Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ladycat]

My coppers have a beautiful beetle green sheen. I was admiring them today and noticing that

 

[Kaylish]

This has been covered many times on the BCM thread but I understand the huge number of posts to wade through. Essentially, consensus is that beetle green is good and purple is undesirable as it seems directly linked with overmelanization. That's the short story.

Thank you very much! I am trying to read thru the threads but there is SOOO much information here.

 

[Runawaylobster]

This has been covered many times on the BCM thread but I understand the huge number of posts to wade through. Essentially, consensus is that beetle green is good and purple is undesirable as it seems directly linked with overmelanization. That's the short story.

at the beginning i bought 10 black copper chicks, some of them grew out all black with purple sheen, and some of them grew out looking like BCM with green sheen. Most were roos anyway so i culled them all . I kinda wish i hadn't now because it does make me wonder if something could be done with them to remove the wheaten halo and they are interesting anyway. I wonder if these were E based birds and if so, is the purple sheen a sign of it. (see below).

http://maransofamericaclub.com/blackcoppergenetics.php

excerpt:
The present Brown-red color instability explains the frequent appearance of nearly or even totally black pullets. These latter, genetically remain Brown-Reds, and under no circumstances are they to be considered a true Black. This mistake must be avoided and these two varieties mustn't be mixed in the breeding pen.
These quite black pullets (we should rather speak of melanised Brown-Red pullets) can in no way be presented in the show as a real Black variety and it would be a swindle to sell them as such. Due to past crossing of Black, E, birds and Brown Red, ER, birds the E allele can be isolated in some Red-Brown lines. This is one reason for the overly melanised birds.
However, some of these ‘too’ black pullets can be useful to correct ‘light’ birds but only if the are known to be ER based, and egg color is very good. The regular use of very well colored cocks corrects the excess black in some hens, which are sometimes totally black.
This phenomenon is the same for the eye color. The regular use of very well colored cocks whose eyes are orange-red allows improvement in some situations that seem insurmountable (i.e. hens with dark brown or black eyes).
The choice of the cock is of the highest importance in order to improve this Marans variety, the stress must be made with equal stress on plumage and the quality of the egg color, the ideal selection consists in using 100% of true color hens (with good coppery hackle), and not selecting the blacks except in cases of emergency in order to preserve the precious extra reddish-brown egg.
In the same line of birds, it is often easier to control the excess black in the cocks, than in the hens. Generally, the cocks have feet, eyes and plumage (including the ear tufts) less darkly colored than hens of the same breeding. That's why the standard accepts the darker shank and feet of the hens. The orange-eyes are notably essential. Today, very few hens have reddish-brown or black eyes.

 

[Kaylish]

at the beginning i bought 10 black copper chicks, some of them grew out all black with purple sheen, and some of them grew out looking like BCM with green sheen. Most were roos anyway so i culled them all . I kinda wish i hadn't now because it does make me wonder if something could be done with them to remove the wheaten halo and they are interesting anyway. I wonder if these were E based birds and if so, is the purple sheen a sign of it. (see below).

http://maransofamericaclub.com/blackcoppergenetics.php

excerpt:
The present Brown-red color instability explains the frequent appearance of nearly or even totally black pullets. These latter, genetically remain Brown-Reds, and under no circumstances are they to be considered a true Black. This mistake must be avoided and these two varieties mustn't be mixed in the breeding pen.
These quite black pullets (we should rather speak of melanised Brown-Red pullets) can in no way be presented in the show as a real Black variety and it would be a swindle to sell them as such. Due to past crossing of Black, E, birds and Brown Red, ER, birds the E allele can be isolated in some Red-Brown lines. This is one reason for the overly melanised birds.
However, some of these ‘too’ black pullets can be useful to correct ‘light’ birds but only if the are known to be ER based, and egg color is very good. The regular use of very well colored cocks corrects the excess black in some hens, which are sometimes totally black.
This phenomenon is the same for the eye color. The regular use of very well colored cocks whose eyes are orange-red allows improvement in some situations that seem insurmountable (i.e. hens with dark brown or black eyes).
The choice of the cock is of the highest importance in order to improve this Marans variety, the stress must be made with equal stress on plumage and the quality of the egg color, the ideal selection consists in using 100% of true color hens (with good coppery hackle), and not selecting the blacks except in cases of emergency in order to preserve the precious extra reddish-brown egg.
In the same line of birds, it is often easier to control the excess black in the cocks, than in the hens. Generally, the cocks have feet, eyes and plumage (including the ear tufts) less darkly colored than hens of the same breeding. That's why the standard accepts the darker shank and feet of the hens. The orange-eyes are notably essential. Today, very few hens have reddish-brown or black eyes.

I'm just getting started but am trying to notice the differences early on and see how they grow out.

 

[jtbass2756]

I have four grown brown layers, probably 4 EE (about 11 weeks, and maybe....maybe 4 BCM. I would hope to think that I will get true colored eggs....Not in it for the breeding so I will just be satisfied with the eggs. BUT.....will never do the "chick" thing again. Will get the young pullets so that I know what I get is what I want! Now I will have to find homes for the cockrels. I have a Mr Sizzle but he was a gift to my DH. (he hates chickens!) so it was somewhat of a joke. But I've come to love him...so he stays. He free ranges...ladies don't. They stay in a run. No little chicks!!! !

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I have four grown brown layers, probably 4 EE (about 11 weeks, and maybe....maybe 4 BCM. I would hope to think that I will get true colored eggs....Not in it for the breeding so I will just be satisfied with the eggs. BUT.....will never do the "chick" thing again. Will get the young pullets so that I know what I get is what I want! Now I will have to find homes for the cockrels. I have a Mr Sizzle but he was a gift to my DH. (he hates chickens!) so it was somewhat of a joke. But I've come to love him...so he stays. He free ranges...ladies don't. They stay in a run. No little chicks!!! !

Mr. Sizzle is a lucky one.

 

[ladycat]

White Marans hatching.

 

[ladycat]

Oh my goodness, surprise color in some chicks.

I put my Blue Tailed Buff rooster with the weird genetics with my only Cuckoo hen. Since I had no female for him or male for her, I just stuck them together.

I put several of their eggs in an incubator, which hatched yesterday. I just pulled all the chicks out of the hatcher that hatched yesterday, and several of those cuckoo eggs hatched. A couple of the chicks are blue, but there are also a couple of chocolate ones! Of course they might not stay that color, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

I'll take pics later. I hope the color will show up in the pics.

 

[BCMaraniac]

White Marans hatching.

 

[tbmorgan]

Ok, a few pages back, I posted pics of my chipmunk chicks that came out of a (supposedly) pure BCM pen from (supposedly) Davis line chickens. I hatched them out myself from hatching eggs I bought from a local man, so I did see that they hatched out of very dark (I would say 7) eggs. I also got some eggs that were a little bit lighter, out of which I got a little blue roo, whom I also posted a pic of on here. Now that everyone's really pretty much feathered in, I want to post pics of a couple more anomalies. I am REALLY starting to wonder about these chicks! There are an awful lot of (to me) strange things going on, color-wise, in these supposedly purebred Marans! For instance, this little girl, whom I jokingly call a Creamsicle Marans! She's got one toe feather on each foot, and that's it. She is THE SWEETEST baby, but what the heck is she??






I have another odd-colored chick that I'll take pics of and post after dinner. I love my babies...they are truly the best-natured little critters...but I am really pretty confused about them. I am new to Marans, but I've been doing my homework (including reading my way through this enormous thread!) and I have no idea what to think about the colors I'm getting here. By the way, I'll post updated pics of the chipmunk kids again in a little while.