Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Zanna]

Thank you so much. The pictures are really helpful. These are hopefully females. They are black copper marans. So when you say too dark do you mean not enough copper and too much white will give you too much copper?

That has been mostly the case in my breedings over several years. They can surprise you though........

You are correct in your interpretation of what I wrote

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

The darkest eggs my newest generation of BCM are laying have a matte finish. The others are a glossy and more redish looking. Aside from shade, I am thinking the glossy finish is preferred over the matte, does anyone know for sure?

I'm no expert, but I recall the gloss being more desireable. One of my blue coppers lays a consistently matte finish HUGE egg that hatch HUGE chicks and she lays 6 of them a week. She's got her problems (no copper and a splashy blue mix of feathering, light and dark) but she's surely a layer. The darkest eggs from my blues come from a similarly marked hen from DMRippy's stock. Also 6/week and a high gloss egg. They do seem to be consistent in that a matte layer has yet to lay a gloss egg and vice versa. The BCM are all glossy eggs.

 

[Zanna]

I'm no expert, but I recall the gloss being more desireable. One of my blue coppers lays a consistently matte finish HUGE egg that hatch HUGE chicks and she lays 6 of them a week. She's got her problems (no copper and a splashy blue mix of feathering, light and dark) but she's surely a layer. The darkest eggs from my blues come from a similarly marked hen from DMRippy's stock. Also 6/week and a high gloss egg. They do seem to be consistent in that a matte layer has yet to lay a gloss egg and vice versa. The BCM are all glossy eggs.

A knowledgeable person on another forum answered my question. All Marans eggs are preferred to have the glossy finish. That was my recollection as well but could not remember for sure. It is now in my notes book! Thanks!

 

[Searsmom]

So, an opinion. How do these chicks look? I'm not a professional by any means, but I thought if we had a good one, I'd let my daughter show it.






They have too much white don't they, they also have some brown-ish color at the edge of the white, is that something to avoid? You can't quite see it here, but one of them looks dark blue.

 

[Wynette]

The darkest eggs my newest generation of BCM are laying have a matte finish. The others are a glossy and more redish looking. Aside from shade, I am thinking the glossy finish is preferred over the matte, does anyone know for sure?

Someone may have already answered...if so, sorry! But indeed, the glossy (satin) finish is preferred, as is a more round shape (spherical). Some of my darkest layers in past years have been the matte finish eggs, though, so I do keep them in the breeder pen if they're dark enough - see that one on the right below?



Here's one from another hen:

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I had a girl last spring that laid a nice dark very round and glossy egg. It would slip out of my hand more than i care to admit too. I must have sold her or the egg changed to not as glossy. I hatched a bunch of her eggs too.... hum.... I lost it I guess. It is something I will breed for but right now I have bigger issues to work on LOL. Egg color is good and type is getting there. Still need a Nice roo with a WIDE TAIL to fix the pinched tails. Hubby will not let me get out of Marans..... he says you worked too hard and have come too far to quit now LOL. He said if you sold them the next year you worked with them would have been a great year and you would have missed it..... I guess I will keep them. Not many around here have the blue copper so that may be more of my focus. I have 6 blue hens and 2 blacks right now so looks like that is my new direction without changing horses in mid stream.

 

[Zanna]

I had a girl last spring that laid a nice dark very round and glossy egg. It would slip out of my hand more than i care to admit too. I must have sold her or the egg changed to not as glossy. I hatched a bunch of her eggs too.... hum.... I lost it I guess. It is something I will breed for but right now I have bigger issues to work on LOL. Egg color is good and type is getting there. Still need a Nice roo with a WIDE TAIL to fix the pinched tails. Hubby will not let me get out of Marans..... he says you worked too hard and have come too far to quit now LOL. He said if you sold them the next year you worked with them would have been a great year and you would have missed it..... I guess I will keep them. Not many around here have the blue copper so that may be more of my focus. I have 6 blue hens and 2 blacks right now so looks like that is my new direction without changing horses in mid stream.

You may still have her. I have hen in one of my breeder pens right now who laid a lovely spherical dark glossy egg last year as a pullet. This year after her molting break her egg is darker but matte and more oblong shaped. I wonder if age/health/nutrition can effect the colour/shape of the eggs? Have heard that they tend to lay a more oblong egg if they are too fat.

Thanks for the clarification and pic's Wynette. Someone had answered my question on another forum but it is always helpfull to see pics! Knew the answer at one time but had forgotten!

 

[ladycat]

anyone on here breed black tail buff?

I have some but not great quality, they need a lot of work. There is a breeder here at BYC with gorgeous BTB but the waiting list is a mile long. I'm still waiting to even get on the waiting list.

 

[SalinasChicken]

Hello everyone! I have a question for all you experienced Marans folks. I just hatched my second batch of Marans this year from my own flock of BBS Coppers. Out of 30 chicks hatched so far, today one hatched with a copper spot on it's head. Anyone ever seen anything like this? There's no way it's mixed with anything, my breeders are kept separate from the rest of the flock and they've been separated since January. Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[DMRippy]

Hello everyone! I have a question for all you experienced Marans folks. I just hatched my second batch of Marans this year from my own flock of BBS Coppers. Out of 30 chicks hatched so far, today one hatched with a copper spot on it's head. Anyone ever seen anything like this? There's no way it's mixed with anything, my breeders are kept separate from the rest of the flock and they've been separated since January. Thanks in advance for any replies

It pops up every once in awhile. Not gender related either. just watch it and see how it fills out.... looks like a pullet to me though.