Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Now if I can make as much progress on the birchens this next year, I'll be doing really well. Been going from pen to pen and writing down my keepers and what matings I'll tackle first and think I'm in a good place.

 

[Ray from PA]

Well, got some photos today, its overcast, so they don't have the best lighting, but still got some decent ones.
I have three silver Marans pullets and all three laid this morning. Here's the egg color Lynette. They need work, but that's what I love to do!




I also got some more shots at different angles of those girls I posted the other day Don. Excuse the white feathers everywhere, some of my Sussex hens are still molting. grrr







this hen's tail set is the one on the right of course. Love her street sweepers. Randy inspired me to get the tail shots. Still have some work to do, but they are coming along I think.




blue's tail from a different shot




That black girl you really liked Don, from a front angle. Just those eyes are what I would change, nothing else. I'll be working on it this next spring




one of the youngsters




ok, just for fun. One of my favorite birds to watch. She's a blue birchen marans crossed onto a light sussex offspring. Talk about a beauty. She will make a lovely addition to the layer flock. Just 3 to 3 1/2 months old and very built




Just had to throw this shot in there, some of the birds working their way up the little hill to see me.




All the birds still need fine tuned, but overall I am happy with what I'm seeing breeding forward and less inconsistency from them overall.

Thanks for posting your hen's photos,,,, novice here,,,but really like your birds, and it's nice to see the different angles to see how they look all around,,,,, either your girls are fond of having their photos taken or you're very patient,,,, nice photos,,,, thanks again.... love their body types,,,, good luck with your line

 

[gilavina]

Thanks for posting your hen's photos,,,, novice here,,,but really like your birds, and it's nice to see the different angles to see how they look all around,,,,, either your girls are fond of having their photos taken or you're very patient,,,, nice photos,,,, thanks again.... love their body types,,,, good luck with your line

Thanks, I appreciate it! My birds are pretty used to me in general as I handle them from the day they are born and spend as much time out with them as I can and they follow me all over the place. So being out with a camera, they don't care at all. They probably just think I'm nuts and take pity on me. Really tho, it only took me about 5 minutes to get all those photos just wandering around the place. I'm gonna be working more on the finer details this next spring, like the coppering on the neck, eye color, depth of egg color, shape of egg, etc. Hoping for the best!

 

[Ullie]

Hmmm....fuzzy tufts to me would make me question whether they are purebred or not. Can you provide pics? I breed "olive eggers" that look very much like Black Copper Marans, down to the shank feathering, but they have peacombs (the ones I keep) and tufts like you describe.

Their combs turn bright red when they are in lay - so, it sounds like you have one laying and one hasn't started yet.

The glossiness to the eggs is simply heredity, unfortunately! I WISH it was food related!

Wynette, thank you for your reply and info.

yes fuzzy tufts, if they had cheeks that's where they'd be. I only have my phone camera right now and it doesn't do so well on the close up photos, I will try though.

When I bought the chickens there where quite a few for sale. I said I was not interested in breeding stock but just wanted some dark brown eggs and it didn't matter which of his chickens as they all looked great and were very well taken care of. He even wormed mine (just in case) before I picked them up.
I am very pleased with them, all very healthy.

I was told they where Black & Blue Copper Marans, maybe they weren't going to be used in his breeding program.
Either way, I am enjoying them a lot and am now finding myself interested in learning and discovering more about this breed.

I like that they are a friendly breed I only wish I was a little more confident in picking them up and checking them over

Thanks again

 

[Debbi]

Vicki ~ Sorry our conversation got cut short, my internet took a dive and wouldn't let me back on FB for some reason. Talk to you later!

 

[gilavina]

Vicki ~ Sorry our conversation got cut short, my internet took a dive and wouldn't let me back on FB for some reason. Talk to you later!

no worries lady! i'm working on jotting down my breeding pen line ups for this next spring

 

[gilavina]

sure been quiet today, maybe I've picked up the skill of killing a thread. haha
Hope you are having a better day Lisa

 

[Connie Marie]

Hi All, What do you all think of this guy? I know he has some DQ's: his comb has too many points, his tail is high, and he has a few tufts of feathers between his middle toe BUT he does NOT have white under fluff (which I have refused to use a roo in my program that does)! I am hoping he would help bring some color to my over melanized girls? He has nice slate legs (md.), good shank feathering, a broad chest and in general is HUGE! His comb does not have sprigs and it is straight. Good eye color, and I like his body type. He came from a very dark egg. His hackle feathers are not as bright as they appear in the photos. The final few photos are of my new Cottage Hill babies (just for fun

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

Connie Marie- where did you get your COttagr Hill birds? I got a trio recently and really really like them even though they are going to be work in progress.

 

[Connie Marie]

Connie Marie- where did you get your COttagr Hill birds? I got a trio recently and really really like them even though they are going to be work in progress.

I got them from Heaven Sent Ranch. I agree about a work in progress but I love their young body types and the cockerels have excellent medium to dark slate legs and nice shank/toe feathering. We will see

I am hoping for no white under fluff although I hear that is not likely with this line???