Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote: Well darn....I've already learned something from you...the boy I chose has two different color feathers from his hackles and saddles.

Here's some pictures of another cockerel. The first pic may be the same one in picture #1 of my previous post. Hard to get a front shot of them and get them to stand properly when you're just chasing them around with a camera. Sure appreciate the input.


Is this guys color off?


Here's his back...


One of the pullets. She heard something in the Polish pen so she's in alert mode. But she's really pretty.

 

[Dirty Irons]

LOL, bummer. I'm in Knoxville and just let go of 2 Maran hens in trade for 4 Rocks

 

[math ace]

Well darn....I've already learned something from you...the boy I chose has two different color feathers from his hackles and saddles.

There are very few "perfect" birds out there, especially in this breed!

As long as the issues are not DQ issues, then you can still work with the bird. DQ's are DQ's because they breed forward at such an obnoxious rate...

OPEN EYES is what you need to have when selecting your breeders. You want to BALANCE the good and the evil. . . For instance, if a male has a short back, you want to pair him with a female with a long back. Then you will produce chicks with short, long, and just right backs.

If your hens are DARK, then you don't want to use an over melanized male with them.

BALANCE... The key is balance. Identify the faults in the males. Then identify what traits the females have that can help your males.

 

[math ace]

Here's some pictures of another cockerel. The first pic may be the same one in picture #1 of my previous post. Hard to get a front shot of them and get them to stand properly when you're just chasing them around with a camera. Sure appreciate the input.

As dark as this boy is, there should be no white on the tail feathers or at the base of the tail.
Check his undercoat, is it white?

Take some time and long at this boy closely. This is the male that I thought would be narrow at the backside. Looking at the space between his legs, I still think he is going to be narrow. Look at him from the top. You will be able to starts wide at the shoulders and narrows towards the tail.

I avoid the use of narrow males. These are suppose to be BIG birds. I don't want to decrease size in future generations, so I never use a narrow bird. I like WIDE BUTTS and it is tied in with wide backs and wide leg spacing. . . .

 

[math ace]

Is this guys color off?


Here's his back...


One of the pullets. She heard something in the Polish pen so she's in alert mode. But she's really pretty.

If two tone color is the only issue this boy has, I would use him because your girls are dark.
I still can not tell anything about his type because he is kind of squatting in the 1st photo.
In the 1st photo, he appears to have a roach back, a DQ. A roach back is when there is a hump in the back.
Most likely, he does not have the hump when he is standing naturally! Just check it out when you are hanging with the peeps.

In the second photo, he has a nice wide back from shoulders to tail. I don't see the white fluff at the base of the tail on this male.

Check and see what color his undercoat is. I started with a male with a white undercoat. All his sons had the white undercoat. I kept NONE of them.
I bred the male to his daughters and produced some grandsons with a dark undercoat. Based on my personal experience, you can improve the white undercoat issue through culling hard. It will take several generations to make it happen.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Lisa, I have been looking at this male and from the picture looks to have a wry tail going on for him. What do you think ?

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote: I've bred cocker spaniels and Quarter horses so I totally understand countering your male and females to improve their offspring. Since this will be the first go around with these birds, I have no idea who's going to do what. I have six boys to choose from so with everyone's help, maybe I'll have something to work with.

I guess it would help to post my girls too. Have have two mature Blue Copper Marans and three BCM's.

Quote: I believe those are the start of molting but I'll confirm. And he's walking down a hill so I hesitated to put this shot on but honestly, I'm not sure if he's actually as narrow as he looks. My husband works out of town so I have no one to set them for me. I'll see if I can get a true picture of him. I have two other really boxy, big boys that I can chose from. I'll try to get each bird, top, side, front and # them. Hard to keep track, there's so many of them!

Quote: Hmm, I'll look at the roach back. I see what you see in the pic but hadn't noticed it in the coop.

Quote:
Lisa, I have been looking at this male and from the picture looks to have a wry tail going on for him. What do you think ?
I noticed his tail to the side too but he was standing there eyeing me trying to take the picture, then leaned down to drink and I think the tail was in that position to move away from me, but I will certainly check that. Maybe I'll put each one in my wire cage, so I can keep them put to get pictures.

OK, so on the pullets, all these birds were born at the end of April, the copper just seems to be starting to come in. I remember one of my blues took quite awhile to come in. Should it be in by now?

OK, wow, you guys have given me so much to look at. I'm SO excited to return to the coop with the knowledge! I promise better and more organized pictures, pullets and hens included.....if I haven't out wore my welcome.

Thank you for all being SO generous with your knowledge.

 

[math ace]

Lisa, I have been looking at this male and from the picture looks to have a wry tail going on for him. What do you think ?

I went back to the original photo of this boy and the view of the tail is not clear here.

Based on the last photo posted of this boy, I would say HighNDry needs to check this boys tail out... There is something wrong going on - back, tail, or feet.
On the last photo, he was in the same position as the first photo. It is like his feet are at an angle, like he is squatting, BUT I am beginning to think he is actually standing that way....

 

[math ace]

HighNDry, a Wry tail is a DQ too. So, if you see that tail off to the side when he is in a natural position, you won't want to breed him either.

 

[Wynette]

Hi, sorry for jumping in when I've not been on this thread in so very long, and maybe this has been addressed already; but, it appears this male above has a roach back. Could that be contributing to the wry tail?