Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Hey Kim,

You should be getting your egg show stuff in the mail very soon. Sent it off in the mail yesterday!

 

[DMRippy]

I hope my other roo does not drop dead of a heart attach...... he has 16 girls to cover now LOL.... till I get some culling done

After type.... what would you cull for first

Leg color
wonky combs
dark eye color

Those maybe my only culling points now. I have not looked at leg color yet.

 

[gilavina]

I hope my other roo does not drop dead of a heart attach...... he has 16 girls to cover now LOL.... till I get some culling done

After type.... what would you cull for first

Leg color
wonky combs
dark eye color

Those maybe my only culling points now. I have not looked at leg color yet.

Hey Lady!

Those are all good things to cull for. The other thing I will do is look at what roos you have and then pair the girls with the males that I think will give the best matings. I will even pull all the birds I am not sure about, and only leave those that I 100% know I want, and slowly add the birds in, watching to see how they are in terms of balance as a whole. It is pretty obvious when you add a bird that is subpar into a group of your best birds. Sometimes even if a bird is ticking off all the marks, such as not too bad of type, good comb, legs etc, when compared to others, they just don't have that same quality as the best. This is always my last step after the obvious culls (which I will be finishing off the rest of tomorrow) and I'll be selling a dozen pullets to a friend down the road. I'm so excited to see the pens this thinned down so I can do this very thing as its time to get the breeders sorted for spring!

 

[zooweemama]

Hey Lady!

Those are all good things to cull for. The other thing I will do is look at what roos you have and then pair the girls with the males that I think will give the best matings. I will even pull all the birds I am not sure about, and only leave those that I 100% know I want, and slowly add the birds in, watching to see how they are in terms of balance as a whole. It is pretty obvious when you add a bird that is subpar into a group of your best birds. Sometimes even if a bird is ticking off all the marks, such as not too bad of type, good comb, legs etc, when compared to others, they just don't have that same quality as the best. This is always my last step after the obvious culls (which I will be finishing off the rest of tomorrow) and I'll be selling a dozen pullets to a friend down the road. I'm so excited to see the pens this thinned down so I can do this very thing as its time to get the breeders sorted for spring!

This was really great. Thanks for sharing!

 

[maryhysong]

I hope my other roo does not drop dead of a heart attach...... he has 16 girls to cover now LOL.... till I get some culling done

After type.... what would you cull for first

Leg color
wonky combs
dark eye color

Those maybe my only culling points now. I have not looked at leg color yet.

I'm still learning chicken SOP & breeding stuff so from my newby perspective I think that first I would see which is a DQ and which is a fault? and pull out all the DQs first. Then think about is this bird the best I"ve got size and color wise and it's only problem is this one little thing? Do I have a male that is great in this area that might help the next generation? I could try matching them up and see what I get.

Also I'm thinking that if I had a group of young birds I could probably cull out the bad legs and at least some wonky combs at an early age. For instance I have some Welsummers that are not SQ that are old and were given to me. From them I have 3 pullets and 1 cockerel that are about 8 weeks old now. The girls combs are still pretty small so I can't tell on them, but I'm looking at that boy's comb and going oh yeah, you have your mama's comb, don't you. She has a major thumbprint and he has inherited it. Infact I could see it coming a couple of weeks ago. If I remember right that thumb print is a DQ so I already know he is soup. (don't worry, these guys are basically just for eggs, tho I have some nice eggs from a breeder in the 'bator now)

But the eye color I"m think they have to be older to know that for sure?

 

[math ace]

I hope my other roo does not drop dead of a heart attach...... he has 16 girls to cover now LOL.... till I get some culling done

He won't drop dead, but he will pick the low fruit first or so to speak. He will have his favorites and will use his energy on those. His favorites will be the ones that submit the quickest... The ones emit the "No Way Buddy" signal, he will just avoid because there are so many other choices available.

My old roo covers 16 girls and I do not have any issues. I have a high fertility rate from him. He seems to be making the rounds LOL...

 

[Ullie]

I have a couple question regarding Black and Blue Copper Marans that I was wondering about if anyone has any thoughts on this thanks.

I notice a couple of mine have little fuzzy tuffs on the side of their face.....what does this mean?

I also notice one of their combs are not as bright red as the rest and wondered why.....she has good food (ff) no frost bite (not that cold yet).

What makes the eggs glossy, so far I've only had the two eggs and was just wondering if it's the food or??

Thanks

 

[gilavina]

Its gonna be a good day off I believe. Hoping to finish off culling and taking a dozen pullets to go join a friend's layer flock. I can see the end in sight of getting down to just the breeders for over winter. The next step is gonna be the process of getting breeding pens set up and moving birds to their winter homes. Its a lot of work, but so rewarding at the same time. Will keep working on photos of pairings over the next week or two.

 

[kivi]

A quick question for a newbie please. I know many here are breeders and I only have a hatchery pullet but I hope you will impart some of your wisdom. My pullet just started laying. yea! (caught her in the act lol) I was surprized her egg wasn't any darker than my other non maran hens. Will they get darker or will they stay lighter because she is from a hatchery? She is a Cockoo Maran. Thanks in advance.

 

[Wynette]

A quick question for a newbie please. I know many here are breeders and I only have a hatchery pullet but I hope you will impart some of your wisdom. My pullet just started laying. yea! (caught her in the act lol) I was surprized her egg wasn't any darker than my other non maran hens. Will they get darker or will they stay lighter because she is from a hatchery? She is a Cockoo Maran. Thanks in advance.

Hi, kivi - there's a possibility that her eggs will darken up, but I would not count on it. If you are wanting REALLY dark eggs, and that's all you're after, IMO, the best thing to do is to go have a look on eBay and see what you can find that way. We'll keep our fingers crossed, though, that your hen's eggs DO darken up!