Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Thank you Stoopid and Pinkchick.... I liked my birthday so well that I think I am going to keep on celebrating today.... Sure wish I could have a sample of that Blackberry Brandy. Pink do you use it any any cooking?

I have a lethal chocolate cake recipe that uses Kahlua.
I have a delicious bread pudding recipe that uses bourbon....

I can just imagine that Blackberry brandy adding a special kick to a blackberry cobbler ...Yum..

 

[pinkchick]

Math and Blarney~ I will PM you both the recipe I use.

Ok, here are the 4 eggs that will be mailed out to Gilavina today for the egg show. I was packaging them this morning and dropped one out of my fingers straight down onto 2 of the 6 I had been collecting.....of course it had to break the 2 darkest ones of the bunch.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Math and Blarney~ I will PM you both the recipe I use.

Ok, here are the 4 eggs that will be mailed out to Gilavina today for the egg show. I was packaging them this morning and dropped one out of my fingers straight down onto 2 of the 6 I had been collecting.....of course it had to break the 2 darkest ones of the bunch.

nice looking color, sorry about the broken ones

 

[pinkchick]

Hi Stoo!

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks Hens! This will be my first time entering anything in a show pertaining to chickens. Hope everyone sending eggs in to Vicki does great! Also.......want to give Vicki a great big THANK YOU for all of her hard work on this egg show. THANK YOU VICKI!


Hens....how are you doing? How goes it with the chooks?

 

[Wynette]

Oh how I wish the state would practice what they preach when talking about restrictions and enforce it, but they don't and this is one of the main reasons I won't show my birds.

There are things you can to safeguard your birds when showing. I always take a bottle of Oxine solution, and spray the cage - all the bars, and the floor/bedding - before I put my birds in. I also spray my birds directly and the cage surrounding them several times a day at the show.

 

[pinkchick]

Well as of Saturday I now only have 13 Marans and my Blue Laced project Barnie hen, Stoo. I just couldn't let Stoo go. Pens are all set up for some single matings. Time to test mate the 2 males I am growing out. It's going to be nice not going through the feed like wildfire.

 

[Wynette]

So, how many of you dry incubate your Marans eggs AND your other eggs?

I've tried dry incubation and it just doesn't work in my area. I think this is something that depends greatly on your altitude - you just need to figure out what works best for your area and stick with it. I incubate at 45 humidity for days 1-18, and increase to 63-65 for 19-21.

 

[pinkchick]

There are things you can to safeguard your birds when showing.  I always take a bottle of Oxine solution, and spray the cage - all the bars, and the floor/bedding - before I put my birds in.  I also spray my birds directly and the cage surrounding them several times a day at the show.

Thanks Wynette! I ordered some Oxine last week for use here at home. Will definitely keep this foremost in my mind for showing.

 

[Wynette]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, Math! Hope it was wonderful!!

I have been reading a lot about the faults and DQs regarding show quality Marans.
Since I am completely new to chickens, I need help!

He's about 5-6mths old. Would really like to know if it would be worth it taking him to a show or not. lol
All opinions welcome. I need to learn!!!! THANKS!





I also have two blue pullets. Both are supposedly from a line that have the mega dark eggs.

I know she has the twisted comb and some copper in one of her wings. Light feathering on her feet.



This one is younger 4mths old I think? She's a little silly but actually lets me catch her. Her comb is straight so far and she has better leg feathering.



Besides what I mentioned above that's about all I know about these birds!

Any of them worth taking to a show?

Thanks!
Tina

Conformation can be looked at regardless of color variety - that being said, one must note that pictures are not the best way to judge conformation. You really can't tell if they are in a relaxed/natural pose, or not.

From what I can see (and this is only my opinion, I am not an expert), the male has a ewe back. (Shaped like a "U" from the side). It should be flat, and should be slightly uphill, rather than horizontal. His underline is not great - it should be more rounded. His tail angle is good, eye color is good, he does lacks shank feathering - if he has none, he would be disqualified in the show pen, but if he has sparsely feathered shanks, that would be only a fault. His wing is held almost exactly horizontal, which is optimal. I've seen many that have angles much too low.

The blue female show next has a VERY nice underline and a good wing angle as well. However, she also appears ewe backed to me, just a bit. And her tail angle is too high. But, that could be becuase she is "on alert" - it's not often that you see females (well, not nearly as often) with high tail angles as you see with the males.

The younger blue is more difficult to tell, as she's walking, so we cannot know for sure whether her back angle is true or not. Her tail is too high, but again, that could be due to her being spooked. Her back does appear to be flat as it should be, but the angle may be wrong - it should not slope down from the tail toward the front. If you coudl get a pic of her standing still that would be better. Her wing appears to have an issue - check for split wing. That would be a DQ. Her eye color is also not correct, however, it could change as she ages, she's still a bit young to know for sure. (It should be orange.)

Again, these are only my personal opinion & I am not an expert. As far as whether or not you can/should show them - I would not want to make a recommendation there based on this few number of pictures, but I would say overall, they are good examples (not great, not horrible) of the breed.