Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ashandvine]

Yep, I hear you. I ran into trouble very early on, because I made a bad decision based on something I'd read. I think the very best you can do is do exactly what YOU are doing!!! Ask tons of questions, and do your research in other places to confirm what you learn. Most folks want to be helpful, and they don't mean to give incorrect information...also, there are tons of differing opinions, as well, as you're finding!

I WILL say that I see the most accurate (overall) information posted on the MCCUSA Yahoo forum. That is ALL breeders of Marans - all different varieties. They'd welcome you with open arms if you're not a member yet, Ash...they love to talk breeding practices!

I'll speak on the side of not selling and why I choose not to for now. I know some people have gotten upset, frustrated and have had some downright angry PMs sent to me over it. I have chosen to work on the stock I have here without the pressure of selling so I can solely work on improvements in the quality of the stock here. Its not personal towards anyone that I don't sell to them, I don't sell to anyone at this point. For me it is first and foremost about the birds and getting them to where they could be.

I hope you didn't feel I was complaining about anyone who isn't selling, let alone you.... although when you get it going I will be in line There is no way but your own grasshopper.

Mine is full and I have to almost be RUTHLESS about getting eggs out if not fertile. I will wait till day 14 on Marans though.

Yes you and Desert made good points here. I just wish I was a confident candler.

I'm still here... sigh

 

[gilavina]

I hope you didn't feel I was complaining about anyone who isn't selling, let alone you.... although when you get it going I will be in line There is no way but your own grasshopper.
Yes you and Desert made good points here. I just wish I was a confident candler.

I'm still here... sigh

No I didn't think you were singling me out. Its something that comes up a lot with people both on forums and at the shows and etc. Sure it can get old having to re-explain why over and over, but my main reason for posting is since it was brought up just thought to put out there that its not a personal thing, but is about the birds themselves. I don't like getting caught up in the, one person's line versus another person's line and drawing lines in the sand. I think we are all on a journey to figure out where we fit when it comes to working on the Marans and figure might as well work together and appreciate each other's differences in how they approach them than worry about them too much. As long as the birds are what are focused on, to me that's what matters, if that makes sense?

 

[Wynette]

No I didn't think you were singling me out. Its something that comes up a lot with people both on forums and at the shows and etc. Sure it can get old having to re-explain why over and over, but my main reason for posting is since it was brought up just thought to put out there that its not a personal thing, but is about the birds themselves. I don't like getting caught up in the, one person's line versus another person's line and drawing lines in the sand. I think we are all on a journey to figure out where we fit when it comes to working on the Marans and figure might as well work together and appreciate each other's differences in how they approach them than worry about them too much. As long as the birds are what are focused on, to me that's what matters, if that makes sense?

I DO wholeheartedly agree, but I also feel that it's important to get good birds out there. Mine are by no means perfect, and I let anyone know who orders from me that my flock should be considered in the project phase. Of course, I have to admit that I ALWAYS feel like they're in the project phase...not just my Marans, but the others that I breed as well. I tend to be overly critical of my own, I think. I recall last year thinking NO WAY would I show my Marans - they're not even close to being ready. Then, after going to several VERY large shows and seeing the birds out there, I realized that mine would have given them a run for their money! That's a good feeling, but it also makes me want to work all the harder to get them better & more consistent!!

 

[gilavina]

I DO wholeheartedly agree, but I also feel that it's important to get good birds out there. Mine are by no means perfect, and I let anyone know who orders from me that my flock should be considered in the project phase. Of course, I have to admit that I ALWAYS feel like they're in the project phase...not just my Marans, but the others that I breed as well. I tend to be overly critical of my own, I think. I recall last year thinking NO WAY would I show my Marans - they're not even close to being ready. Then, after going to several VERY large shows and seeing the birds out there, I realized that mine would have given them a run for their money! That's a good feeling, but it also makes me want to work all the harder to get them better & more consistent!!

I understand that, and I don't see anything wrong with your philosophy, I just know myself and what works for me. It doesn't mean one way is better than another, just that we each have to find what works for us and appreciating where other people are coming from rather than accusing first which is what I've been handed a lot for my decision to work on the birds before selling. For me, with everything else I'm involved in, and the different breeds I have, I don't think I could even imagine adding selling or dealing with NPIP stuff required too. I think my head would explode and I know I would not be able to put as much energy into the birds if I was also trying to keep more things straight. I'm hoping everything will slow down at some point and that there will come a time where I can tackle more. I've also recently made a decision to sell out of one of my breeds and thin down another further to make it possible to do more work, just hard to get it all done I suppose.

 

[Wynette]

Here are pics of my maran roo at a month and a half.



Does he have to much coloring, or can you not tell 'till they molt for the first time?

Hi there...he does have quite a bit of coloring...they typically do tend to by overly colored by maturation if they are showing this much by now, but I have also recently been told that some of the more "original" lines seem mossy like this until their very last molt. So...I guess the answer is...it's likely, but not guaranteed, that he'll have too much color.

 

[Wynette]

I understand that, and I don't see anything wrong with your philosophy, I just know myself and what works for me. It doesn't mean one way is better than another, just that we each have to find what works for us and appreciating where other people are coming from rather than accusing first which is what I've been handed a lot for my decision to work on the birds before selling. For me, with everything else I'm involved in, and the different breeds I have, I don't think I could even imagine adding selling or dealing with NPIP stuff required too. I think my head would explode and I know I would not be able to put as much energy into the birds if I was also trying to keep more things straight. I'm hoping everything will slow down at some point and that there will come a time where I can tackle more. I've also recently made a decision to sell out of one of my breeds and thin down another further to make it possible to do more work, just hard to get it all done I suppose.

Of course!! I DO hope you decide to sell stock or hatching eggs at some point, as I know you've worked really, really hard on what you have, have a fantastic eye, and know how to breed. I guess I am left wondering...who did you get YOUR birds from? Someone willing to share, or not? Please don't get me wrong - I applaud your philosophy, really, I do. Just something to think about. I do think it's pretty crappy that folks would get upset or even angry that you're not selling, I mean holy cow - you explain why, I'm sure. Anyone not respecting that would not be the right one for good stock, anyhow! It's quite a personal decision.

 

[gilavina]

Of course!! I DO hope you decide to sell stock or hatching eggs at some point, as I know you've worked really, really hard on what you have, have a fantastic eye, and know how to breed. I guess I am left wondering...who did you get YOUR birds from? Someone willing to share, or not? Please don't get me wrong - I applaud your philosophy, really, I do. Just something to think about. I do think it's pretty crappy that folks would get upset or even angry that you're not selling, I mean holy cow - you explain why, I'm sure. Anyone not respecting that would not be the right one for good stock, anyhow! It's quite a personal decision.

Honestly, when I was still living in Minnesota and knew I was going to be coming back to NE to help out my mom with my dad, I started looking online at poultry and seeing what I would be interested in. I'd been around birds my whole life and was still looking for that special breed that I would just adore, and when I started reading about the Marans, something just clicked, I knew they were for me.
After I had moved back, I very quickly found out that there really wasn't anyone around here that had them, most people looked at me like I had 2 heads when I asked if they knew of anyone with them. How I got my first birds was a total fluke, at a sale in KS, I found some and brought them home. No idea who's they were, and realized quickly that I wanted better quality so started ordering hatching eggs based on the stock photos people showed through places like ebay and other auction sites. Some were ok, some were pretty goodish, and then there were ones I raised and realized very early on that they wouldn't work. I spent a straight two years ordering hatching eggs, raising up only the best and thinning down even farther and after test mating them against their own hatch mates and watching what came as a result would make another round of culling if anything popped up, and then started working on merging the different sources for stock. Most of the sellers I've ordered from I don't see on ebay or the other sites at all now and don't know most of the people's names either, just seller names if the history on ebay goes back that far. I do have two offspring birds remaining from the birds I got out of Helen Byers's eggs, but other that most of what you see, is from working with what I would honestly call ok, decent birds. Not really anything different than what most people probably have started with. oh, I also got three birds from Anna who used to come on here, and she didn't know where she got them from, so still have the test mating to do on them. I do think the years of breeding other stock have helped me tho to make advancements quickly because I can cull earlier and have a way of looking at two birds and being able to roughly get an idea of what that pairing might produce. I really do want more consistency in the birds here, but where I'm still working on merging birds from different places, I'm working on them a step at a time and doing pretty well. The biggest thing this year will be dealing with egg color loss that comes from crossing lines. Its going pretty well tho overall, I especially am pleased with the blue coppers as I've never ordered any, but instead made my own from the blacks and splash coppers.

 

[Wynette]

Interesting, thanks for sharing your story of how you got interested in Marans. I love that are able to get a good sense of what the offspring will be when you put two birds together. Along the lines of losing egg color in crossing lines - I had an interesting thing happen this year. I am on my 4th generation from one of my very original Marans of 6 years ago; the offspring began to lay in late fall last year, and I'll be darned if the egg color wasn't even darker than the parent stock! Have you ever noticed that happening? I even PMd Don about it, I think, to ask if he'd noticed it, but he hadn't. In fact, I began entering Marans egg contests just for fun, and have won a few along the way. Most defintely, the eggs aren't as dark as they could be, but it tickles me to see that it's getting better, all "on its own."

 

[gilavina]

Interesting, thanks for sharing your story of how you got interested in Marans. I love that are able to get a good sense of what the offspring will be when you put two birds together. Along the lines of losing egg color in crossing lines - I had an interesting thing happen this year. I am on my 4th generation from one of my very original Marans of 6 years ago; the offspring began to lay in late fall last year, and I'll be darned if the egg color wasn't even darker than the parent stock! Have you ever noticed that happening? I even PMd Don about it, I think, to ask if he'd noticed it, but he hadn't. In fact, I began entering Marans egg contests just for fun, and have won a few along the way. Most defintely, the eggs aren't as dark as they could be, but it tickles me to see that it's getting better, all "on its own."

The only birds that I've seen that with, is in the blue coppers here, but only being two generations in (this will be my third generation I'm hatching this year) we'll see what happens when the pullets from this year's hatch starts laying. The pullets from the blue copper hens from the first generation were a good improvement, much more than what I've seen from the black coppers so far.

 

[desertmarcy]

I DO wholeheartedly agree, but I also feel that it's important to get good birds out there. Mine are by no means perfect, and I let anyone know who orders from me that my flock should be considered in the project phase. Of course, I have to admit that I ALWAYS feel like they're in the project phase...not just my Marans, but the others that I breed as well. I tend to be overly critical of my own, I think. I recall last year thinking NO WAY would I show my Marans - they're not even close to being ready. Then, after going to several VERY large shows and seeing the birds out there, I realized that mine would have given them a run for their money! That's a good feeling, but it also makes me want to work all the harder to get them better & more consistent!!

A friend of mine who shows quite a bit told me there were a lot of Marans at the Newman, Georgia show recently. I thought he said 400...can that be right? Anyway, his comment to me was that the type and color of the birds shown were all over the place and he felt that a lot of the birds did not look like they were kept as show birds, more like they were just in someone's back yard flock that they grabbed and took to the show. I thought that was interesting. When I took mine to the show here last fall, my cockerel was the only Marans shown, and there were none at the smaller Safford, AZ show in Jan.