Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ashandvine]

DM- when you say 'too much white' would you post a picture of what qualifies as too much and as just right... gosh where is Goldylocks? We could call her Copper locks! ha

 

[DMRippy]

Black coppers lay the darkest eggs

I can't post pics I don't have internet other than my phone. have not figured out how to post pics. you want some light white on the face you would not use the ones with a mostly white face. you can go to my profile and find the pics of the chicks I posted. I think it was in the bus copper thread. you can repost them if you find them.

 

[Zanna]

Black coppers lay the darkest eggs

I can't post pics I don't have internet other than my phone. have not figured out how to post pics. you want some light white on the face you would not use the ones with a mostly white face. you can go to my profile and find the pics of the chicks I posted. I think it was in the bus copper thread. you can repost them if you find them.

I bet I can come up with some pics. of various colouration and maybe Donna you would comment? Probably late tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[DMRippy]

sure that would work. if I could cut and paste I could post them. I will keep an eye out.

maybe Viking will pop in. she is the one that put me on to it so it was a test and it worked out more than 80% I think. I didn't keep numbers I just tagged them as keepers.

 

[Zanna]

Ok, here are some chick pics All are from last years single mated pair (first two pics are same two chicks) except the last pic. which are from a single mated pair early this year. Hope they have the range you are talking about Donna. I also have some recently hatched chicks from a pairing that is producing very dark chicks, growing up to have almost black combs, wattles and I believe gypsy faced. Can snap some pics of them in the morning if it would help. Actually, I think the 3rd pic. is from this pairing.

 

[DMRippy]

Ok, here are some chick pics All are from last years single mated pair (first two pics are same two chicks) except the last pic. which are from a single mated pair early this year. Hope they have the range you are talking about Donna. I also have some recently hatched chicks from a pairing that is producing very dark chicks, growing up to have almost black combs, wattles and I believe gypsy faced. Can snap some pics of them in the morning if it would help. Actually, I think the 3rd pic. is from this pairing.

the top pic the chick on the left has too much white and would have too much copper as it matures. the chick on the left in the second picture is closer to what I picked for but still a tad more white than I picked for. the bottomed chick was a cull and would probably not have any copper as it matures. do you have any current pics of the chicks? I would like to see if it played out like I said. it seems to work on my chicks. I think I have some hatching this weekend. I am going to use the same selection on these new ones.

 

[DMRippy]

I missed a couple.

the group shot I would only keep the on on the left. I think that is the Sam chick in the last pair. the on on the left would be my keeper of that group.

 

[Zanna]

the top pic the chick on the left has too much white and would have too much copper as it matures.

the chick on the left in the second picture is closer to what I picked for but still a tad more white than I picked for. the bottomed chick was a cull and would probably not have any copper as it matures.

do you have any current pics of the chicks? I would like to see if it played out like I said. it seems to work on my chicks. I think I have some hatching this weekend. I am going to use the same selection on these new ones.

I have no current pics, did not keep good records last year as all chicks were from the same single mated pair. Only kept 3 pullets and one cockeral out of about 150 chicks I hatched from the pair. Very few of the girls had copper around their necks. No mossiness, no brown feathers anywhere. The pullets I kept and are currently using for breeding have no copper but had the best type. Several boys were overcoloured, some just right, some over melanized, huge range off offspring from one single mated pair.

On the pics posted, the first two pics are of the same chicks, they just reversed places The 1st, 2nd and 4th pics are chicks from the same single mated pair. The 5th (last) photo is a pairing with the same Mom of pics 1, 2 and 4 but bred to a new unrelated cockeral. The 3rd photo is a chick from a different and unrelated pullet and cockeral than all the other pics. This is the pairing that is giving me the gypsy faced chicks with the mostly black combs/wattles. They also hatch with almost black legs/yellow feet, my other pairings are yellow legs/feet. They are all maturing to be the correct colour or pretty close to it.

 

[pawtraitart]

Could I please get some opinions on these GCM chicks. I am still learning, so it would be helpful to get some feedback and pointers . . Thanks!

What I am really liking about my Marans is that they are calm, confident and smarter than some of my other chicken breeds. Really looking forward to their dark eggs too!

My rooster chick~



A couple of my pullets~

I don't see any glaring issues in these photos. Your pullets have very heavy feathering on their shanks, though. Maybe check to make sure there isn't feathering on their middle toes. You could let them grow out a bit more and then post some conformation photos. Many folks in this thread have a great eye for conformation.

 

[chickee]

I don't see any glaring issues in these photos. Your pullets have very heavy feathering on their shanks, though. Maybe check to make sure there isn't feathering on their middle toes. You could let them grow out a bit more and then post some conformation photos. Many folks in this thread have a great eye for conformation.

Thank-you, I really appreciate feedback!

I thought the pullet's shanks looked heavy on the feathering. I don't think there is feathering on their middle toes, but I will go look at them more closely. I would like to see wider heads on them. Is that a correct observation? They are very active and it is hard to get a good conformation picture. I will keep trying.