Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

n.smithurmond :

Ok, I just looked at a picture of a wheaten rooster. This whole time I had just seen the hens and thought the darn roosters would look like the hens!! Now I see that it's not quite so obvious with the boys is it? So when Don mentions "wheaten influence" are we debating whether or not this cockerel is even a Black Copper?

Your male is BC but he has Wheaten influence, and you would have to be careful when breeding him as you will get lots of culls, Brown soft feathers under the vent, white hackle undercolor , and white feathers in the chicks. It is much cheaper if you are breeding for birds that are close to the Standard if you do not use the fowl with a wheaten influence. I have culled 100's of these this year from my young Marans, I am trying to raise a large show type Marans. Don​

 

[n.smithurmond]

Gotcha. So as an individual he might be fine, but it's the genes he's likely carrying (and likely to pass on) that are at issue for the most part. So what if I didn't mind having wheatens pop up? Is it then just a matter of limiting my ability to market Black Coppers to folks who are interested only in Black Coppers and not wheatens? Or does the wheaten gene actually affect the quality of the individual Black Copper chicks?

 

[snowbird]

n.smithurmond :

Gotcha. So as an individual he might be fine, but it's the genes he's likely carrying (and likely to pass on) that are at issue for the most part. So what if I didn't mind having wheatens pop up? Is it then just a matter of limiting my ability to market Black Coppers to folks who are interested only in Black Coppers and not wheatens? Or does the wheaten gene actually affect the quality of the individual Black Copper chicks?

Some market these Marans with the wheaten influence and never say that they suspect they have it in their fowl. If you tell buyers that your marans are BC and wheaten mixed they will shy away if they are ever planning on raising Marans to show. If you sell them just to be dark egg layers and not to be bred for the proposed Standard then it would be buyer beware.. Don​

 

[berkeleysprings]

koodos there on what you said lotsapaints !,,,, some care about the apa and some do not give a darn ,,,,, many new people come here and find there birds arnt worth a darn in the eyes of the apa. but i wont matter if u dont care about the apa and people should just injoy your birds ..... and everyone here is trying to get the most reciessive of all genes(wheaten) out of there black copper and it takes time .i cant spell worth a darn so forgive me
but the proposed APA were made by the big clubs long ago because they did the hard work and asked anyone who would listen to give feed back i think . the clubs screamed it on the internet i guess its like the boat sailed on changeing anything now and were kicking a dead horse .... i personaly are looking for the best i can do in boath worlds .nice dark eggs and a bird that looks as close to what ever the apa says that bird looks like or should look like some of the mut chickens that have been cross bred to everything are beutiful animals but theres no way to put a name on them unless someone says what theare supposed to look like.... the powers to be are the APA weather their rr or rocks
no onehardly ever talks about the trouble with wheaten lines because everyone is worried about bc , io cant wait till wheaten are the talk of the town but i dont feal that will ever happen , personaly i feal they are not as screwed up as bc unless u count the color shades or combs or amount of leg color or tail set .... oops i guess they are massed up to if u look colse enough Personally I think the apa standards are a myth or unattainable quest in life and always should be otherwise wares the challenge people need to not ask “does this dress make me look fat ?“ and expert people on this thread need to learn to answer
“yes it doesn’t make u look fat “. One important thing I learned is no matter how fat u can lose weight and more important no matter the fault your bird has it can be breed out as well , it takes time

 

[n.smithurmond]

But, again, it's because your cull rates will be higher in the long run if you used BCs with the wheaten gene and not because it affects the quality of the BCs?

 

[n.smithurmond]

Can hens carry the recessive wheaten gene or is it always expressed?

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:

Right on !

 

[Darth Egger]

You guys are confusing the "Wheaten gene" with some alleged "Wheaten influences".

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:

Right on again !
And another weird thing...ever pay any attention to how many millions of people LOVE the PBR ?
They go on and on about them, and they are stunning birds !
But just imagine one that laid BIG DARK eggs like a marans !!!

No white feathers either...my BC marans have the white underfluff...I just want to get the food coloring dye out !

 

[Debbi]

n.smithurmond :

But, again, it's because your cull rates will be higher in the long run if you used BCs with the wheaten gene and not because it affects the quality of the BCs?

If it is your desire to breed only true Black Coppers, it would behoove you to cull out the Wheaton influenced birds. If someone comes to you looking for Black Copper and gets some Wheatons it will come back on you. The gene itself really doesn't deter from the "look" of the bird, in fact, physically, he could be very correct. It's the coloring aspect of the thing...it's NOT a pure/true Black Copper. All that said, if you just want to sell eggs and chicks as "dark egg layers", well they can be purple with pink polka dots!

If you want to sell show stock that conforms to the SOP, then you would (hopefully) want to do it right! I just think of the FFA and 4-H kids that may come looking for eggs or birds, and I don't want them getting any surprises at their first show!