Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

Hey Wynette,

A bit off subject for a second, but you have silver penciled rocks don't you? How do your birds run as far as size and body type compared to the other rock varieties. It seems like I have this thing where I like color varieties that seem to run smaller in all the breeds I raise. The birchens in Marans also tend to run smaller, and yet they have to be my favorite. haha

Hiya - yep, my SPR are small. They've been a source on ongoing frustration since I began with them, 5 years ago. Sigh. But I can't seem to be able to give up on them.

ETA: I've got some Columbians that, while I would still consider project birds, are quite a bit larger.

 

[gilavina]

Hiya - yep, my SPR are small. They've been a source on ongoing frustration since I began with them, 5 years ago. Sigh. But I can't seem to be able to give up on them.

yeah, kinda wondered. I had silver penciled wyandottes, but didn't get a male out of the chicks I ordered (shocking I know), so I sold them as layers since they were so small and will continue my search. Hey, that reminds me. If you go to Ohio Nationals, would you mind looking to see if they have any good silver penciled wyandottes and who has them? I also have columbian wyandotte large fowl and they run smaller as well. I'm going to keep working on them since the pair I held back are wonderful in every other way but size, but think it will be a long road. Culling for size is not exactly the quickest process.

 

[Hens and Roos]

What happened with the blue cuckoos? I wanted to keep working on them, but just had to make some hard decisions about what I really wanted to work on since I only have so much room and time.

my main rooster Hilarous died- not sure what happened, several months back. I have a group of 3 cockerals and 1 pullet that were hatched out earlier this summer from him and his group of 4 hens. Wasn't liking the looks of the cockerals but never got around to culling them before losing the rooster. A friend of mine talked me into keeping these 4 and doing some test matings to see what we end up with, as far as shape, size and such.

I was just going to scrap the project and free up a pen for my DD's 4-H project birds but decided to hold on to them and see. Should be interesting, the group of 4 are about 3/4 blood from the rooster line as the 4 hens are daughters of Hilarous.

 

[gilavina]

my main rooster Hilarous died- not sure what happened, several months back. I have a group of 3 cockerals and 1 pullet that were hatched out earlier this summer from him and his group of 4 hens. Wasn't liking the looks of the cockerals but never got around to culling them before losing the rooster. A friend of mine talked me into keeping these 4 and doing some test matings to see what we end up with, as far as shape, size and such.

I was just going to scrap the project and free up a pen for my DD's 4-H project birds but decided to hold on to them and see. Should be interesting, the group of 4 are about 3/4 blood from the rooster line as the 4 hens are daughters of Hilarous.

That's rough indeed. I have been through that same thing, and it is hard to recover from or know what to do really. I hope you are able to get going on them again tho!

 

[Hens and Roos]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!! SNOW?????

Hope you get to where you feel you're on track with the blue cuckoos - I've been wondering how you're doing with them. I know you had a lovely start!

Please don't give up!!

Cock birds crowing - I have several breeds, and I do not find my Marans to crow any louder or more often than others, personally. Must be a "personality" thing. I also don't notice them starting super early, either. In fact, I've got a pen of 8-week olds right now and haven't noticed one crow, and I'm sure there are at least 10 cockerels in there. Course they could be intimidated by all the "big boys" crowing, I suppose!

yeah a few flakes so far no sticking, think it is mixed with some rain now- haven't stepped outside to check it out that close

I still have the group- hoping that 1 or 2 of the 3 cockerals that I kept will start to step up and take over the group so far the older 4 hens are ruling the roost so to speak and keep the younger ones in the coop all the time. The younger 4 were hatched the end of June 2012 so around 4 months now.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
If you want some more I should have a good start in the spring. I only have birds with feathered legs now. NO GOLD

My Splash Cuckoo roo has nice type too. I have a couple of Reg Cuckoos but most of the pullets are Blue Cuckoo.

He is much bigger now. Tail angle is more correct now too.

 

[Hens and Roos]

If you want some more I should have a good start in the spring. I only have birds with feathered legs now. NO GOLD

My Splash Cuckoo roo has nice type too. I have a couple of Reg Cuckoos but most of the pullets are Blue Cuckoo.

He is much bigger now. Tail angle is more correct now too.

thanks I'll keep that in mind, your boy is nice looking in the picture! My older girls are still molting- seems like forever, we are just starting to add the lights back in the morning so hopefully we will start seeing some eggs- down to our last 5 eggs now

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Hey Wynette,

A bit off subject for a second, but you have silver penciled rocks don't you? How do your birds run as far as size and body type compared to the other rock varieties. It seems like I have this thing where I like color varieties that seem to run smaller in all the breeds I raise. The birchens in Marans also tend to run smaller, and yet they have to be my favorite. haha

Funny you should ask this question because it came up at the Canadian National as well - concerning Barred Rocks. A prominent (and very successful) Canadian breeder has added massive White Rocks into his Barred birds in order to increase size because it seems the biggest bird always wins at the show even if some of the other details are lacking.

 

[gilavina]

Evenin' everyone, Yesterday got away with me, well time did while I was filling out show reports.
I've been trying to upload some photos of the show, but no luck so far as my internet is slower than molasses tonight

 

[DMRippy]

Happy Birthday Becky!