Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[doubleatraining]

Maybe the above disclaimer is what we should get all people to post with their requests for critiques!
I am still experiencing technical issues, so who knows how this post will turn out

Thank you for your insight! I'm looking forward to improving/tweaking my bunch and adding new/better blood when I can. Please forgive all my questions!

Originally Posted by doubleatraining
I have about 9 more splash marans in the brooder that are growing out and their leg feathering is a lot heavier than what I have now.

The rooster is right at a year old and the splash pullets are POL.



I do not work with the Splash color. I will only comment on the roo's type.
His chest is not deep enough. It could be his pose in the pic is being effected by a very full crop.
I do not see a clear shot of his chest in the other pictures.

Deep enough? I figured he wasn't "big" enough due to pictures of other roosters I have seen. Maybe we are talking about the same thing?

Also, his tail meets the back at an abrupt break instead of the smooth curve we hope to see in the marans.


It looks like he is standing at an arkward angle judging by the position of his feet on the ground. This could effect evaluations I would make on his make and neck.

Comb and wattle look to be proportional to the head and neck.
I really can not say anything else without better photos

Any suggestions on getting to stop acting like he is as wild as a marsh hare?? He and I had to go rounds about once a week when he was maturing and while he doesn't attack me or anyone else anymore he doesn't really want me near him either.


This is my BCM that doesn't have copper and has the wrong colored ear lobes....ugh. Don't worry, her eggs are used for misc layer chicks and she is the broody queen so she gets to stick around. Her leg feathers are the best out of all of them though....lol


Nothing needs to be said on the above pullet since you spotted the white ear lobes
OBTW: Her tail looks pinched too.

Is the white ear lobe something that can be bred out or something that should never be in the breeding pen?






Nice shape to this splash pullet. Her fluff looks a little too loose at the legs. Her back is nice and long. I can't tell, but I suspect her tail is not very open. A pic from the back would help determine this. Her comb looks small which is a good thing. She is too far away in the pic for me to see if anything funky is going on with the comb. Her legs look like there is none or barely any feathers on them.


I'm glad she has a good shape, I actually think she is the lesser quality of my 2 pullets so I will get better pictures of the other one to compare.

The fluff is something that she just lucked out on or something that a less fluffy rooster over her would improve offspring? I think I asked that correctly....

Open tail?

I have the 2 splash pullets and one has feathered legs and the other is clean legged. Both have "white" legs. The rooster has feathered legs too.

Where do I get blue legs for my splash marans? LOL

 

[DMRippy]

THOSE are NORMAL size Ameraucana eggs.... not that big one!

I can't comment on Splash egg color but I would think that is not BAD for a Splash but

BTW one of those pics looks like the BCM with the white ear is brown... I know that is not a good thing. Is she mossy looking in person?

 

[DMRippy]

White ear lobes should NOT be in a breeding pen.

Blue Legs.... see Vicki

 

[gilavina]

doubleatraiining,

I would not recommend breeding birds with white earlobes, I don't even mess with birds that have even the smallest amount. It breeds forward and is a bear to ever get rid of. So, I just choose not to go there.
If you breed your splash girls, (which I like better than the splash male) to a blue male if you have one, you should get at least a small percentage of them with blue legs. Now the hard part is to get blue legged birds with good body type and etc. It always seems like when working on something like leg color or etc, that the best birds will have opposite of what you want in that one aspect being bred for. Its both the fun and frustrating part of breeding birds. They are always a challenge, no matter how long you've been in them.

 

[doubleatraining]

THOSE are NORMAL size Ameraucana eggs.... not that big one!

I can't comment on Splash egg color but I would think that is not BAD for a Splash but

BTW one of those pics looks like the BCM with the white ear is brown... I know that is not a good thing. Is she mossy looking in person?

That big one is from my black AM and those small ones....are either from my BBS BANTAM AM quad or a group of funky white bantams that I have that lay pretty blue eggs....but those smaller ones are bantam eggs.

These were their first few eggs ever and now they are on strike for the winter. UGH

I think that is how the evening light was catching her, she is solid black. Not a bit of copper anywhere on her. LOL She is black and shiny like the 2 AM....which I'm learning aren't AM....

 

[doubleatraining]

doubleatraiining,

I would not recommend breeding birds with white earlobes, I don't even mess with birds that have even the smallest amount. It breeds forward and is a bear to ever get rid of. So, I just choose not to go there.
If you breed your splash girls, (which I like better than the splash male) to a blue male if you have one, you should get at least a small percentage of them with blue legs. Now the hard part is to get blue legged birds with good body type and etc. It always seems like when working on something like leg color or etc, that the best birds will have opposite of what you want in that one aspect being bred for. Its both the fun and frustrating part of breeding birds. They are always a challenge, no matter how long you've been in them.

White ear lobes should NOT be in a breeding pen.

Blue Legs.... see Vicki

OK so on the off chance I get into BCM I'll leave her out of the pen. For the time being her eggs will be sold as blue chicks that lay dark brown eggs.(have to pay the feed bill somehow) and she is a known good broody so if she raises a few times a year she will earn her keep.

I don't have any other color marans at this point but it probably wouldn't be too hard to get a blue copper marans rooster. I will look into it while the ones in the brooder grow out. They are from another breeder so hopefully they will have some blue legs?? lol

 

[gilavina]

OK so on the off chance I get into BCM I'll leave her out of the pen. For the time being her eggs will be sold as blue chicks that lay dark brown eggs.(have to pay the feed bill somehow) and she is a known good broody so if she raises a few times a year she will earn her keep.

I don't have any other color marans at this point but it probably wouldn't be too hard to get a blue copper marans rooster. I will look into it while the ones in the brooder grow out. They are from another breeder so hopefully they will have some blue legs?? lol

You mean you have some splash in your brooder now? You should be able to look at the legs even now and see their leg color.

 

[doubleatraining]

You mean you have some splash in your brooder now? You should be able to look at the legs even now and see their leg color.

I have about 9 I think.....there are a LOT of babies in there and I loose track. LOL I know I banded some of the older ones today.....I think they have blue legs....or at least not white legs.

I thought leg colored changed with age........???

 

[gilavina]

I have about 9 I think.....there are a LOT of babies in there and I loose track. LOL I know I banded some of the older ones today.....I think they have blue legs....or at least not white legs.

I thought leg colored changed with age........???

they will, but you can usually tell a bit of a difference from the beginning between the white and blue, but then again, I've been raising blue, black, and splash birds for a really long time. I would give them a couple of weeks and see. You could always post some photos then too for us to peek at.

 

[doubleatraining]

they will, but you can usually tell a bit of a difference from the beginning between the white and blue, but then again, I've been raising blue, black, and splash birds for a really long time. I would give them a couple of weeks and see. You could always post some photos then too for us to peek at.

Well I have 3 that are teenagers and were moved into the pre-teen pen today. They have darker legs and more feathering than the birds I have. If one of those ends up being a rooster it would be better to retire the current copper splash rooster to a mixed pen right?

If I understand I should also avoid the copper and breed for solid splash??