Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

Here is a question for those of you breeding Black Copper Marans. I need to do some culling again soon. I have one cockerel that is mahogany, not copper at all. Is that alone reason enough to cull? Just wondering if there is ever ANY reason to use a mahogany-colored male in a Black Copper breeding program.

I have always used the Mahogany males in my BC Marans. But as you know most will say that I play to the beat of a different Drum.

 

[gilavina]

Haha there's nothing wrong with that don. I am willing to use my mahogany males as well barring they don't have any other issues. I held back one for testing this fall so far. I need to get more photos up of stock from this year's hatch. Maybe today if things to well. There's not a whole lot of activity on here lately for feedback tho I've noticed.

 

[pawtraitart]

Here is a question for those of you breeding Black Copper Marans. I need to do some culling again soon. I have one cockerel that is mahogany, not copper at all. Is that alone reason enough to cull? Just wondering if there is ever ANY reason to use a mahogany-colored male in a Black Copper breeding program.

Yes. Mahogany males can help with the overall color balance of this breed. If he is proper in all other respects, he could be useful. At the very least he could be held back in reserve to be re-evaluated once you have a clear picture of what your flock issues are as a whole going forward into the next generation.

 

[Zanna]

Here is a question for those of you breeding Black Copper Marans. I need to do some culling again soon. I have one cockerel that is mahogany, not copper at all. Is that alone reason enough to cull? Just wondering if there is ever ANY reason to use a mahogany-colored male in a Black Copper breeding program.

I am using a cock who is mahogany and his son who is nicely copper coloured. In my test matings so far with 4 different hens, the mahogany cock crossings are producing the nicest coloured pullets/cockerals (none of my breeder hens have copper on their necks but most of the babies do) and the correctly coloured cockeral is producing lots of overcoloured cockerals/pullets. These boys are both Wade/Jean line so I am guessing I am seeing some of the wheaten influence. I have been surprised at the range of colour in the single matings themselves from mahogany to beautifull copper to almost straw. Just my experience/observations so far.............. My last years breeding consisted of one hen (no copper on the neck) and one cock (slightly overmelanized) who were both Davis line. Offspring had nice type but very few pullets with copper on the neck and all overmelanized cockerals like Dad. Much more consistency than I am seeing with my new pairings.

 

[desertmarcy]

Thank you all for your replies on the mahogany. He is still young, but he looks nice so far. I was just afraid if I used one that color, that I'd start getting more and more of that color in the offspring. I don't keep the ones with straw colored hackles, I don't like that. This cockerel has an even tone of mahogany throughout and so far, his breast is black without spotting. Don and Vicki, in what way have you found this color to be useful?

 

[Wynette]

I've got a mahogany male that I'm going to be using soon. A longtime, successful Marans breeder once said to me, "Say if you are mixing paint and yellow and red and brown (mahogany) make copper, if you keep taking out the mahogany eventually you end up with just yellow....straw. You just can't base a color as delicate as red/brown on one uniform cock bird or hen color. That is why things start going wrong after three or four generations. "

Here's a (really bad) picture of the male I will soon be using. He actually has excellent type and is quite large, it's a horrible pic, but you can see how dark he is in this picture:

 

[gilavina]

Thank you all for your replies on the mahogany. He is still young, but he looks nice so far. I was just afraid if I used one that color, that I'd start getting more and more of that color in the offspring. I don't keep the ones with straw colored hackles, I don't like that. This cockerel has an even tone of mahogany throughout and so far, his breast is black without spotting. Don and Vicki, in what way have you found this color to be useful?

As long as I'm mindful about the females I'm using, it goes a long way to helping keep the tone of copper where I want it. Where it is possible to get copper, mahogany and straw offspring once you start breeding your birds and get a really good idea of what they will throw, it makes it much easier to keep moving toward a more balanced place with the coloring

 

[desertmarcy]

I've got a mahogany male that I'm going to be using soon. A longtime, successful Marans breeder once said to me, "Say if you are mixing paint and yellow and red and brown (mahogany) make copper, if you keep taking out the mahogany eventually you end up with just yellow....straw. You just can't base a color as delicate as red/brown on one uniform cock bird or hen color. That is why things start going wrong after three or four generations. "

Wow, thanks for that explanation. I hadn't thought of it like that, and it makes sense.

 

[snowbird]

Thank you all for your replies on the mahogany. He is still young, but he looks nice so far. I was just afraid if I used one that color, that I'd start getting more and more of that color in the offspring. I don't keep the ones with straw colored hackles, I don't like that. This cockerel has an even tone of mahogany throughout and so far, his breast is black without spotting. Don and Vicki, in what way have you found this color to be useful?

The Mahogany Males will produce good colored females that are either in the middle or dark hackle. I have never had a straw neck female, but have had a few males when I was raising 100s. Straw neck on the Marans female is when the hackle is real lite like wheat straw, not like yellow with Oat straw.

It has been my experience also that the Mahogany Male is usually better type all the way around

 

[puhtz]

8Hi y'all.
My husband brought home a BCM rooster on my birthday in January. I was NOT at all happy about this bird. My first concern was about the
safety of the 3 bantams (a pair of Light Brahmas & a female Cochin) that made up my "flock." Because of the size of this guy, I didn't think my little ones stood a chance. So when the next auction came (2 wks. later) we took that BCM to the auction to give him back to the fellow my husband bought him from. Well, that didn't happen. The fellow was there, but really didn't want him back. Instead, he gave me a quick education about the breed, coaxed me into giving his bird a second chance and we brought him back home with us!! I am SO
GLAD we did. He is so cool. Very personable