Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

eye color is a DQ too!

Oh what a shame and two of them at that . . . .

 

[snowbird]

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If you are referring to the young males, eye color does not mean much at this age.

 

[Beekercat]

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Hi Katherine!

Hatcheries have had Cuckoo's for some time but they have just recently acquired Black Coppers. I myself would be very leery of purchasing this breed of birds from a larger hatchery. MY OPINION HERE........I don't feel that larger commercial hatcheries may have the man power, dedication or time to devote to these birds and a pretty strict breeding program. So my opinion is that a person may get a lesser than quality bird and that some of the traits and characteristics that make this breed of bird special may could be lost in that shuffle. Anyway just MHO.

I have the same opinion as Pink on hatcheries starting to sell Black Coppers. As with most breeds you'll get better quality birds from a reputable breeder, the hatcheries seem to be more quantity over quality with their chickens.

Yes, I'm quoting you guys quoting me!

I don't mean to sound like a snob or anything since I am a MAJOR newbie to the chicken world and to Marans BUT I worry that by hatcheries offering "hatchery quality" stock to people while saying that they're Wade Jeane and Bev Davis lines is only going to dilute the quality of the Marans out there. I have a variety of "hatchery" birds and I love them, but I also have birds that I purchased from breeders. If I were going to focus on breeding, I would definitely use my highest quality birds ONLY. What's to stop someone without scruples from buying some chicks from MPC and then advertising their birds as "Wade Jeane/Bev Davis lines?" People who don't know better might get duped and that would only hurt the quality of Marans in general.

I hope I'm not speaking out of school here, but it's been gnawing at me.

 

[shelleyb1969]

The big question with hatchery BCMs is whether the hatchery actually has the breeding stock themselves or are they buying hatching eggs from a breeder. That could possibly, but not definitely, make a big difference in the quality of the chicks I would think.

If the hatchery owns their own breeders, then they could potentially start out with fairly decent stock but with time would "ruin" them by not breeding to any type of standard. That's just my two pennies folks.

 

[Cold Canadian]

Hi , new here and I am also looking at getting some B/C Marans and am getting confused by all the variations that seem to be popping up everywhere . Does anyone have a picture of what "" THEY '" should look like ? I want the best of what the bred can offer and would rather pay more and get this instead of buying and being disappointed by what I will be putting in so much time and money to get .I realize it is a fairly new breed and as such there will be enough interest that somewhere there will be those who will sell for the main reason of getting into the excitement of the sell .For those who like these birds for whatever reason and are happy with what they get , more power to you ! They do look great in the sun with there feathers almost glowing from the reflection off of the sun . If anyone does have a picture then please email it to me
Thanks

 

[onthespot]

Based only on the yellow legs, I would ask for my money back. Tough luck on getting roos, tough luck on the too much copper, and their eye color will most likely turn out okay over time. Yellow legs, it is NOT a marans. Period. Yellow is recessive, so any cross on yellow leg variety could conceiveably hide for generations in a flock, but it is an absolute deal breaker for me, yellow legs, NOT marans. I have hatched some very odd colored cockerels from my pen in the past, mostly from a roo with way too much copper on the breast. Your best bet is for... oh heck. I have three very nice young cockerels, a few weeks older than those. i was going to eat them. If you want them and can figure out how we get them to you, I will send them to you. Free. They are from very dark eggs, a few generations, that I have hatched here myself and you get very few white feather faults in this line, but the hens tend to be smallish, but they lay well, and the eggs are usually nice reddish chocolate colored, and their combs are nice, roos are people friendly. PM me is you want three very nice young cockerels. They are worth shipping if you want a good start in marans. Here is the daddy roo. No reason they shouldn't grow up to look sorta like him.

 

[Wynette]

I agree with shelleyb that IF it's true the hatchery has those lines, their stock might be good at first. However, it would not take very many generations of having them all mixed in, thrown in the same pen, before they'd begin to pull bad traits.

I also hatched some yellow legged chicks from a well known breeder who was getting top $ for her eggs at the time - the pics advertised looked to be very nice stock. What I ended up with was not. You have to do your research, and I should have asked for more pictures and asked more questions. I typically do ask a breeder what they are working on in their breed pen at the time I order eggs...that also tells me where they are in their breeding program. But, I didn't ask a lot of questions this time (it was a BYC-er and I just assumed her flock was established, but come to find out, she was just starting out). I got: yellow legs in one, a few solid blacks, a few super mossy, one with terribly bad fused toes, and one VERY nice keeper.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
If you are referring to the young males, eye color does not mean much at this age.

I've had black become orange, but those looked greenish - - - will greenish become orange too ? ? ?

When does eye color in males count - - at what age would I make that judgement call ? ? ?

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
If you are referring to the young males, eye color does not mean much at this age.

I've had black become orange, but those looked greenish - - - will greenish become orange too ? ? ?

When does eye color in males count - - at what age would I make that judgement call ? ? ?

The eye color would have to be correct if you were entering in a show, I would give a bird with real good type 9-12 months. I believe this is probably something that would be different for most everyone depending on what line you were working with and the amount of space available. I don't worry about eye color until I start mating up the birds and then I would cull anything with the wrong color eye. This coming year will only have single matings so I will be able to more closely watch what is producing what. I am into the breeding part to not need to breed anything with any white feathers. The white feathers and side sprigs are about the only thing that I will not breed in the future.

 

[Soaring Chicks]

sorry to but in here but I wanted to post pic of my first time layers eggs. Top row only they are from my Blue Marans hen I posted a pick of few pages back when someone asked to see other blues we all had. The very last one in that row is a Wheaton Marans egg. Her very first egg I got today. So what do ya'll think on the color The Wheaton one is dark when wet. It was raining when I got it this am.