Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[chicken_china_mom]

I can't sit and read 242 pages of posts, I wish I had the time! That said, this is my first year with BCM's and Blue Marans. I have an adult Silver Cuckoo Marans roo (love him to pieces, he's so good natured!), and I decided to to get the BCM's and Blues this year, and I do love them. I have one little cockerel that follows me around peeping so that I'll scoop him up and give him hugs and kisses. They really do have wonderful personalities. I'd love to learn as much as I possibly can about them. I do have questions. I have two that are older than the others. They hatched April 7th. Here is the roo:


Pierre

He comes from Wade Jean lines and has good leg feathering. I was hoping to cross him over my pullets later and improve the leg feathering in their chicks. I have Black Copper, Blue Copper, and Blue pullets. I also have a couple younger BCM cockerels, and at least one Blue cockerel. I'd like to improve the leg feathering in all of their offspring.

My first question is, when do the roos start crowing and mounting? The EE's that hatched only 10 days earlier then the Marans, the roo has been crowing and mounting for about a month now, but so far, Pierre shows absolutely no interest in the ladies. His world revolves around eating (he's a growing boy, lol) and he could care less about girls right now.

Another question I have is, I have a pullet that hatched out black. The breeder I got the eggs from said he has had a couple of birds hatch out black, and later they got their coppering. He said those usually turn out to look the nicest once they get their copper. What I want to know is, is that normal? Typical? I sold one pullet before he told me that, but I still have one left that is solid black. She's a massive girl at only 11 weeks old, but so pretty. He told me don't count her out until after she's about 10 months. I figure if she turns out to not develop any copper, I'll just keep her as a layer, so it's not that big of a deal. I was just wondering how common this was. All my other pullets look good.

And lastly (for now), what colors of Marans can we take to 4-H? I think I was told we can't take BCM's, but can we take Blues? Later I'd like to get some Splash and some White, but that's down the road. I do love this breed and I look forward to bettering the flock that I am building for myself. Marans are such beautiful birds.

 

[Illia]

That cockerel is quite the "teenager" still.

As for him maturing slower - That happens. Especially with Marans. I've got some Blue Wheaten cockerels who took 5 months to grow up, fill out, learn to crow, and earn themselves some "manhood." I have a 6 month old Black Copper who still has yet to crow, and doesn't do much pertaining to ladies except eat and lay around. I find Marans to be a very lazy, laidback breed.

As for show - All colors of Marans are just acceptable as the next. However, since Marans are not APA accepted in general, I'm not sure about how they'd do in 4H. But, then again, people get away with showing Easter Egger mutts.

 

[berkeleysprings]

.

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
If your black bird came from black copper parents she may well develop copper later. If she doesn't, she will be useful to breed with any of your black copper roos that have too much coppering or mossiness in their chest etc. I would keep her, especially if she is of a nice size. I have a few that way too.

 

[cpartist]

Walt- So glad to see you are over here. I've been following the Delaware thread,
although I have no interest in that breed, because I'm learning so much about
how to evaluate from your comments. I learned a great deal just in the last few
posts from you on this thread.

Germaine- How lucky you are to have so many Marans to work with and choose from!
I like #6. His comb and coloring look the best to me. I know you want to work
on type first, and he's maybe not as full bodied as some of the others, but he's young,
right? He may fill out nicely...that will change, but the comb and color won't. His eyes and
tail look good to me as well. I really like his copper hackles/saddles.

Walt did not specifically comment on this guy, but I'd be interested in his evaluation.

(When do we get to see the girls?)

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
Thank you cpartist, I originally liked #6 too. He was my favorite. But he is one of the older Marans and I don't think his color will change anymore. He is quite mahogany and I don't think that is the best coloring for the BC Marans. Also even though he looks bulky in the pictures he is only a medium build.

I have smaller but I have larger.

I am learning alot too and am loving it. Today I have learned about tail breaks and shallow underline, pinched tail and ect...

Even if none of them were worth keeping, it is all worth it just for the learning and experience!

I would love to show pics of the girls and get opinions on them too. My sweet father is making some trap nests for me and I will be able to know which girl is laying the best and darkest eggs soon (hopefully)

I just have to show a few shots of the nest boxes he made me a few days ago. I am such a lucky daughter to have a dad like him.

He is using an old Marans site with info on how to make trapnests. It is almost done and hopefully works. Not too complicated either.

 

[cpartist]

Quote:
Thank you cpartist, I originally liked #6 too. He was my favorite. But he is one of the older Marans and I don't think his color will change anymore. He is quite mahogany and I don't think that is the best coloring for the BC Marans. Also even though he looks bulky in the pictures he is only a medium build.

I have smaller but I have larger.

I am learning alot too and am loving it. Today I have learned about tail breaks and shallow underline, pinched tail and ect...

Even if none of them were worth keeping, it is all worth it just for the learning and experience!

I would love to show pics of the girls and get opinions on them too. My sweet father is making some trap nests for me and I will be able to know which girl is laying the best and darkest eggs soon (hopefully)

I just have to show a few shots of the nest boxes he made me a few days ago. I am such a lucky daughter to have a dad like him.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/33539_dscn9104.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/33539_dscn9108.jpg

He is using an old Marans site with info on how to make trapnests. It is almost done and hopefully works. Not too complicated either.

Interesting...I don't see him as mahagony at all...except for the nice shoulder feathers. I think he looks pure copper, and pretty solid copper as well,
without much striping...but maybe it's my monitor

. I do agree he's a bit shallow on the underside, but maybe bred to full bodied hens

?
It would be interesting to hear from experienced breeders regarding what traits are more easily bred out. Is it easier to breed for size than shape, for instance?
We can figure out some of this by knowing whether certain genes are dominant (ie:feathering) but things like tail set and comb...how do you know which
is easiest to fix?

COOOOOL trapnest boxes...your dad is awesome! This will be soooo much easier than hanging around coops until you figure out who is laying what!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Well, rats-- now you have me wondering. I will have to check him again in the morning. For now, it's time to rest the head on the pillow.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Does anyone think the boy I posted earlier looks good, or does he have too much copper on him? I can cross him with my pullet that doesn't have copper yet to reduce the brassiness in their chicks, right? If I could get my oldest pullet Odette to stand still long enough for me to take a picture it would be nice, but she is forever on the go.

So Marans roos tend to be late bloomers, eh? I'm trying to think if my Silver Cuckoo Marans roo was a late bloomer or not. I think he started crowing around 5 months old. He was mounting the ladies shortly after that. I know he NEVER stood still as a baby. He also never walked. It didn't matter if was was going 5 ft or 50 ft, he ran it. He was always running, it was dizzying watching him! He calmed down as he matured though. Pierre isn't a runner like that, but he sure was a biter when he was little! He bit my fingers, my toes, any exposed piece of skin he saw. He got tapped firmly on the beak each time he did it too, but that didn't stop him. He did eventually outgrow it. Odette wasn't like that. The second and third batch of chicks I hatched out, from a different breeder, they were all nippy too for awhile, but they outgrew it too and now some of the cockerels are real snugglers. This last batch I hatched out, they didn't nip at all and they came from the same breeder as the second and third batch.

Another question came up. What is the "right" shade of blue for a Blue Marans? I have hatched out 5 Blues. One turned out to be a Blue Copper pullet. Four are a nice darker blue, almost a navy blue, but then came Bleu. Bleu is a light blue, and I'm not 100% convinced that Bleu is a roo. I suspect it may be a pullet after all. It's so pretty right now with it's blue eyes because they match the color of it's feathers. I think the bird is absolutely stunning, but I'm not sure it's the "right" shade of blue. Bleu doesn't stand still for pictures either, so I'm not sure if I have any of it. I do of some of the others though. Right now I have 6 BCM's, 1 Blue Copper pullet, and 4 Blue Marans. That makes a total of 4 roos and 5 pullets, and 1???. I still have to sell a few of the cockerels. What does everyone think of this boy?

He is one of the ones that demands to be held and kissed, lol. Such a sweetheart. He hatched June 7th so he doesn't have any real adult plumage yet. He's kinda wiry too, not as rounded as some of my other Marans. Hard to tell because he's sitting my DD's lap in this pic, but he has a skinny neck and legs too. But he's still cute. He's getting the feathers back in on the back of his head right now. My EE rooster George, when he was coming into his hormones about a month and a half to two months ago he would mount anything that moved, and it didn't matter if it was male or female. I caught him trying to mount this boy and his brother, and I found the boys in the yard nearly scalped. They moved inside until their heads healed, but it took a few more weeks for their feathers to start to grow back. At least they look like chickens again. For awhile they both looked more like vultures! His brother doesn't have as much copper as this boy. Is this a good amount of copper? And is it possible for the comb on a roo or hen to be too big? I sold a pullet a few weeks back that had an absolutely MASSIVE comb, even bigger than Pierre's. She was bigger than Pierre too. Pierre was small for a long time, but now he's finally growing. I hope he turns out to a nice, robust boy.

Standard weight for a rooster is suppose to be 12 lbs and 10 for a hen, right?

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Learning as much as you can is a GREAT goal. There is a LOT of information in the 242 pages of this thread. Many long time breeders have offered advice. They have posted pictures of good and poor stock with critique. We have even had some postings from Bev Davis herself. Although you may not have time to read them all in one sitting, , , , , you may want to go back and look at them in small increments (like 5 pages at a time). WARNING: Some of the information on breeding is very DEEP.

Your roo's coloring looks good. Eye color looks good. Legs look to be slate and feathered - -- both appropriately.

However, he looks Long and Lean to me. It could be the angle the picture was taken from or it could be his youth. Marans should be a stocky breed - - - chunky. Roos should have a wide chest. Your boy needs to fill out more. Marans can take a year and half before they are fully developed

So, give the young man some more time to mature. He is showing good potential.

Your second posting had the roo sitting on your daughter's lap. He will need to be standing like the other picture to give good feedback