Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

All quiet this morning both on the thread and here. After culling some of the males that didn't make the cut for the breeding program, I gotta admit the spring showing off 'crow offs' and squabbles are over! I'm so glad. Only ended up holding back 3 BCM males, and the Splash, Big Boy for the coppers and have 3 males for the birchen program. I'm sure that will change here in a few weeks when the eggs start hatching, but for now, I couldn't be happier.
Also been culling in the Sussex and Wyandottes, so am really loving what I have left, and loving chores getting done earlier esp since we are going to be getting another 6" today and tomorrow. I'm hoping they are over estimating, but just never know what to think really!

 

[desertmarcy]

Hi all. So for you master breeders out there, I have a question. I've been single mating this year and discovered one of my Black Copper hens is throwing some clean-legged or very lightly feathered legged chicks. About 9 chicks out of 22 hatched from eggs that I know came from her. I have since moved her into my layer-only pen and I'm not breeding her anymore. So the question is, since I don't know how the genetics work here, should I keep any of the offspring from her that have nice foot/leg feathers, assuming everything else about them is good? I'm wondering if the clean-legged problem will continue to pop up from these offspring as well. Feeding all the chicks I'm growing out is killing me financially---I need to do some culling SOON! Thank you for your advice.

 

[flgardengirl]

Why is it so hard to find a French(standard) Black Marans Roo???

I don't know why. I'm thinking that maybe early on the solid blues and blacks got mixed into the copper gene pool with people trying to improve egg color since the BCM lays a darker color generally than the solid blues and blacks. This is just a guess.
As for why the problem with the leg shanks, Again I don't know lol.
My solid blues had the opposite problem in the beginning, with feathering on the middle toe. I still have one blue hen that has that but she lays an exceptionally large dark egg for solid blues, is big bodied and a dark blue so I kept her.

I have one solid black hen whose shank feathering does not extend all the way down to her outer toe. I kept her because, well, she is solid black and MASSIVE and lays a nice egg. She does seem to be throwing some clean legged chicks as of this last hatch even though she was matched up with the black roo with the feathered shanks.
I don't know if the chicks are males or females yet lol. Everyday I change my mind about them: boy vs girl . I do have some solid black chicks from this last hatch with nicely feathered shanks/toe and one has feathered shanks that don't extend down to the toe grrr....so that is a problem I will be working on this year.

 

[bigshawn]

I don't know why. I'm thinking that maybe early on the solid blues and blacks got mixed into the copper gene pool with people trying to improve egg color since the BCM lays a darker color generally than the solid blues and blacks. This is just a guess.
As for why the problem with the leg shanks, Again I don't know lol.
My solid blues had the opposite problem in the beginning, with feathering on the middle toe. I still have one blue hen that has that but she lays an exceptionally large dark egg for solid blues, is big bodied and a dark blue so I kept her.

I have one solid black hen whose shank feathering does not extend all the way down to her outer toe. I kept her because, well, she is solid black and MASSIVE and lays a nice egg. She does seem to be throwing some clean legged chicks as of this last hatch even though she was matched up with the black roo with the feathered shanks.
I don't know if the chicks are males or females yet lol. Everyday I change my mind about them: boy vs girl . I do have some solid black chicks from this last hatch with nicely feathered shanks/toe and one has feathered shanks that don't extend down to the toe grrr....so that is a problem I will be working on this year.

Thank you for your answer, nothing is easy dealing with Marans that's for sure, and even more difficult when dealing with the lest popular Marans I know Blacks aren't as flashy as most Maran colors but I hope there are more then a few trying to work with Black Marans to deal with these problems...

 

[dajen]

Our new blue roo

Critiques welcome

 

[ellymayRans]

Our new blue roo

Critiques welcome

Is it just me or does his wing sit low?
Beautiful big boy!

 

[K Epp]

Our new blue roo

Critiques welcome

I think he is beautiful. Makes me excited I have my name on a list to get Blue Marans.

 

[pawtraitart]

Our new blue roo

Critiques welcome

Are blue coppers supposed to have white in their tail or do they follow the same guidelines as the black copper?

 

[snowbird]

Are blue coppers supposed to have white in their tail or do they follow the same guidelines as the black copper?

With the white feathers it will be the same as the Black Copper.

 

[gilavina]

Well, was doing some more sorting of birds today and after lunch think I just have two small pens left to shift. I culled a few more birds this AM and am very pleased with the BCM girls I decided to hold back, 5 total and the three BCM boys. I'll rotate the boys and girls around for test mating, and big boy gets, for now anyways, a dozen girls, not all at once, I'm test mating those as well, but they are running all together while all the girls clear from the other birds they were with. I have three birds in Big Boys pen that are question marks, but for now will stay. So satisfying to be getting there finally! Last year was so rough on me in so many ways, so its like a dream having this time to work on the birds!