definitely at this age, you are looking for DQ issues and things like squirrel tail, which are common in this breed and should most definitely not be used for breeding. Good on you for realizing it takes a very long time to know for sure. I had some VERY nice type (though dark) Marans males 2 or 3 years ago that I thought were going to be useful for breeding, but once they reached about 10 months, they began showing white tail feathers, which I will not use. Here is one at 6 months:





I posted these pics a few years ago, so they may look familiar to some of you. Thsi is one of the males that I used to lengthen the back, an issue that really bugged me, personally, with my flock. His comb is not fantastic, but I liked his type. While I would not use him now, back when I had him, I could see good use for him.

 

[snowbird]

Ok, If you would could you please school me then, combs and tail angle aside. Again I know they do not have squirrel tail. I also understand that In each picture they always pose differently. My expierence with Marans has been listening to you guys and reading everyones comments on here. Also photos and the SOP. I have the line and tail angle down on what it should look like. But the body size I heard was suppose to be beefy. I guess Im uninformed then on the body frame. Here is a photo a couple of months ago of the same roo that I do believe you said you liked.

First thing to remember very seldom will you see a Marans that is four months old have a real beefy filled out body. The chest on this young male will fill out with time, sometimes we just have to wait on nature. This male has a very nice tail angle and shape for his age. The wing carriage is almost horizontal like it should be for a Marans.

 

[snowbird]

LC, Notice this last male and he really has not changed up until the new picture. The good birds are easy to spot once you learn what to look for in the breed.

 

[desertmarcy]

Wynette, I started working on the Trapnest with the egg roll out couple days ago and have put the first two in the burn pile.

Dang on that. I am looking forward to your design. I have a caretaker here, helping me with my birds, garden, and what not and he is gung ho to help me build some real nest boxes.

 

[Wynette]

Ok, If you would could you please school me then, combs and tail angle aside. Again I know they do not have squirrel tail. I also understand that In each picture they always pose differently. My expierence with Marans has been listening to you guys and reading everyones comments on here. Also photos and the SOP. I have the line and tail angle down on what it should look like. But the body size I heard was suppose to be beefy. I guess Im uninformed then on the body frame. Here is a photo a couple of months ago of the same roo that I do believe you said you liked.

Clown, this male does appear light in frame, but he is young & will fill out quite a lot more. LOVE the tail angle, LOVE the angle of his back, LOVE the length of his back. He's dark, to be sure. But from what I can see, he may be a keeper for you. Too soon to tell, but don't get rid of this one!

You're right, it's diffcult to assess birds via pictures, but you can see definite faults like coloring, comb faults, shank feathering faults, eye color faults, etc. I am super excited to see how this male matures out for you.

 

[Wynette]

Dang on that. I am looking forward to your design. I have a caretaker here, helping me with my birds, garden, and what not and he is gung ho to help me build some real nest boxes.

Send your caretaker my way when you are through with him, please!

 

[desertmarcy]

Send your caretaker my way when you are through with him, please!

Ha ha, we've been looking for a long time for the right person. This guy fits right in. He sure has taken a big burden off of me, I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. Now the neglected garden and other stuff is finally getting some attention.

 

[desertmarcy]

I got the go ahead from the gal with the extra black copper Marans cockerel to post pics. She took these pics, not me, and she has not decided which she wants to keep herself. Here is the first one: His top line looks good; he has a few unwanted copper spots on his breast, and his foot feathering seems a bit sparse, but she said his feet were wet.
His comb looks like it has a bad wrinkle in the front.





Here is her second cockerel: This one also looks like he has a bad comb wrinkle. I can't tell what is going on with his tail, looks like it needs to grow in. He also looks like he has sparse foot feathering, not a big deal since mine have heavy feathering. What do you all think?

 

[Wynette]

holy heck, those are some honkin' huge combs & wattles!

Marcy, to me, the first one looks too short, and unbalanced; I do like his tail, I'm not personally keen on his topline, though; however, the angle of the picture may be hiding what I look for, since it's a 3/4 angle pic and not one directly from the side. He has an good tail angle. Coloring is good. I dunno what it is, but it appears to me that his neck is too short and his legs are too short. It must be the pic.

I like the coloring better on the 2nd male, but I don't like how he's holding his tail; if he is not the alpha, that could be why. This male also looks unbalanced/short to me. Both have unacceptable shank feathering, but you could improve that as you go. I dunno...for me, the jury would be out on these. I think you need better pics. JMO!