Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Thanks Debbi!

LoL......I'll let ya know if I ever get tired of him. I'll pack him a knap sack with filled with goodies and a "CKN X-ING" sign stitched on the back in reflective tape so everyone can see him as he strolls down the yellow brick road headed to your house.

 

[ruth]

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Ruth, has females that would go good with this male as long as they were free of White feathers.

Thanks Don - very nice of you to say so.

And no, my females don't have white feathers.

I've also been checking the older birds since I first read about the white undercoat and white fluff at base of tail. And I've been reading all the posts lately about "colors". What I've found tends to agree with you. I have some of the older birds (the parent stock I bought) that have the lighter legs (almost white) and they have some white fluff at base of tail. I have the offspring and they have darker legs, lots of black, and zero white fluff anywhere. I also have the very dark one (a third generation) and he has slate legs and very dark red eyes - you would think they are black until you shine a light on them and then you'll see they are a blood orange color - he also has total black undercoat.

So, to sum up what I'm seeing on my end - first generation possibly had some Wheaten mixed in and I pulled one older male that even had a partially brown wing triangle - that first generation has very light/white legs and some white fluff - second generation - has great colors, especially the hens with the copper collars - pinkish/grey legs and black undercoats but one roo has too much red on breast the rest have only specks if anything - third generation - they seem to be getting darker - very dark black feathers, dark undercoat, darker eyes, darker legs and hens with darker hackles and color running down their breast a bit.

I guess when I start my "serious" breeding program I'll pair up the ones with "too much" with the ones with "too little" and see if I can get some Goldilocks - "this one's just right" kind of thing going.

Out of all my birds, those first chicks I bought from Jesse Bryant, his flocks first offspring, are the most conforming and pleasing to look at. I was expecting the parent stock to look like them but bought them sight unseen. I was surprised to see the diversity in the group since I didn't have any diversity in my group (their offspring).

In the meantime, I'm still watching and reading and learning from all of you.

 

[Debbi]

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I'll hold my breath! LOL!

 

[Wynette]

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This is what I was talking about before when I said if we have combs where the Blade has no points it would be much easier to breed a Marans with a five point comb. I would breed this male in a heart beat.

But I see (NO OFFENSE INTENDED) NINE points on that comb....or am I seeing it wrong?

I have W. Jeane stock also, from the folks who were the first to purchase hatching eggs from him.

 

[Wynette]

Okay - so - is this girl mossy or does she just have too much coppering in her hackles? Before I post the pics - just so all know - they were taken inside a coop, when it was pitch black outside and the light was on in the coop...some pics were "zoom" on my camera, which always tends to lighten for some reason. I realize they're FAR from great pics, and honestly I really don't care either way if she's mossy or not, but she's in my layer pen because I thought she was mossy. If she's not, I might be able to find a spot for her in another pen (she is pure W. Jeane):

ZOOM PIC:

And - (oooh...looks like I need to trim her back end up a bit) pinched tail???

 

[ruth]

Quote:
This is what I was talking about before when I said if we have combs where the Blade has no points it would be much easier to breed a Marans with a five point comb. I would breed this male in a heart beat.

But I see (NO OFFENSE INTENDED) NINE points on that comb....or am I seeing it wrong?

I have W. Jeane stock also, from the folks who were the first to purchase hatching eggs from him.

Hey Wynette - that's pretty cool. So you bought hatching eggs directly from Wade Jeane? I haven't heard of anyone who actually got their chicks or eggs directly from him. (Other than that Charles Logan bought what "few" birds remained after the tornado). It's almost like he's a figment of people's imagination. So what do the birds look like? Have you ever posted pictures of them?

I've always wondered if anyone "out there" actually got their chicks or eggs directly from Wade especially since there seems to be, as I think Walt said, "Millions" of Wade Jeane birds out there yet no one seems to have gotten them directly from Wade.

 

[chasehope]

Pink Chick~

Is Gnarles the daddy of my rooster? His coloring is just like that on his kneck. Is that too light?

 

[ruth]

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She looks beautiful to me. I love the color (even with poor pic I can tell how pretty it is). Looks like my pure Wade Jeane girls also. Until recently I thought the fact that the color went down the front of the neck and onto the upper breast was a fault or DQ because all I was seeing people post were nearly solid black hens. Now I'm learning that this type of coloring is actually preferred, if only by the judges.

 

[Debbi]

Wynette,

I like her too. If I have read the definition of a "pinched tail" correctly, then yes, that would be pinched.

 

[pinkchick]

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Yes, Gnarles is the father to your boy. Gnarles' hackles have a little bit of what is described as "flame" or "flaming", to my knowledge it is not a DQ, it may be a fault (not clear on this as it is something that is not as intensely discussed.......DON.....help me out here as you mentioned something about "flame" before. It is something that can be worked on improved upon like everything else Marans.
I will post a photo of Gnarles' hackles and you can compare them to his dad. What would be very cool is (I know this will be very difficult for you because you birds have such a huge place to run) if you could get a nice close up of your boy and post so we can see 3 generations for comparison and learning.
Look at Gnarles' dad's hackle.......he was way too light but that didn't stop me because I was after other qualities in Gnarles' father like his size, his amount of red in the breast, his stunning blue hue, shank feathering, temperment and most of all his comb. The next generation (being Gnarles) showed hackle color improvement as you can see in the photo of Gnarles' hackles below. My personal opinion is that Gnarles' hackles are not too light.

Flame.......the term used to describe the copper in the hackle that lightens up near the bottom and then darkens again. Right Don?

ETA: SORRY this is a little fuzzy but you can see how light daddy's hackles are and the "flame" compared to Gnarles and it shows how the color changed from father to son.
Father (Gnarles' mom is in that carrier in the background and I didn't get a picture of her, dang it!)

Son