Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[KF0002]

Those are so pretty! Cant wait for my first Marans egg.

 

[Zanna]

Heloo maran experts! I have a question...

My cockerel is a beautiful cuckoo maran, I hatched him from a dark olive coloured egg last summer. This is him a couple of months ago:




I have bred him with my black copper maran who lays beautiful dark brown eggs. Firstly, will the offspring lay olive or brown eggs? and secondly, will I be able to sex them at hatch, or later by colour?

The reason that im asking is that I have read a few posts onhere that seem to indicate a sex linked trait with this combination.

Pea combs are linked with the blue gene. Because this cockeral has a single comb, the chance he will produce olive eggers is very slim even though he is an olive egger by breeding. He will produce brown egg laying offspring. Sorry if this has been answered already, I am way behind on reading this thread.

 

[Deej211]

Heloo maran experts! I have a question... My cockerel is a beautiful cuckoo maran, I hatched him from a dark olive coloured egg last summer. This is him a couple of months ago: I have bred him with my black copper maran who lays beautiful dark brown eggs. Firstly, will the offspring lay olive or brown eggs? and secondly, will I be able to sex them at hatch, or later by colour? The reason that im asking is that I have read a few posts onhere that seem to indicate a sex linked trait with this combination.

depending on whether hes a double dose cuckoo or single. If both of his parents were barred then all of this guys daughters will be barred. As females get their colour from their father and boys from their mother. So girls would be barred and boys solid split for barred. But if only 1 of his parents were barred then he will be single dose and only some of his daughters will be barred. Also. Pea comb is an indicator of blue egg gene but not neccesarily on all chickens carrying it. Cream crested legbar roosters for example have a straight comb. Your boy could well be carrying the gene for blue. Olive isn't an actual gene but different levels of both blue and dark brown. He could well be carrying both. The only way to know for sure though is to test mate and grow out the babies and see what colour they lay. Good luck! I am on a similar path with cuckoo araucanas and marans.

 

[KirstieJG]

depending on whether hes a double dose cuckoo or single. If both of his parents were barred then all of this guys daughters will be barred. As females get their colour from their father and boys from their mother. So girls would be barred and boys solid split for barred. But if only 1 of his parents were barred then he will be single dose and only some of his daughters will be barred. Also. Pea comb is an indicator of blue egg gene but not neccesarily on all chickens carrying it. Cream crested legbar roosters for example have a straight comb. Your boy could well be carrying the gene for blue. Olive isn't an actual gene but different levels of both blue and dark brown. He could well be carrying both. The only way to know for sure though is to test mate and grow out the babies and see what colour they lay. Good luck! I am on a similar path with cuckoo araucanas and marans.

Fantastic thank you. I have had four chicks hatch from this combination of which three are dark and one yellow!

 

[chicken pickin]

depending on whether hes a double dose cuckoo or single. If both of his parents were barred then all of this guys daughters will be barred. As females get their colour from their father and boys from their mother. So girls would be barred and boys solid split for barred. But if only 1 of his parents were barred then he will be single dose and only some of his daughters will be barred. Also. Pea comb is an indicator of blue egg gene but not neccesarily on all chickens carrying it. Cream crested legbar roosters for example have a straight comb. Your boy could well be carrying the gene for blue. Olive isn't an actual gene but different levels of both blue and dark brown. He could well be carrying both. The only way to know for sure though is to test mate and grow out the babies and see what colour they lay. Good luck! I am on a similar path with cuckoo araucanas and marans.

This is incorrect. Males can pass their barring to both male and female offspring. If he is double barred he would pass a single barring gene to all offspring. If he was single barred he would pass the barring gene to only some of his offspring male or female alike.

Using the barring gene to sex, the barred parent needs to be the female(the male parent solid). The barred female will pass a barring gene to all her sons only.

 

[Deej211]

This is incorrect. Males can pass their barring to both male and female offspring. If he is double barred he would pass a single barring gene to all offspring. If he was single barred he would pass the barring gene to only some of his offspring male or female alike.

Using the barring gene to sex, the barred parent needs to be the female(the male parent solid). The barred female will pass a barring gene to all her sons only.

yes barred roo over solid hen. Thats right. Lol. My bad.

 

[dolfi]

Hey everyone.
Does marans need more humidity than others to hatch?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Hey everyone.
Does marans need more humidity than others to hatch?

I've always heard to incubate them at a lower humidity. I keep mine about 25-30% average until lockdown then I boost it up to 60-65%

 

[forgetful]

They need much much less. I live in a humid environment and keep my incubator completely dry until day 18. I then make the humidity 60%. The darker your eggs the drier the incubator needs to be

 

[dolfi]

They need much much less. I live in a humid environment and keep my incubator completely dry until day 18. I then make the humidity 60%. The darker your eggs the drier the incubator needs to be

Lol , I thought it was the opposite. Luckily I had some of my mixed eggs in there. Lock down 2 days ago and they are hatching nicely.
What's the difference between feathers legs and not. I'm getting both. I really don't mind, I just want colorful eggs when collecting. Yet it's good to know.