Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

A picture really is worth a thousand words because, for me, it puts it in a way my brain can understand whereas I can read a list and it just doesn't gel.

Me too girlfriend!!!!! Me too!!!!!

Oh and I think that Don may have been referring to Math Ace about a pinched tail, right Don?​

 

[pinkchick]

Ruth~

You know I was just thinking (yes it hurt too

)....I have a bird with a pinched tail, I will snap a photo of it for you today.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Thanks Pink - I think I understand and can visualize what they are talking about when they say "pinched tail" but I'm not positive. A picture always helps. I think they mean it looks pinched all the way down and not just up at the top. Or, in other words, doesn't spread out or have a wide "gap" where it joins the body. But, like I said, what I visualize when I read a description can be way off......

 

[coq au vin]

Like a stepladder that's not open all the way.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Wynette, what I see is a hen with extra coppering in breast area and she does have a pinched tail. Notice the brown soft feathers below the vent, That is what you usually get when they are mostly brown as young started chicks. I have some justlike her.

Hi Don, I think these were the photos you might have been referring to. I went back and did a search to see if I had posted a picture of a hen that you said had a pinched tail and brown fluff. I think I missed this post earlier (you guys post way too much for me to keep up with) but I now see what you mean about pinched tail. That's sort of what I visualized - pinched all the way down and not open near the base.

I know Wynette posted these pics so that we could learn from them and this hen is not in her breeder pen.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
The females look great. The tails appear to be fine. The males seem to carry their tails too high though.

Walt

Thanks Walt - I do have some roos that I worry have the infamous "squirrel" tail but I'm not sure. I've seen people call a tail that stands straight up a squirrel tail (I've got a few of those) but I've also read it's where the tail curls back over the body (like a squirrel, or maybe a Chow)????? Here's a pic of each of those same two roos in profile mode. I call them Jesse and James. Jesse has 5 points and too much red on breast. James has too many points but no red on chest. They were my first two BCM roos, before I bought their parent flock. I thought they had what Little Bear might have called the "just right" tails but I have so much to learn.......

Jesse and James at around 7 months:

 

[Wynette]

I've got a few EE hens that make that girl's tail look awesome! HA! I feel like, as we speak of faults, that if anyone has a good example from a different breed, go ahead & show it! I think we are feeling like we ought to show examples of Marans since this is the Marans thread, but when getting a good visual, any breed will do!!

Oh, I did end up hatching just three of my experiment with this girl Monique quoted pic of above and a fantastic roo with not enough color; I lost one hatchling at day 2, so only have 2 left; of the two, ONE looks extremely coppery - I've never seen one looking THAT coppery at hatch, but then I don't typically hatch from hens like her. The interesting thing, at least to me, is that it's obvious the little one is going to be extremely mossy; however, it doesn't have ANY white wing tips, as many of my bred-to-proposed-standard chicks do. I'm wondering if they are unrelated - i.e., if you have one, you don't have the other? Thoughts?

 

[coq au vin]

Jesse is showing the feather shafting that indicates...what?

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Thanks Pink - I think I understand and can visualize what they are talking about when they say "pinched tail" but I'm not positive. A picture always helps. I think they mean it looks pinched all the way down and not just up at the top. Or, in other words, doesn't spread out or have a wide "gap" where it joins the body. But, like I said, what I visualize when I read a description can be way off......

That's it!

But I will still get a photo for you, have to wait for the sun to come up. It's still pitch black and frosty frosty outside right now!


Coq au vin~

That is a great way to explain it!!!!

 

[Wynette]

Monique, I count 6 points on your "too red" boy. His tail angle looks right at about 45 which is what it ought to be, and so does the 2nd boy. At least to my untrained eye! I do see white fluff at the base of roo #1, and it looks like a few stray white feathers in #2, but to me, they both have very nice things about them, and goodness - I could certainly find a use for them in my flock!! They both look to be good in size, which can be lacking in the Marans. That duckie in the background of pic #1 is awful cute, too!!!