Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[BarnGoddess01]

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Yeah, sure! Blame in on the Canadian girl!!!

(It was STINKING cold. That wind reminded me of Chicago in January. Nuts for sure. Brrr. At least the drive was clear and dry. And FABULOUS socializing in the evening - once all the bathtub birds were attended to.

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[Raven1]

I am so glad you did not take Ashandvines post negatively.  I believe she is much like me in the learning curve and is just more bold in asking the questions........  Not wanting to speak for her, but I think on this thread or maybe the black copper marans thread someone told her to cull her stock that had the white earlobes.  For a newbie to the breed and I am sure spending plenty of money and making plenty of mistakes as I did in the beginning it can all get really frustrating and discouraging.  Because of that, I can completely understand where her questions came from.  We all know BCM are a work in progress and I believe that great progress is being made!  I posted a pic. of a roo one time, another poster asked questions about him and another poster commented that "he brings nothing to the table".  How does that help anyone?  I think for us all to learn, the questions Ashandvine posed are good ones and the resulting discussion about the questions were valuable to the learning curve.  I will continue to post pictures and participate in this thread, I can take and leave stuff, I make up my own mind   I hope Ashandvine continues to participate!

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[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Moral of the story, be VERY careful whose advice you follow. Especially when the breed is a work in progress.

 

[Wynette]

I have NO issues with ashandvine whatsoever! I just know the hard work that went into those bantams, and I was thrilled to see OHBIGMAMA post a picture of them. I don't want anyone to feel like they'll get criticised when they post pictures. I apologize, Ash, if I offended, that was not my intention. I, too, am hopeful that everyone learns from these posts, but I'll say again, there is always a kind way to express an opinion or give constructive feedback.

 

[OHmamma]

I think the best way to do it is to get to know what you are working with. It takes time and patience and a love of chicken meat. I hatch over 1200 a season so I have seen a lot of oddities. I don't listen to anyone I do what I like since I buy the feed. I even keep Eng. Marans because I hate it when the feathers are too heavy that always throws people off. .

I have up to 6 generations of most of my varieties of Marans. I know what to expect by now from each one. That is why the lobe thing was worrying me since it isn't in their background. I will see when I get some chicks hatched off of them. They are with a bc roo tight now form an old WJ line that I have. They have always had great eye,earlobe and egg color. So I guess time will tell.

Come on Don, you know I appreciate your criticism


-Nicol

 

[snowbird]

I think the best way to do it is to get to know what you are working with. It takes time and patience and a love of chicken meat. I hatch over 1200 a season so I have seen a lot of oddities. I don't listen to anyone I do what I like since I buy the feed. I even keep Eng. Marans because I hate it when the feathers are too heavy that always throws people off. .

I have up to 6 generations of most of my varieties of Marans. I know what to expect by now from each one. That is why the lobe thing was worrying me since it isn't in their background. I will see when I get some chicks hatched off of them. They are with a bc roo tight now form an old WJ line that I have. They have always had great eye,earlobe and egg color. So I guess time will tell.

Come on Don, you know I appreciate your criticism


-Nicol

Nicol, I have no criticism on your bantams, I just thought the person was asking a legit question and did not mean any disrespect. i will say that I have never used females with this much white in my breedings of any breed where red was called for. Get you a Bushy tail male and it will open the tail on your Bantams.

How about weight on the bantams, ever weigh any of them, better large then small.

Do you know if anyone has ever ask the ABA to reinstate the bantams. Should not be a problem.

 

[OHmamma]

Nicol, I have no criticism on your bantams, I just thought the person was asking a legit question and did not mean any disrespect. i will say that I have never used females with this much white in my breedings of any breed where red was called for. Get you a Bushy tail male and it will open the tail on your Bantams.

How about weight on the bantams, ever weigh any of them, better large then small.

Do you know if anyone has ever ask the ABA to reinstate the bantams. Should not be a problem.

I am going to breed for brighter red in the combs and face period. It was not an issue prior to this generation. Their mother/grandmother has nice bright red so does their brother/father. I only had these two to work with so I will not cull them period. They both have excellent egg color and to me that is the most important thing in a Marans. I still think it will recover, like I said it is not white but there is no color except skin showing.

I have a roo that I am going to put over them for a while that is 1/4 langshan bantam and 3/4 Marans bantam he should help open the tails He also has nice bright red lobes The black hen was missing a few tail feathers from being in a breeding pen so hers is not quite as bad as it looks.

The last weight I took on them was before the black one became a picky eater she was 36oz. The blue one has always been plumper but shorter and she was 40oz. The old Marans Bantam standard calls for 32oz on them. I have spoke with a few ABA judges and they said that reinstating the older standard would be easy if they start to be shown more. There is a new proposed standard for them also but I prefer the old one because it actually allows for both clean and feathered shanks. My cuckoo line is one that has been bred for quite a while. I was lucky to have it passed on to me this year. They are like peas in a pod but are clean shanked 90% of the time. I do show them too but to keep it less confusing I only show one or the other at the same show. Since their class is AOCL or AOFL depending on which I take.

They have the same friendly personalities of the LF and actually lay more often. I get an average of 5 eggs a week from them and they started laying at 5 months. I also like them because they are not as flighty as most bantams. I just hope they are not as broody as the LF.

These are cuckoo bantam eggs, in person they are darker than most LF cuckoo. The two coppers lay even darker but I am having camera issues right now. They were given a "5" at the egg show Saturday.
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-Nicol

 

[xlboergoats]

Yeah, sure! Blame in on the Canadian girl!!!

(It was STINKING cold. That wind reminded me of Chicago in January. Nuts for sure. Brrr. At least the drive was clear and dry. And FABULOUS socializing in the evening - once all the bathtub birds were attended to.

)

I have been trying to catch up on BYC posts. We finally got home from Newnan and have almost gotten things caught up around here. This is the first time that I have had time to sit down at the computer. Being away from home for a show and then heading back to work really takes its toll on this around here. Now it is time to crank up the incubators and get back to hatching.

We were all geared up to hatch big numbers of Cuckoos this season, but looks like we will be switching up some of our plans. We will not quit breeding, hatching, and showing Cuckoos. We just won't have to stress about the number of Cuckoos that we can have ready to go to Shawnee, Oklahoma in December. We have focused on our Cuckoos, Black Coppers, and Whites the last two years.

Newnan was a great show, but COLD. We were under a tent in the mud. The show officials had rented heaters for the tent, but the Fire Marshall would not let them use them. We stood outside the tent and huddled around the heaters.

Getting to meet so many nice breeders and visit with old friends made it worth fighting the cold. We had the chance to meet and visit with so many breeders that we have only been able to visit with online. We swapped eggs and birds with some of the breeders that we met there and some of our friends that we only get to see once in a while.

The Marans that were shown there were nice birds. The birds were very consistant in "type" regardless to the variety. The judges that judged our tent and the ones that just came through to look at the Marans were very complimentary of the improvements that we have made as a breed. We were lucky enough to get to visit with some of the judges after the show in Saturday. The meeting with the judges was very positive and informative.

We have shown at Shawnee the last two years. Even if the weather is cold and wet there, the facilities are nice. The show will be inside. If we can get from the parking lot to the building, life will be good. We hope that everyone will start hatching now and making plans to attend the show in Shawnee, Oklahom in December.

Regards,
Ernie Haire
Arp, Texas

 

[choptank330]

I wish I would have had chickens when I lived in newnan!! I was born and raised right in Newnan. My family is still there. Where about in Newman is this held?

 

[15littlem]

I know that many of you guys keep your birds in breeding coops, but I like to let mine free range, like no fences kind of free range. That was until my flock of chickens got decimated and we opened a food pantry for the community great horned owls. Do any of you guys know of ways to keep the owls away, at least from around the coop? (btw, I don't really want the whole night eyes light, I'm thinking cheap, but effective)