Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ashandvine]

Are you saying that as birds age their eggs might darken each year?

 

[snowbird]

Are you saying that as birds age their eggs might darken each year?

Most of the time if you cross lines the first year the egg color will go down, but if you breed the young back into your dark egg laying parents each year you breed back into your dark line the eggs will get darker. If you outcross again you will have to go back through the same process again.

 

[unkadan]

Great discussion today ladies,,,,thanks for the insights

 

[ashandvine]

Most of the time if you cross lines the first year the egg color will go down, but if you breed the young back into your dark egg laying parents each year you breed back into your dark line the eggs will get darker. If you outcross again you will have to go back through the same process again.

Could you type that slower?
If you breed those offspring who lay the darkest eggs (F1) back to parents (P1) then you are likely to correct any light coloration resulting from the original cross?
What does that mean for the information that holds that the cock from a dark layer will impart his dark genes to the offspring despite the mediocre darkness of the hen he is bred to? Isn't it most important then to have males from very dark layers and females with good type to get the most out of the cross?

Am I asking irritating or silly questions?

 

[snowbird]

Could you type that slower?
If you breed those offspring who lay the darkest eggs (F1) back to parents (P1) then you are likely to correct any light coloration resulting from the original cross?
What does that mean for the information that holds that the cock from a dark layer will impart his dark genes to the offspring despite the mediocre darkness of the hen he is bred to? Isn't it most important then to have males from very dark layers and females with good type to get the most out of the cross?

Am I asking irritating or silly questions?

Good question as sometimes I am not typing what I am thinking.

Lets say you have two lines that lay fairly dark eggs and breed them together. You should breed offspring back to both sides of the original breeding and keep on doing this for a few generations. Usually the second generation will be back almost to the original dark color. If you use starting lines that do not lay dark eggs then all bets are off as it will be a crap shoot on egg color.
Will say that I am happy with a #6 on the scale as I will not ever enter an egg show.

 

[snowbird]

Good question as sometimes I am not typing what I am thinking.

Lets say you have two lines that lay fairly dark eggs and breed them together. You should breed offspring back to both sides of the original breeding and keep on doing this for a few generations. Usually the second generation will be back almost to the original dark color. If you use starting lines that do not lay dark eggs then all bets are off as it will be a crap shoot on egg color.
Will say that I am happy with a #6 on the scale as I will not ever enter an egg show.

I am just taking it for granted that we are using good quality Marans as far as type and Marans looks. I just do not have the time or patience for fooling around with inferior Marans .

 

[DMRippy]

I was expecting a loss of egg color somewhere but it never has happened here for some reason. (yes I crossed 2 lines unrelated) All the pullet I have now are laying as dark if not darker than their mothers. Same thing happened in my cuckoos.... most are laying a good color egg but some are not about 1/2 of each color, but the mothers of those pullets didn't lay a dark egg anyway. For sure in the cuckoos the egg color is more even toned not as mottled as my original cuckoo hens.

 

[snowbird]

I was expecting a loss of egg color somewhere but it never has happened here for some reason. (yes I crossed 2 lines unrelated) All the pullet I have now are laying as dark if not darker than their mothers. Same thing happened in my cuckoos.... most are laying a good color egg but some are not about 1/2 of each color, but the mothers of those pullets didn't lay a dark egg anyway. For sure in the cuckoos the egg color is more even toned not as mottled as my original cuckoo hens.

Donna, Just goes to show that there are a lot of unknowns with the Marans. The only thing we can do really is just keep trying with what we have available.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
Yeah that kinda goes back to the WHAT WORKS FOR ME thing...... Work with the best you can and do the best you can with what you have.

 

[Irishgirl]

Hi there...he does have quite a bit of coloring...they typically do tend to by overly colored by maturation if they are showing this much by now, but I have also recently been told that some of the more "original" lines seem mossy like this until their very last molt. So...I guess the answer is...it's likely, but not guaranteed, that he'll have too much color.

Well, since he's my only BCM roo-ling, he'll be staying 'till I get a new one. I hope he grows out of it. I'll post pics when he's older. Thank you!