Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Kim, I brought up that question and the blue male stated there was too much rain out your way.

 

[pinkchick]

I was told to post these over here and see if you Maran folks can help. We bought 4 what were suppose to be Australorp babies but they look like they are turning out to be something different. They are 14 weeks old. Could they possibly be a Australorp / Maran mix? 3 of them have more mahogany than the one.

The second male photo'd looks like a Australorp....but the rest of males look like they could be mixed breeds. Have you contacted the seller to see if they are a mix of breeds?

 

[pinkchick]

Donna~ Congrats on your Birchens....and TOOOO cool about the Blues!!!!! YAY!

 

[pinkchick]

Aloha e Jack,

So would that be a cross between a Bb and Bb producing BB, Bb, Bb and bb?  The bb being the splash? and the BB being a black? 

mahalo, puhi

Can you explain the "Bb" and the "bb" to me? I do not understand.

Blue is Bl/bl+ Splash is Bl/Bl Black is bl+/bl+

Splash birds cannot be made out of black birds. 2 blue birds or 1 blue bird and 1 splash bird are needed to make splash.

2 blue birds mated will produce all three colors of chicks, black, blue and splash.


Black x Black = 100% Black offspring.
Black x Blue = 50% Black and 50% Blue.
Blue x Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Black and 25% Splash
Blue x Splash = 50% Blue and 50% Splash
Splash x Splash = 100% Splash

Blue is a diluting gene and dilutes black. 1 copy of the incomplete dominant blue gene will dilute the black on a bird to blue. 2 copies of the blue gene will dilute the blue even further to the white-ish blue-ish feather color that we see on Splash birds. Blue is also a leaky gene and will allow leakage of some random darker blue feathers on a blue bird and will also allow secondary color patterns to express, it can also lighten the secondary color pattern a bit, but not always. With Splash, the leaking is seen with the random darker and lighter blue feathers throughout the body, if a secondary pattern gene is also present (such as Birchen or Crow-wing) then you will also see the copper. However, on a Splash bird the copper does not take on the same appearance or pattern as it does on a Blue Copper or a Black Copper, on a Splash the copper can come through looking not complete.

 

[pinkchick]

Chickee~
I almost have the list ready for you. I am having some problems with BYC or my computer, I get logged off BYC after every post, wierd. It's getting old I tell ya.

 

[chickee]

Chickee~
I almost have the list ready for you. I am having some problems with BYC or my computer, I get logged off BYC after every post, wierd. It's getting old I tell ya.

Oh boy!

 

[YeargsChicks]

The second male photo'd looks like a Australorp....but the rest of males look like they could be mixed breeds.
Have you contacted the seller to see if they are a mix of breeds?

The seller sold them to us as all 4 being Australorps along with 4 EE's and 3 Black Cochin Bantams. Said they were all girls too. Out of the 11 we have 2 girls! What a lesson we learned being new to chickens. Now we are attached to a bunch of friendly roosters. Couldn't wait to get pretty eggs, unfortunately Roosters don't lay eggs. Thanks for responding.

 

[anperrin]

I'm new to the chicken world, have no interest in breeding or showing just want eggs for the kids in a variety of colors so I got these French black Copper Marans both are supposed to be pullets. They are about 2 months old now but I now see some big differences in them. One has lots of copper while the other is almost solid black. Is this normal or could I have one male and one female? Any help would be appreciated

 

[rebschix]

that's so precious! I hatched out 11 of those cuties on the 20th of May!

 

[LeMec]

I am hoping someone can help me a little. I bought some copper marans chicks from a lady here my area. I am new to raising chickens and after doing some reading decided I wanted marans. I ended up with three copper and a blue. They just started laying about two weeks ago. However the eggs are not the chocolate color I was expecting. They are a more light olive color. Is this normal when they start laying. Will the color change as they lay more or did I end up with a mix breed?