Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[KingR0o5t3r]

Does anyone have Show Quality Marans in Arizona? preferably southwest?

 

[Hens and Roos]

Thanks I will try that next. I've tried canned catfood but it didn't work. The only thing I ever seem to get in my traps around here are possums and housecats lol.

have you tried marshmellows in you traps? We find this to be a good bait to use.

 

[maryhysong]

Does anyone have Show Quality Marans in Arizona? preferably southwest?

Hippie chicks have some pretty good looking breeding stock; I'm growing out a batch of chicks I bought from them now, don't know how they will all look yet tho. https://www.facebook.com/HippieChicksEggs?ref=ts&fref=ts

 

[pinkchick]

MARSHMELLOWS WORK FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!! Who wouldn't jump in a trap after some yummy marshmellows?

 

[pinkchick]

Hi all,
I have BCM's that I got from green fire a few years back and I love them, but I am looking to start a project and am in need of some very dark egg laying cucko marans, can anyone point me in the right direction

Steve of SandsPoultry has pretty dark egg laying Cuckoo's. I believe you can find him under SandsPoultry here on BYC ........or usually a person can find him around over in the Turkey threads.

 

[pinkchick]

Interesting on the blood meat spots...  I seem to notice it more in fall..  Either molt or when supplemental lights go on...  I tend to just try and delay molt by doing maintaining 12 hours light after the equinox until December..

Yep it is the only flaw I can think of in an otherwise superior egg... The Marans egg that is...

___________________

PINK......e

It has been some time indeed...

Yes our boys are very similar...What I like about yours and mine for that matter is the proportion of the comb to the head size, many Marans I see seem to either have too big of a comb or too small of a head...  Your birds seem to have some real heft to them also..

Me thinks that when the day comes to bring in some new blood, it will be from your birds....  I forget, if the origins are from the same line??  They seem to have similarities.  I would not mind a chat about what your challenges have been, strengths and weaknesses you see and so forth...  You are much more in tune with this stuff than I ..I am just someone with a few chickens I happen to think are really cool and would like to see the BBS Marans shine bright as a clean line without copper creeping in...  A personal goal is to keep them hefty too..  Nice plump little butterballs... Though I have not selected for size, actually just the opposite my darkest egg layer was tiny, unfortunately a Fisher had her for dinner.... (Out of all the other chickens I would have not minded loosing, of course one looses the most cherished....)

So glad that you are reaching your goals with your birds. Let me know when you get ready for new blood and I will see that it happens for you, my gosh we discussed that like forever ago it seems now. Time certainly flies!
My original birds that I seriously started breeding were from Bev's lines, got them from a gal named Phyllis Eide here in WA state. She used to be the Western Regional Director for the MCCUSA a few years ago and got her birds directly from Bev.
Then I got my boy Bill (completely unknown history and genetics..but hatched from a SUPER dark egg) and decided that I was going to breed his blood into every bird I had here......did that, with the exception of the 1 pure Davis Splash hen I still have. I use her as my Matriarch hen. Now that Bill is gone I am going to test mate that cockerel I posted the other day to see what he throws and if he makes nice babies like I think he will, he will be the new Patriarchal rooster. Did that make sense? LOL!

Anywhooooo, you just let me know when you are ready my friend! Take Care and pop by more often!

 

[pinkchick]

Don~

Question for you.....my neighbor recently suffered a horrible dog attack that wiped out her flock of Coronation Sussex, except 1 young cockerel and 2 young pullets. I explained a little about using the siblings or half siblings to rebuild but I am uncertain on how the long run will play out when using sibling matings to start rebuilding.

I know where you stand on sibling to sibling matings........but if a person absolutely had to use a brother over a sister and there is a huge possibility that they are not full brother and sister, what would this do in terms of breedings? Would a person only do the cross once until they got another bird to use?
Or once the 1st sib to sib cross has been made, how does a person get back to what their flocks were before with a main roo and main female being not directly related?


Thank you!

 

[snowbird]

Don~
Question for you.....my neighbor recently suffered a horrible dog attack that wiped out her flock of Coronation Sussex, except 1 young cockerel and 2 young pullets. I explained a little about using the siblings or half siblings to rebuild but I am uncertain on how the long run will play out when using sibling matings to start rebuilding.
I know where you stand on sibling to sibling matings........but if a person absolutely had to use a brother over a sister and there is a huge possibility that they are not full brother and sister, what would this do in terms of breedings? Would a person only do the cross once until they got another bird to use?
Or once the 1st sib to sib cross has been made, how does a person get back to what their flocks were before with a main roo and main female being not directly related?
Thank you!

Kim, In the case of ablolete need where the brother-Sister mating is the only way to breed forward, Go ahead and make the mating and cull heavy. Then start breeding the main male to the daughters and the main two female back to one of the young male. Just do the brother-sister mating one year and then start breeding them like you would have the old pair.

If these have a lot of faults it will end up a disaster but is worth trying. I would single mate both pullets as one might produce better quality. if these are good quality fowl they could be bred forward and just cull all of the faults as you go forward. If you need clerification on any of this just let me know.

 

[snowbird]

Hippie chicks have some pretty good looking breeding stock; I'm growing out a batch of chicks I bought from them now, don't know how they will all look yet tho. https://www.facebook.com/HippieChicksEggs?ref=ts&fref=ts

Mary, have to agree I looked at the adult BC Marans on the site and they look real good to me. You should have some good young BC Marans from your chicks.

 

[flgardengirl]

MARSHMELLOWS WORK FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!! Who wouldn't jump in a trap after some yummy marshmellows?

Yep even alligators like marshmallows lol.