Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

This is what I understand as well and I think that I may be battling some leakage too with these birds, but this is something that I knew going in to this particular line. I will digress to Vicki as she has more knowledge than I in the silver dept.

The hen does indeed determine the color on the offspring since they carry only one copy. Any I get will go to the layer pen or are sold as layers. Probably the easiest thing to do Raven is to get some photos of what you have and get some second opinions on what you have. It may be the case where you go down to say the two 2 to 4 birds and use them as a foundation for your future stock. Then along the way you can supplement with more stock if you need.

 

[Wynette]

Don can explain how to eliminate narrow backs WAY better than I can...but I will give it stab.
IMO, the first thing I look for is a nice broad bird (broad in the breast, back, shoulder and body) with a good back length. Narrow bodied birds WILL NOT produce broad birds with nice open tails. I have found that I had to cull for it, I culled every narrow skinny bodied bird with closed tails or less than desired open tails. The more I tried to breed it out the more frustrated I became because I could not eliminate it with breeding. Hope Don comes by to better explain.

Ditto this. I look for the same thing in my Marans frames that I do in my Jersey Giants - I view them not only from the front, side, and back, but from the top as well - in fact, the top view, for me, says the most. I look for a bird that is as rectangular in shape as possible. The more "pointed" or "triangle-like" the shape when viewed from the top, the more inclinaiton the bird will have a pinched tail and an undesirable depth of body.

 

[pinkchick]

Ditto this.  I look for the same thing in my Marans frames that I do in my Jersey Giants - I view them not only from the front, side, and back, but from the top as well - in fact, the top view, for me, says the most.  I look for a bird that is as rectangular in shape as possible.  The more "pointed" or "triangle-like" the shape when viewed from the top, the more inclinaiton the bird will have a pinched tail and an undesirable depth of body. 

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!! Looking down on the birds is the best way to see the broadness of the bird. Thank you for adding that Wynette! You Rock!

 

[pinkchick]

I guess that is way it surprized me my hens don't appear to be narrow but some must have been. I culled several hens a couple of months ago maybe they were the hens producing this. I am going to cull very very hard again and see what the next season brings. I have at least 3 huge broad backed open tailed street sweeper girls and by golly that is enough to start back with. Like we all know it cost the same to feed poor quality birds as it does to feed nice ones. I would rather have 3 really nice girls than 20 so so ones!!

I could't agree more!!!!!!!!!!


You are on the right track Raven and using the broadest and fullest opened tailed birds you have is (IMO) going to be your best route.

 

[Raven1]

Well Vickie on the Birchens I only have the 2 hens and both have bad color neither have any real silver so I guess I will be selling them as layers too. The Roo is pretty nice and I will try to get a pic of him for you to look at. He has nice silver hackles but a bit of the dirty silver creamy looking color in some of his saddle feathers I think I can work with him but need new hens...again...Thanks

 

[Laingcroft]

Greetings from a Marans newbie.

I have a pair of Splash hens from a feather color project (egg color not correct for Marans - between 4 and 5) and a group of French Black Coppers I hatched from a batch of Wade eggs (7-8). I want to keep one of the Black Roos but can't decide which one to keep so I came here for some comments. Hope you don't mind.

Both came from the Wade hatch of nice dark eggs and both had feathered legs to start. Don't know what happened along the way, it looks like they either stopped growing, were picked off, or they just got rubbed off in the heavy brush/brambles these guys like to grub through.

The first boy has a nice heavy feel to him and what looks like a good outline to me. Eyes are the correct color for the breed. I love the way his hackles are smooth and full color but they are all a deep red rather than copper. He also has quite a few red feathers in his breast. He's a mover so it's hard to get a good picture of him.



The second roo is rather sweet, comes running to visit, and has what I call "sunset" hackles. They start red at the top of his head, move to copper and then down to more yellow with black stripes (not barring). His saddle is a lovely copper color. Like the first roo, he has a nice outline, correct eye color but he isn't as heavy feeling when picked up and I'm not really liking the yellow and uneven edges of his hackles. Both were from the same hatch and have similar genetics. I've also included two hen pictures since that's what he'll be bred too. The splash hens are heavy birds, which I like.

Which roo would you choose?



Hens

 

[math ace]

Hey Lisa! Long time no see!

It has been a while! Thanks for the welcome back.. . . .

 

[math ace]

Morning, all! HI, LISA!!! How have you been?

Family responsibilities have kept me busy and off BYC.
Thanks for the welcome back.

 

[gilavina]

It has been a while! Thanks for the welcome back.. . . .

surely ma'am! We missed you!

 

[math ace]

So would people on CL buy your culls? I do have some culls that I want to move, nothing major faulted but otherwise healthy birds - just not show type... maybe good breeding for people who want cheap marans for olive eggers or even eating eggs etc. , but with a small program I have to cull hard.

On CL, I simply advertise my culls as "Pet Quality". They sell just fine!
Occasionally, I have someone ask what makes them "Pet Quality". Most of the time, they don't care. They just want something that is going to lay eggs, hopefully dark eggs.