Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

Quote:
geebs, if you remember in the past discussions we have had I stated I would not ever keep a brown down colored chick as it is carrying the mossy gene. In the study I will keep a few for the study taking picture as they age. When the chicks hatch you will be able to keep track of the chicks by looking at the pictures as they grow.

 

[geebs]

Debbi: The jury is out still for me... I select my hens and my cockerels to compliment one another and choose the best from that offspring.

 

[geebs]

snowbird
I hatched these from BHB and they are the last of her line. I will keep them as parent stock and use them against themselve and yes I do photograph them as they grow. This is how I keep track of them. I have 3 very mossy chicks born brown and one black chick that are hens. I have 3 cockerels that are each an example so far as younsters of the 3 uses for a rooster. I will keep them as well. I will use the too mossy agaist the too black and the correct to correct. I will use an overmelanised rooster for another pen if in fact I end up with one... The pen is growning and the gene pool is small. As you know these eggs are no longer available and I only have a couple of aging adults so naturally I would want a back up gene pool. Are they faulted.. YEP... But it is what I have to work with and I know I can make something of it. If this was somethng I hatched myself from my stock I would opt to rehome the brown females at maturity. The jury is still out for me on the mossy thing..I may opt to test breed agains an overmelanised rooster to see if in fact that affects the mossiness.

The first rooster with the white in the feathers and the last one... well this is mine. I am looking at him for next year's male... The jury is out on that as well.

This could be a nice work in tandem.. I will post pix of the brownies as you have no access to them.. (culled out)

 

[Debbi]

Ok, Don gets what I'm saying!

I agree with your thinking there Don. If it's expressed as a chick, it will be passed on. I would also like to see any corralation between odd coloring of the feathers and odd coloring elsewhere, ie the legs and eyes. Then there's the shank feathering. I can see where you could spend a LIFETIME trying to figure this all out; and my hat goes off to those, like Bev, you, and others, who are doing just that!!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Of course Debbi, I get what you are saying and it makes perfect sense. Yes even if they color out normally and you can't see it....it doesn't mean it's not there and yes it can be passed on, but as I stated before, I had a flock of Marans (not of Davis lines) that I first started out with and no matter who was culled from the pen the mossy was still passed on even though the parents did not show it as chicks, it still reared its ugly head in the offspring. After my bout with those birds that is when I decided to go with Davis birds...IMHO...they are the truest breeding Marans out there and have way less issues, but all the credit goes to Bev, she has worked ever so hard to get them that way. IMO every line is still a work in progress. I have worked with Valentine lines, Presley lines and some Jeane birds but the Jeane birds were not mine, I was repaying a favor for my bestest buddy.

 

[geebs]

the Jeane birds were not mine, I was repaying a favor for my bestest buddy

Nice disclaimer!!!

ROTF

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Nice disclaimer!!!

ROTF

Awww...yes funny but very true. I gained tons of prespective by doing this for her. You know me and how I feel about my Davis birds.

I've said this before and I will say it again.....I wanna be just like Bev when I grow up!!!!

 

[Debbi]

Thanks Kim, and I agree with the Davis line being the closest to the real thing! Do you happen to remember, or have pics of any of those chicks from your initial flock having a lot of white coloring as babies? Could the white feathering also be linked to the mossy gene?

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Debbi~
Your very welcome but I didn't do much..

I do think that I have any photos of those birds, matter of fact, I don't even have any of those birds anymore and haven't had them for quite some time. I didn't have a white feather issue with them just the mossiness.

 

[geebs]

Pinkchick AS IF..... (you'll never grow up)... he he... I am a "toys r us kid" for life...

You are off to a good start with your Bev birds... You know me... Take the narrow gate.