Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Are Cuckoo Marans a dominant breed?  I have a brooder with three Silver Ameraucanas, one EE, and eight Cuckoo Marans.  The Marans seem to be mean and very dominant.  They will corner the other breeds and while standing in a semicircle, start to peck the other chicks.  At first I thought they were all roos, but when looking up how to sex these chicks, I found that the roos will be grey while the hens will be black.  Well most of these are black.  I am now wondering if they are just a very dominant breed?  And can chicks tell if they are of a different breed when they are all born together?

Maybe these chicks are just establishing a pecking order. They can start this behavior as chicks, I have seen this first hand in my brooders.

I do not believe that chicks know the difference in different breeds, but I have noticed that in older chicks and as they grow they tend to stick with birds of their same color. I notice this more in my Splash birds than the Blue or Black. My Splash pullets in a breeding pen of blues and blacks tend to stay very close to each other vs. mingling with the rest of the crowd. I have noticed that they will perch together on the other end of the roost.

I have 2 Blue Copper chicks brooding with my goslings right now and they pile and huddle right in the center of the goslings. Even though the goslings are 3x their size and almost 2 weeks younger the chicks don't even seem to notice the differences in species or size. The little cockerel is not afraid to let the goslings know who is in charge.

 

[gilavina]

They look super cute!

That big blue on the left of the second photo looks like a pullet to me. What a monster! Also that Splash on the left is HUGE!

This will be my second year of hatching out giant pullets from my own stock. I love to watch them as they grow because they only get gangly for a couple weeks when they get around 8 weeks and then beef up like crazy. The males tend to stay smaller and then get some real size around 12 to 16 weeks. Everyone always thinks I'm joking when I pull out the biggest chicks and tell them they are my pullets

 

[upthecreek]

Shannon~ Good to see you my friend! You shouldn't stay away so long! I am doing great and I hope you are also. Busy in my garden and of course......busy with the onions (LOL) every single day! Don't know why the birds have to monkey with them. I think they just like to watchme stand them back up again everyday.

Would be okay if it were just a few........but repositioning 300+ onions every day is getting old.

Oh and they are African Dewlap Geese. I adore them! Never tried ducks but my sister is raising some and she loves them. Good luck with yours, I am sure you will enjoy them!

How are your Marans doing?

PinkChick , glad you are doing good with garden , marans and Geese now .......... i tried onions last year but i gave up , my parkinsons has really done a number on me(wow 300 onion plants- lord bless you) .
I've got the darkest eggs ever from these Marans , very happy with them (all above average) these are the same ones i got from Bev over the years . I do have a few of the unrelated import blood but they are just around(well i don't know why i keep them around) lol .

I had thought about some geese but i just can't keep up now ....... could have gotten ducks today but i left before they started selling (i finally realize my limits and had seen enough).

How are your Marans ? i know they are good or you would not have them .... lol

Hope your geese are good for you ..... that's the same type my brother has or had (i can't keep up)

Best to You ,
Shannon

 

[gilavina]

Hey Don, just curious what you think about how the chicks are coming along, particularly the one with the copper spot by the eye?

 

[jeremy]

Does anyone breed bantam Marans?

 

[snowbird]

Hey Don, just curious what you think about how the chicks are coming along, particularly the one with the copper spot by the eye?

Vicki, The chicks look real good . The chicks with the Copper spot in all I have observed will be over colored. One thing I do not know is how it will react in your breedings. I have a few here now from different breeders or should I say egg sellers that had the spot and they are now over-colored .. I didn't get a chance to take new hatch pictures but do have them marked and I know which ones had the copper on the head. We will not cull any of these until they are grown and will record everything as we go along.

 

[snowbird]

Does anyone breed bantam Marans?

Jeremy, over on the Cuckoo thread a gilrl on there has the Bantam Marans.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I think Vicki has bantams.... she did. There are several others too... can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, The chicks look real good . The chicks with the Copper spot in all I have observed will be over colored. One thing I do not know is how it will react in your breedings. I have a few here now from different breeders or should I say egg sellers that had the spot and they are now over-colored .. I didn't get a chance to take new hatch pictures but do have them marked and I know which ones had the copper on the head. We will not cull any of these until they are grown and will record everything as we go along.

I've been fortunate on these copper spot chicks, to never have them come out overcolored. I have another one in this hatch that has a small dot and is a cockerel. It will be my first male with this, so will see how they end up looking. The ones I've had come in over colored are the ones with that rusty red head or ones that are mossy at hatch. I didn't have any mossy chicks last year, and only ended up with a handful of those rusty headed ones, which immediately went to a young kids layer flock project for 4H. The hen also went as well, so I think I'm finally reining in some of the variances like that. Type, combs, color, leg feathering and egg color are the main focuses this year, like always, but hopefully am more freed up to focus more than past years.

 

[gilavina]

I think Vicki has bantams.... she did. There are several others too... can't think of them off the top of my head.

I'm no longer in bantams, I sold them to a lady just wanting a small backyard flock. I had to make some tough choices on what I kept on for projects.