Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[blackbirds13]

If you both have chick pictures I would like to see them. Mottled chicks have distinct down at hatch. Kinda like this guy. They are white on the sides and a black strip down their back. Really cute though. I have a few they are new to me.

I don't have a lot of chick pics of the Marans but they did not look as you describe in your post. They had the typical tuxedo. I do not think the breeders of the eggs from which these birds hatched would have mixed the birds. I will think about letting them grow out but the leg feathering on these two is minimal and that is a culling point for me. The blues are hatching out with better feathering. I have other ones growing up that I will watch and see what happens. My rooster has a white feather on his toe that I had hoped would molt out but it seems its coming back in and maybe another on the other foot. I'm rehoming him and will have to source a different BCM if I decide to do a Black Copper vice a Blue Copper.

 

[maryhysong]

I have had a few chicks grow feathers in like this. I had one pullet that I was sure somehow hatched out cuckoo out of my BCM's. She didn't keep those feathers and they were gone by the time was adult (probably gone by 12-16 weeks, actually). She had nice color as an adult, but did retain a white wing feathers. I don't think my chicks have had as many of those feathers as yours does, though.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with this cropping up. Although mine have just the edge of the feathers in white and there are not so many, more a sprinkling over the chest. I checked with the breeder of the cockerel I used because it showed up on chicks from hens from widely separated breeders so I figured it was coming from the male line. I too thought perhaps a cuckoo had been crossed in at some point.

The breeder told me she had gotten a few like that but that as far as she knows there is no cuckoo in the line.

I have decided I don't want to fool with it so it is a culling point for me; everybody with it will go, even if it looks like they might molt it out later. I have too many other issues and things to work on with these birds, don't need to add anything else to the pile.

I hatched about 31 chicks from 4 pullets, I've already tagged 17 to cull because they lack sufficient leg feathering and/or they are mossy. Of the 14 left most are cockerels and of them there are three or four with this weird lacing showing up. Also in that group of 14 body type is all over the board also tail angles and shape. So I will be lucky if I get one or two that are any improvement or at least equal to what I started with to breed from next season. This is my first generation bred by me and I know it will be awhile yet before I get any consistency in type and egg color.

 

[Zanna]

I don't have a lot of chick pics of the Marans but they did not look as you describe in your post. They had the typical tuxedo. I do not think the breeders of the eggs from which these birds hatched would have mixed the birds. I will think about letting them grow out but the leg feathering on these two is minimal and that is a culling point for me. The blues are hatching out with better feathering. I have other ones growing up that I will watch and see what happens. My rooster has a white feather on his toe that I had hoped would molt out but it seems its coming back in and maybe another on the other foot. I'm rehoming him and will have to source a different BCM if I decide to do a Black Copper vice a Blue Copper.

Gilavina who used to post a lot on here and breeds many BCM does not think the white toe feathers are an indication of white feathers developing anywhere else on the body. If you like most all about him you might reconsider re-homing him. After 6 years of breeding BCM at this point this would not be a culling point for me as far as a good breeder prospect. For me, white tail/wing feathers on mature birds are definitely a culling point even if they have perfect type.

 

[desertmarcy]

I have not seen this either on pure Marans.

I occasionally get chicks with some white tipped feathers on their breast from my Black Coppers. I haven't seen as much white as that one shown, but definitely white tipped and mine are as pure as any out there. I have never raised them up to see if it molts out. I cull them or sell the pullets as layers.

 

[CherokeeFlats]

Hello everyone!! I am getting some Cuckoo Maran chicks in a few days. I have never had this breed before but LOVE the fact they lay the really dark brown eggs. any advice for a Maran Newbee??

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Hello everyone!! I am getting some Cuckoo Maran chicks in a few days. I have never had this breed before but LOVE the fact they lay the really dark brown eggs. any advice for a Maran Newbee??

Just brace yourself. You're going to fall head over heels in love with them lol. I got 4 because of egg color and they are my favorite breed personality wise so far (we're nowhere near the point of lay yet)

 

[BCMaraniac]

Just brace yourself. You're going to fall head over heels in love with them lol. I got 4 because of egg color and they are my favorite breed personality wise so far

(we're nowhere near the point of lay yet)

X 2!! I love my Marans. They are so docile and mine are very quiet. Even the roosters are quiet.....unless they get going with dueling crows. And for some reason, they always seem to put themselves to bed early. They are always the first ones to roost at night. I get to use them to raise chicks as they go broody frequently as well.

 

[DMRippy]

Hello everyone!! I am getting some Cuckoo Maran chicks in a few days. I have never had this breed before but LOVE the fact they lay the really dark brown eggs. any advice for a Maran Newbee??

Don't expect really dark eggs from cuckoos.... they are not the same as Coppers yet.

 

[CarolinaSkies]

I know the photo is a bit blurry but forgot to change out the lens. I am going to rehome my BCM rooster to a friend who wants to make Sex-linked EEs but can anyone tell me why the breast feathers are coming in with white tips? I have 2 older ones and both have this issue. I have some blues (splash male with same female) and this is not an issue.

This is one of our BCM chicks from last spring. She doesn't have a single white feather now and lays our darkest egg. Very glad that we let her grow out. Looking at these pictures side by side I noticed that foot color on the rooster looks yellowish. Or is that just the lighting?

 

[tbmorgan]

Ok....got some snuggle time in with my little white-tipped feather girl, so here are a couple of pics of her at 6 weeks. She doesn't have nearly as much white as the little cockerel, and it is just on her chest and a little bit down the side towards the front of her wings. She was born nearly solid black with very slight "tuxedo" markings like you would expect of a regular BCM. I don't know if she will keep these white tips after her juvie moult or not, but it is rather odd even if it is pretty. Just wondering where this comes from!

Signed: Mother of the Strangest Marans Chicks Ever,
Katja