Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Mr MKK FARMS]

BA HAHA! It's the nose & "mustache" of a dog I used to have (he's since passed, sadly). He was a Bouvier des Flanders. Here he is a few winters ago:

haha that is funny!

 

[snowbird]

HI, BARGODDESS!!!

I was wondering about that as well - the birds we all (Barb, Don, and I) saw at Columbus (males anyway) all had white in their tail feathers...I'm unsure if they had them in their wings as I didn't handle any of them (none were mine), but they all placed.

I agree that white feathers - either underhackle OR white wing/tail feathers - are a problem, and I continue to cull at the first sign of it, personally, but a DQ? Nope. Not for white wing or tail feathers.

Barb, can you tell us how you got the new forum name of BARGODDESS ??

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Yes, I've read the first 38 pages a few times now. Trouble is "Black Copper Marans" are not really "black" birds (or the judges would have to DQ them for the copper feathers) so the white feather DQ doesn't apply. And that certainly coincides with what I'm seeing at the shows.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I bought a ballcap at a farm supply store probably 20 years ago that said "Barn Goddess". I've been using that as an online identity ever since.

(Original hat is long gone. I reproduced it a couple of times now. But I still have the original horse! He's coming on 29 years now .... )

 

[bwalden]

Congrats! I gotta looong way to go, mine are only a week old ;=)

Thanks! Mine are 7 months old. I was about to give up. I've got some six week olds also that i'll be waiting a while for also.

 

[chisNchickens]

If you're not interested in the SOP "at this point" but MAY be in the future, please do not use this male. He has a multitude of issues. Squirrel tail, hackles too light, short back, legs too light...not trying to be rude, it just concerns me when you say "at this point" - that makes me think that you feel you might be interested in breeding to standard eventually and, if so, why start off with inferior stock?

.
Thanks but don't care. Only using him for egg color. None of my LF will ever be anything but layers for me. I have no interest in showing them or misrepresenting them or spreading them around. Ever. That clarify? lol
Just didn't want to be that "blunt" (as in I don't give a #@*$ about the SOP) in my initial post;-)

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Seems odd to post pictures of him asking for advice if you truly don't care. Absolutely NO way we can determine what colour egg genes he might be carrying based on his picture.

 

[Ray from PA]

Ray, this all is still a mystery to me. I don't know how old your roos are when you say "mature", but here, my boys are all over 2 years old. I have two very melanistic boys with mahogany coppering, and one weirdo roo with that two tone hackle coloring, favoring more of a Wheaten influence. Now, the two dark boys when younger would only get a white tipped feather or two, usually a sickle feather, right before a partial molt. The weirdo roo never had any white until this past summer, then he started with the white sickles too, and also developed some white in his wings. He also sprouted 2 cinnamon primaries, convincing me of his possible Wheaten lineage in there somewhere. Since he molted, the cinnamon and all white is gone, except for one stray bedraggled sickle feather that won't get out of there. The other 2 dark boys have not finished molting yet, they seem to molt at a very slow rate compared to everyone else here. Both of them are now displaying ample amounts of partially white feathers in their wings! The white does not show when the wings are folded, but when they flap, they look like a pied bird!

It remains to be seen if these feathers will finally molt out and return to black or not. The only offspring I have are from one of the 2 dark boys, and they are all pullets/hens. Interestingly enough, none of them show any indication of white at all, nor have they ever. All 3 of these roos have never had what I would consider a full blown molt, until this year! They had all, up to this point, only dropped individual feathers, mainly from their tails and primaries, but now they are literally blowing their coats, as we would say in the dog world. So I give, how long do you have to keep them to really know what is going on with them and what they are going to pass on??

Thanks for your input Debbi,,,, when I said "mature", I was referring to full feather, sexual maturity,,, all of these roosters are this years hatch, early spring, probably Feb or March.

I too can compare this to the "dog world" and wonder how many nice show birds may eventually develop such issues after they have been successfully shown,,, I have had friends that have "finished" puppies into their championship status only to grow up and change or not develop to the standard,,,,,,, same can go with horses in their arena too.

I can credit and discredit each roo for individual likes and dislikes,,,, definitely makes it difficult to decide.

I have no plans to show my birds,,, but , at the same time would like to improve them where I can. There is alot to learn about this breed, and alot to be critical about,,,,, could be one of the reasons I beginning to like them more and more......LOL...... guess I like the learning experience and the challenge.

thanks again for your input,,,, this thread gets me more interested the more I read.

Ray

 

[Ullie]

BA HAHA! It's the nose & "mustache" of a dog I used to have (he's since passed, sadly). He was a Bouvier des Flanders. Here he is a few winters ago:

What a handsome boy, I also have a Bouvier, he is 4 1/2yrs old and in the winter we do a lot of hiking.

 

[rudy_rooster]

Greetings all. I need a little Marans input. In June, I bought Marans eggs (Black Copper and Blue) from a private farm. Three of them hatched in July (two females and a male). The females are pictured in the first photo below, and the male in the bottom photo. I sure that one girl is a splash. I thought the other girl is a blue, but her neck has gotten pretty copper recently. The male is starting to grow some reddish feathers, but I've assume he's a black rooster.
Any help on who/what I've got? Thanks.