Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Ihilani Coffee]

Hi, I am looking to start a flock of marans from hatching eggs. I am interested in the darkest eggs. I don't show birds but I would like to keep a pure bred flock. I have been looking at FBCM on E-bay auctions but since I am new to this I am overwhelmed. Many of the pics of eggs on Ebay don't look any darker than the eggs I am getting from my Red Stars and Amberlink hens at the beginning for their laying cycle. I know the lighting of pics is very subjective and the people claiming to have the darkest eggs on ebay may be just showing a darker less exposed picture. Any suggestions for breeders with dark layers. Should I buy eggs from more than one breeder to enhance my gene pool from the start? I am a newbie so please educate me. I looking at FBCM since that gets the most "wanted to buy" hits on my local craigslist so I'm guessing that's the most sought after?

Black Copper Marans on average will have the darkest eggs of the breed. Egg photos are pretty meaningless unless the photo is taken with the Marans egg color chart, which is color-matched at each printing. No matter what the lighting, exposure, etc. if you have the egg chart you can see photos like this and know what you are looking at. Ask for photos taken with the egg chart. If they don't have a Marans egg chart, they probably are not serious about breeding these birds. Examples:





APA standard requires all Marans varieties to have correctly feathered shanks and outer toes, so saying French BCM is redundant at the least and untrue at the worst. Unless someone has personally imported French BCM stock, and some have. You will have better luck with egg color if you stick to one line and breed within that line, as often you will lose egg color when outcrossing to other lines for a few generations. Hints to not look like a newbie: Marans is always capitalized and always plural as it is a place name in France. FBCM to me screams newbie for the reason cited above. There are great Marans groups on Facebook and you can learn a LOT by hanging out there. Marans Fanciers and Marans Central are two good ones. Ask how far removed from "XYZ" breeder a person's breeder flock is if they are advertising "XYZ" line. You will see a lot of ads for Davis or Jean lines for instance but unless the birds they are using came DIRECTLY from a certain line, it is also fairly meaningless. Once birds leave a breeder's hands and the mating decisions are being made by someone else, they are no longer that line. Ask to see photos of the breeder flock. Good luck!

 

[Pharkas]

Black Copper Marans on average will have the darkest eggs of the breed. Egg photos are pretty meaningless unless the photo is taken with the Marans egg color chart, which is color-matched at each printing. No matter what the lighting, exposure, etc. if you have the egg chart you can see photos like this and know what you are looking at. Ask for photos taken with the egg chart. If they don't have a Marans egg chart, they probably are not serious about breeding these birds. Examples:





APA standard requires all Marans varieties to have correctly feathered shanks and outer toes, so saying French BCM is redundant at the least and untrue at the worst. Unless someone has personally imported French BCM stock, and some have. You will have better luck with egg color if you stick to one line and breed within that line, as often you will lose egg color when outcrossing to other lines for a few generations. Hints to not look like a newbie: Marans is always capitalized and always plural as it is a place name in France. FBCM to me screams newbie for the reason cited above. There are great Marans groups on Facebook and you can learn a LOT by hanging out there. Marans Fanciers and Marans Central are two good ones. Ask how far removed from "XYZ" breeder a person's breeder flock is if they are advertising "XYZ" line. You will see a lot of ads for Davis or Jean lines for instance but unless the birds they are using came DIRECTLY from a certain line, it is also fairly meaningless. Once birds leave a breeder's hands and the mating decisions are being made by someone else, they are no longer that line. Ask to see photos of the breeder flock. Good luck!

Thank you, That was great information. Honestly I don't mind sounding like a Newbie at this point because, for this breeds standards, I completly am and I appreciate being educated. I have asked questions to many sellers on E-bay about their eggs and I get very few responses. Many sellers claim to have "French" BCM as can be seen from the feathered shanks in the pics. So I get much conflicting information from different sources regarding the breed. Is there a specific breeder that you would recommend I start my flock with. I'd like to do it "right" from the start and not start out with a poor gene pool.

 

[scflock]

Thank you, That was great information. Honestly I don't mind sounding like a Newbie at this point because, for this breeds standards, I completly am and I appreciate being educated. I have asked questions to many sellers on E-bay about their eggs and I get very few responses. Many sellers claim to have "French" BCM as can be seen from the feathered shanks in the pics. So I get much conflicting information from different sources regarding the breed. Is there a specific breeder that you would recommend I start my flock with. I'd like to do it "right" from the start and not start out with a poor gene pool.

Study first. I have been keeping chickens for a while, but got my first batch of straight run BCM this year. I have learned on this thread how wrong they actually are. I'm trying to take my time and learn as much as I can before trying again. Mine lay very dark eggs, but are very far off SOP

 

[3riverschick]

Phaskas,
The only truly French Marans from France I know of are the Little Peddler strain. Uncrossed with any other strain. Several breeders have them now . Expect to pay for the eggs or chicks. if I was you, I would always start with started birds, not chicks or eggs. that way the quality breeder has had time to cull them at least once for quality so you know you are getting birds representative of their breeding efforts. Check the show stats online. Look for poultry shows and egg shows. Cross match the winning birds across both sets of stats. Look for breeders winning in both venues. Make them you short list. The sire has an impact on the dark egg potential thru the genes he got from his dam. Make sure the started birds you decide on are sired by a cock from whose dam was a dark egg laying hen. That way he carries more potential to pass dark egg potential to the birds you are buying.
For shipping, not a problem,. Use USPS Express overnight. I always use http://www.boxesforbirds.com Great experts. just tell them the size and age of the birds and breed and where you want to ship from and too. For a trio of started birds of quality expect to pay 50. 75. a bird. Then 50. for supplies to drop ship to the seller to ship your birds. Plus 90.-100. for shipping. I know that sounds expensive but it is very much cheaper than trying to grade up lesser birds. Esp. with Marans where the egg color is also a factor. I spent about 300. to get my foundation trio of Light Sussex from Montana to western PA and have never regretted it. I have superior bids to start with and the whole Thang" is more fun that way. While you are setting up your breeding program, you can be entering eggs in the egg shows.
Best Regards,
Karen Tewart
Supplies to drop-ship to your seller for shipping your birds:
1 pouch of Gro-Gel Plus handles 100 chicks ( 4.00, have it drop-shipped to the seller. Divide into equal portions for the trip.)
I small bottle of Poultry Nutri-Drench ( 6.99 at Tractor Supply Company) Give a dose before they ship. And you get a bottle and (even more important) give a dose to each bird upon arrival at your place to deal with travel stress. Put 2ml per gallon in their water for the 1st week or so as they adjust to their new home. The stress of this new adjustment can affect the efficiency with which they uptake the nutrition you are providing. The Bovidr Labs formulas meet that need and do not need t be digested. They mainline directly into the bloodstream for quick energy and nutrition. http://www.nutridrench.com
Boxesforbirds shipping box. I had a trio of adult size started birds. I used their wonderful 16 bird box with the new triple divider. the box is about 3 feet long and reusable. The divider makes 3 triangle compartments just the right size for started Marans and Sussex. My cockerel arrived with no damage to his tail feathers. Yeah! The birds also arrived 3 hours early which I attribute to the size of the box. Too big to get lost or set aside, it shipped straight thru, no problems. Boxesforbirds sizes their boxes for pidgeons. usually 2 pigeons=one chicken. Just tell them what you want to ship, the breed and age and they will set you up with the right size box. I have never had a problem with their service or boxes or with birds I shipped in them.
Nonslip footing for the bottom of the box. Not newspaper or something that will hurt them if they eat it. I used Kraft brown paper-backed excelsior pads. Bought a box from a manufacturer a while back ( list on Net) and just love them. Also have the seller put an extra layer of cardboard on the bottom of the shipping box under the non-slip footing of choice. Not for sturdiness. But so any poop doesn't soak thru pads and wet the box for future use.

 

[cutipatooti]

I see that's theres been some info on shipping boxes so I was wondering if someone could answer a few shipping questions for me. I got some chicks at auction and they are not what I want. I would like to put them up for auction again after they are about 2 weeks old. First of all is this allowed? Can you win an auction and then sell some of it? What size box would you use how would you pack it and what would you charge for shipping.

I am assuming you are allowed to resell auctions won on RBA. Just so you know it was not my intent, I just got all new breeds that I don't have space for this year. I was hoping to get a few of their other breeds hopefully ones I already had.

I'm hoping that the regular chick box that they come in as day old is big enough for 2 week olds if it's 6 or less. Can I ship less then 6? Would it be big enough for 9?

I figure they need the grass mat on the floor a heat pack and grow gel. I have never shipped chicks before so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[desertmarcy]

I see that's theres been some info on shipping boxes so I was wondering if someone could answer a few shipping questions for me. I got some chicks at auction and they are not what I want. I would like to put them up for auction again after they are about 2 weeks old. First of all is this allowed? Can you win an auction and then sell some of it? What size box would you use how would you pack it and what would you charge for shipping.

I am assuming you are allowed to resell auctions won on RBA. Just so you know it was not my intent, I just got all new breeds that I don't have space for this year. I was hoping to get a few of their other breeds hopefully ones I already had.

I'm hoping that the regular chick box that they come in as day old is big enough for 2 week olds if it's 6 or less. Can I ship less then 6? Would it be big enough for 9?

I figure they need the grass mat on the floor a heat pack and grow gel. I have never shipped chicks before so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I don't know anything about that auction, but I would think, just like anything else, once something is yours, whether you purchased or won a raffle or were given a gift, you are free to do with it as you please. You do not say what breed these chicks are, but most chicks by 2 weeks of age would be too big for a chick box. The postal service has rules, not always followed I'm sure, about shipping live birds. The younger the chicks, beyond the day-old time frame for which they can sustain themselves on adsorbed yolk, the less likely they will survive shipping. Note that's why the post office has a minimum of 6 ounces per bird. You would need to put them in a larger approved container, like the single adult shippers sold by Horizon. How many will fit in one of those boxes depends on the size of the chicks. Generally around 5 three week old large fowl. You would have to put some moisture-containing food in the box with them, but not something that will leak. Like slices of melon or cucumber, sliced apple, sliced orange. Some people zip tie a small container to the side of the box and put gro gel in it. It would need to be low enough they can reach it. Note the post office regs say you cannot put food in the box. You can calculate shipping prices on the usps.com website if you know the buyer's zip code, the dimensions and weight of the box.

526.42 Mailability Requirements

Adult birds are mailable only when sent under the following conditions:

1. The shipment is mailed using Priority Mail Express service.
2. Each bird must weigh more than 6 ounces and no more than 25 pounds.
3. The number of birds per parcel must follow the container manufacturer limits.
4. The mailer must secure containers approved by the manager, Product Classification (see 214 for address).
5. A mailing container must be used that is constructed by a USPS-approved manufacturer listed on the RIBBS website at http://ribbs.usps.gov

 

[cutipatooti]

Thanks desertmarcy!

 

[estamets]

My blue copper is 4 weeks old. She is just as sweet as can be- a pleasant surprise after my gcm became the bully of the flock. From Secret Hills Ranch in Alpine, CA.

She's been the slowest-growing of this batch, which includes olive eggers, Bielefelders, and Rhodebars.

I'm pretty confident she's a pullet- anyone see something I don't?

 

[ataraninja1]

Name ideas:
Something about bring a lone survivor...
Being lucky but not the name lucky that's to commen
Tough or strong related names because she was a fighter to hatch
Or something related to her dark Brown eggs like nutmeg, coco or mocha????

Zena

 

[serama mamma]

Do any of you have pictures of a week old black copper maran chick that is a girl?