Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

Wynette and all, I culled out the six dozen eggs young fowl a few days ago. Kept one male from Ernie in Texas. One male from Maryland . Kept six female so far and they have mostly dark eyes and will try them with the old four years old male I have left. He throws good shank feathering , eye color and copper color where it is supposed to be. Will set some eggs from these once they start laying and will not wait for spring as if they do not produce will cull all of them.

Hey, Don - I've been curious about the males you kept; do you have any pics you can share?

 

[DMRippy]

Hope you are all doing WONDERFUL!!!!!!!


I am patiently waiting on some blue copper pullets to start laying....should be anyday. I believe they will have very nice egg color. One of their half siblings that I hatched out for my bestfriend is laying a VERY NICE egg. I was shocked when I saw it, but very pleased.

Kim. I finally have my Marans sorted. I only kept 5 from last year's breeding pen. I have another pen with pullets I am testing with another male I bought. not sure he is going to work out. so far I have not seen much exciting from him. I did get a good looking blue copper the otherday that is from Becky's birds. nice color all over.....dark toe nail (my birds don't have that and I want it) his only flaws are he has really dark eyes and a slightly flopped comb but I am going to test mate him to my new layers. my best roo is their brother and I don't want to breed them together. I have some of Beck's birds blood in mine so I don't think it will cause too much of an issue.

let me know when you want some eggs! I have my Birchens penned and thinned down too. not laying right now molting I think.

 

[maryhysong]

I have the French Black Copper (feathered legs) I have The French Blue (feathered legs) and the Splash (feathered legs) ...I went to the site very useful info ...it said the American Standard of Perfection was the poultry bible...I was going to buy it...but now I am confused of the correct 1...seems there are a vast amount...all poultry

The Standard of Perfection (SOP) from the American Poultry Association (APA) IS the bible if you are trying to breed quality birds to the standard. It contains descriptions of every breed and variety of poultry that is recognized by the APA. Also the first part of the book contains descriptions and definitions of many terms used to describe the birds.

 

[snowbird]

Quote: Wynette, will try and get a few pictures from the two BC young males still left. It appears they are going to have real good size. The pullets I have not checked the marking to see where they came from.

 

[lawatt]

curious for those of you who have Birchens -- have you ever seen a cockerel develop his silver feathering *late*, but still turn out to be an adult with good coloring? I've got a 16-week old who's still just randomly getting some silver coming in, and I don't know whether to keep waiting (and if so, how long) to see how he turns out, or when to decide he's a cull?

thanks!

 

[DMRippy]

curious for those of you who have Birchens -- have you ever seen a cockerel develop his silver feathering *late*, but still turn out to be an adult with good coloring?  I've got a 16-week old who's still just randomly getting some silver coming in, and I don't know whether to keep waiting (and if so, how long) to see how he turns out, or when to decide he's a cull?

thanks!

I have some growing out now so not 100% on this. I know they some bantams wyandottes I had changed a TON as they got older. I would wait till 6 months before I made a cull for just color. do keep in mind you should be selecting for type not color.

 

[rexy]

Morning, Marans peeps!! Been awhile since I posted here....life is taking a front seat this year, so to speak. I'm super excited about what's in my incubator. 10 BLUE Marans. Not blue copper, pure blue. I've got a black male and a blue pullet that are the parents. I'm hoping this will be the start of a blue line for me. I'm not super keen on the black male...he has some issues. The blue female, while a bit smaller than I like and has a bit of a wave at the front of her comb, is lovely otherwise. So, I may end up with nothing I can keep, but I've got my fingers crossed. I've also got 3 tester eggs from my mossy black copper W. Jeane hen (she was the one that I won several egg contests with this year and late last year - her egg is gorgeous) and a mahogany male. I suspect they will all be too dark, but figured it was worth a shot. Here are a couple of her washed eggs before I decided to collect a few to hatch. Too bad she's mossy!

x 100

 

[pinkchick]

so should a BCmaran hen be all black or have the copper neck band?? also.. at 5-6  weeks old what coloring should a roo have?? i have 3 hens that are all black very little copper showing...and 2 chicks we think are roos.. one has a bit of coppering going on its neck the other is evenly specked with copper all over.????pics in other post.

Hi!

Some BC Marans will not ever show their copper or they will show very small amounts of it or a person gets lucky and has birds that show copper around the entire neck. Standard requests the copper collar on all BC Marans, but we do not all have Marans that are the standard.

At 5-6 weeks you may or may not start seeing some copper coming in on the males or the females. They can take their sweet time, sometimes not showing any color until they are a few months old or so.

 

[pinkchick]

curious for those of you who have Birchens -- have you ever seen a cockerel develop his silver feathering *late*, but still turn out to be an adult with good coloring?  I've got a 16-week old who's still just randomly getting some silver coming in, and I don't know whether to keep waiting (and if so, how long) to see how he turns out, or when to decide he's a cull?

thanks!

WAIT!

Just like the BC, the Birchens can take their time showing color. It has been my experience with the Birchens that the ones that color up later are better colored birds, again, just my experience.

 

[lawatt]

WAIT!

Just like the BC, the Birchens can take their time showing color. It has been my experience with the Birchens that the ones that color up later are better colored birds, again, just my experience.

thanks! he's a sweet guy, and BIG, so i'll keep him around and see what he does...