Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

When judging I see white where it should not be all the time.....usually the base of the tail in males and wingtips or completely white wing feathers in males and females. Marans is not the only breed with this problem. You don't see it in black birds cuz it is usually a DQ in black birds...this is the lesson. Breeders of black birds got rid of it because it was a DQ.

Walt

So, what your comittee is discussing Walt, if I am understanding, is whether or not we should be treating BLACK BASED (not just solid black) birds the same way we look at blacks, so far as the white goes - is this correct? I guess what I'm taking from this is that it's DEFINITELY not a DQ or a fault to NOT have it, whereas it MAY be a fault or DQ if a bird DOES have it. Thus...just breed to remove it.

ETA: I guess the word "just" is thrown in there pretty casually, but I think y'all know what I mean.

 

[desertmarcy]

This spring was the first I hatched out a decent number of chicks that had the penguin look, but feathered in with very, very minimal white on the very tip of the wing (1/4 to 1/8")  and lost that when they were about 15 to 20 weeks old. It will be very interesting to see how they continue growing as they are now coming up to 9 months old now. I have these birds in both black and blue coppers, so will have a variety to watch as they mature.

What do you mean by penguin look?

 

[maryhysong]

Will just add that you will want the white around the head and chest and belly on the BC checks. This is a must.

Will start posting how I bred BC without the unwanted white in a little while. If you are not able to cull or will not cull just pass the post on bye. Later

I am all ears. And I eat chicken ;-)

 

[gilavina]

What do you mean by penguin look?

Give me a couple of minutes and I'll see if I can find you a good pic of one from my files.

 

[Wynette]

Penguin look - second from right. The rest are Jersey Giants.

 

[gilavina]

Here's the first pic I could find for you of penguin chicks, Desertmarcy

 

[snowbird]

Like to make a comment before we start going over the breeding of Marans without the white in Wing, tail, tail coverts and the undercolor. In my mind I believe these are all connected. Do not know if I will be able to be specific enough in my explanation so you will understand what I am trying to convey. This is where the Siminars are great as some of this can be gone over there.

I encourage all to keep notes on their fowl as you never know when you might want to read up on a certain problem. I still say the genetics of chicken wil only work if you know all the background of the fowl you are working. There is no one that knows all the background , at least no one has come forward saying they know all the combinations .

 

[snowbird]

Here's the first pic I could find for you of penguin chicks, Desertmarcy

Vicki, I like the amount of white around the eye of the BLUE chick. Are you using any of the white leg and foot Black Copper and Blue copper males in your breeding program.

 

[gilavina]

Like to make a comment before we start going over the breeding of Marans without the white in Wing, tail, tail coverts and the undercolor. In my mind I believe these are all connected. Do not know if I will be able to be specific enough in my explanation so you will understand what I am trying to convey. This is where the Siminars are great as some of this can be gone over there.

I encourage all to keep notes on their fowl as you never know when you might want to read up on a certain problem. I still say the genetics of chicken wil only work if you know all the background of the fowl you are working. There is no one that knows all the background , at least no one has come forward saying they know all the combinations .

100% agree on note taking on stock. It makes all the difference in the world. I also keep a pretty extensive set of files on my computer of photos of birds. Particularly ones that are really good and the ones that are really bad, so I can keep track of what's going on and what to watch for and such.

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, I like the amount of white around the eye of the BLUE chick. Are you using any of the white leg and foot Black Copper and Blue copper males in your breeding program.

Nope, no white leg birds here, all my coppers are nice slate with the pale pads and white toenails. I'll find a pic. I'm a stickler for leg color amongst other things. The chick on the right is one of my first birchen to copper matings. I was curious to see how they would look and grow out. You can definitely see the effects of the birchen in that chick as mine usually are all solid from hatch. They tend to color in better for me that way.