Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Quote:
This is what they call Mossy and is a major Fault.

Snowbird,

I have a mossy Blue Copper marans. What is the best hope of fixing the coloring when I mate it - - - What kind of coloring do I what to have in my roo for the next generation to turn out better ? ? ?

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
This is what they call Mossy and is a major Fault.

Snowbird,

I have a mossy Blue Copper marans. What is the best hope of fixing the coloring when I mate it - - - What kind of coloring do I what to have in my roo for the next generation to turn out better ? ? ?

To be honest I always cull the Mossy if I get one. I believe if I had her and just had to try a batch of eggs from her I would use a Splash male. Maybe David Hancox will see your post and will comment.

 

[crj]

My boys were very sweet. They were quite goofy too. I only have 1 roo now.

My girls are sweet but also goofy. I don't know why all of a sudden they feel the need to either share or compete.

I handled all my marans and they have been the sweetest bird. I put 8 week old hens in with 2 hens and a rooster and never had a problem. I'm handling the new hens as well. They are BCM and BM. I Love the blue color, very cool looking.

What does a "true" French Copper Maran look like? Rooster and hen. My hens have a green tint to them. You see it in the sunlight.

 

[Hennypen]

Quote:
This is what they call Mossy and is a major Fault.

At least I know what 1/2 of it is. I think this is a bcm x jersey giant. It has one bright copper laced hackle feather (so far) I'm just trying to figure out what the mix is. It was sent by mistake. Sweeeet bird, hope it's a pullet.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
At least I know what 1/2 of it is. I think this is a bcm x jersey giant. It has one bright copper laced hackle feather (so far) I'm just trying to figure out what the mix is. It was sent by mistake. Sweeeet bird, hope it's a pullet.

How about a pic of the whole bird, Hennypen?

Other breeds can be mossy, too...not just the BCM.

 

[geebs]

Hennypen wrote:
Do BCM have any lacing in the back feathers like this?

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad198/HorseFeathersFarm/IMG_4948.jpg

This is what they call Mossy and is a major Fault. snowbird's quote

Just a sidenote: If the birds are young it is likely this amount of mossy will dissappear at maturity. I do not cull as quickly as some. I like to wait till the birds are mature if everything else is worthwhile it may be a benefit to wait until first molt to make a decision on this bird. A juvenile that may have some mossy qualities as a youngster may have a future as an adult.​

 

[Lotsapaints]

I have a very mossy pullet but now she's not as mossy...she's going in the pen to make olive eggers she came out of such a dark egg too....

 

[shelleyb1969]

I may be wrong, but I don't think Hennypen is even sure her bird IS a Maran. I interpreted her original post as asking whether or not a BCM can have that color in their feathering...she wasn't really asking whether or not it was a fault. Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding her intent.

 

[criker99]

Quote:
Would be very happy to obtain some GCM eggs which had a chance to be nice birds. We have an incubator and have done very well with our hatches in the past ... over 95% hatch rate (thanks to the brinsea). We just finished setting up the brooder and grow out pens and have 1-2 other pens ready for this project. We had been hoping to start with well started birds so it could start more quickly, but that thought is what fell through.

The project she wants to do is about breeding, recordkeeping, results of decisions, etc. We'd like to work on improving the future generations and should be a fun project. She's been raising chickens for a couple of years (and also does horse 4H) but thought this project would be great long term and make an excellent dissertation type of project for something called 4H in Action which is why it is different from showing the birds themselves. Her other birds are mixed flock mostly barred rock, but has dabbled in easter eggers and a few other stragglers. It was the alternative color egg that provided the initial attraction, but over the last few years have learned the difference between hatchery birds for eggs, and well-bred chickens that are intended to come as close as possible to a standard. We haven't yet made ANY marans purchases because we want to focus on the project (other than the egg pen).

What type of improvements to make would obviously depend on the birds we start with LOL. So, although her original plan was designed around GCM, we recognize that time is ticking by and she is open to other possibilities in this realm.

 

[BevDavis]

Quote:
Hi

A splash should not come from a wheaten but you can get splash wheatens when you breed two blue wheatens together.

Bev