Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[geebs]

Start by understanding the proper shape of the chicken.. There is NO PERFECT BIRD..... This is an EXTREMELY flawed line...It has tons of merit and is my favorite to work with because it teaches me things...

Go whereever you have to and find out what a proper shape is... Don is muddying the water with some of the conformation and color at the same time for you... but he is right.. He is faulting both color and conformation... Pick conformation and work there first... Wing color etc.. that is later..You need to know what the healthy SHAPE is for the breed... any chicken has a correct form.... This is a dual purpose bird... It has an ideal outline... Read and read and read and read until it is burned in your head what the correct outline is and what is the best in your yard....

No one can eat a bicycle in one bite... Start with the little thing.... and the most important... Shape..

I will be back later.. I have a class to teach..

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Thanks - - - this is soooooo hard to get. Maybe, I will just have to go get a wheaton of my own - - -

Thanks Nancy on the PEARL LEGS AND BEAK TOO - - that helps !

 

[ruth]

I do understand the conformation or shape - at least I think I do. To me, that's the easiest and I think (could be horribly wrong) but I think most of my birds fit the "type" as far as shape. They should be nice, large, beefy birds. I also understand the tail angle of 45 degrees. I even understood most of the proposed APA listings for BCMs but then some started changing and others started to get added. I know it's a works in progress and I appreciate those doing the work.

Where I started getting confused is when the questions of white tail fluff; white undercoats; pinched tails; too much leg feathers/too few leg feathers (I'm still trying to figure out what "sparsely" feathered means because most people are posting birds whose feet look like Cochins); white wing feather; white tail feather; copper vs mahogany vs gold vs "straw"; white legs or slate legs;

in other words, things keep popping up that I'd never heard of much less looked for. So I'm not sure that we, as a whole, could truly present the best of the BCMs at the Newnan show in Feb. because, from what I'm seeing on BYC and the various Marans Clubs/Yahoo Groups/Discussion forums (and I'm on several) - there is no one consistent "look" thus far for BCMs.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
I don't post alot on this thread since most times I don't want to get in trouble on BYC and get reported by the Marans group so I just shut up. However this is an ongoing issue with Marans on the lines. Once you get them and breed them they are no longer... Wade Jean etc etc. People claim the lines and have no clue what they have when they mix and match lines and claim Jean, Davis, Presley and they aren't. they are mixed lines, and who knows what they are unless you got them from the person you named. Alot of people claim C1 wade jean but they have to come from 2 people and even then both have said they can't be sure. it's really to bad for the breed, I'm glad to have the Fitch line of Cuckoo Marans and the Cottage Hill line of BCM's. The Cottage hill are easy to trace and our Fitch are person to person thru 3 times from Bill Fitch.


Steve

 

[BevDavis]

Quote:
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.

Hi Ruth

Have you read the standard?

Bev

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I may be starting a can of worms - - - so all the regulars on BYC can feel free to correct me, BUT be GENTLE, I mean no HARM or OFFENSE. . .

In the US, there have been 4 well know breeders who started the Marans ball rolling - - Bev Davis, Ron Presley, R Valentine, and Wade Jean. I have listed the names alphbetically by FIRST NAME, not by preference - - - OK.

Now each line has good points and bad points (called faults). There is not a PERFECT line out there . . . . To me there is more value given to a line that has been kept pure - - like pure Jean or pure Presley. So, the first thing I would find out is if Bargin's stock is PURE Wade Jean.

Now you will have to ask around on Wade's lines - - - There is a C1 line and a C2 line. I don't know the difference, but those on here that are Jean fans will know. Some of Jean's lines DO NOT MIX well - - so knowing which line they are from is important.


Currently, I could purchase pure Presley marans for $6 a chick - straight run and min of 10.
A 7 months ago, I paid $10 for my month old PURE Bev Davis roo.
A year ago, I paid $7 for my week old Davis / Presley mix pullets - - not a straight run.

I too live in an area where no one has them, but everyone wants them. At our local swaps, there is one lady who comes up from central Florida and sells Jean marans. She brings egg shells with her to the swaps and has pictures of the parents. Clearly, her intent is not to rip people off.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have tried to get rich selling marans. They have not done careful breeding and have even mixed other breeds in with their marans stock. They don't practice selective breeding. They let a handful of roosters run loose with a pile of hens and they don't know who breed who OR if it was a complementry coupling.

So my bottom line is until you know you have some really good looking birds who are laying some really dark eggs - - - be very fair in the pricing. You don't want to burn your customers. You want them to pass good words about you and keep coming back for more. The young chicks that are pure breed - - - you could do for $5 or $6 each - - straight run and the eggs were DARK. Lower price if the eggs were only a 4 or 5 in color darkness !

The older chicks (older than a month) add $2 per month for cost of feed.

By the time they reach 4 months, you should be able to start culling the ones that you don't want. REMEMBER, these are your rejects - - so you should reach a price that a common breed POL hen in your area would be going for . . . .because these should be consider LAYING hens NOT breeding hens. You need to make sure you don't lead people on about what they are getting.

I sold my culled BCM marans roo at our swap a few months ago. He was 4 months old and I sold him for $10. I sold him at a loss because he was not good quality - - faults were apparent. A 4 month old pur breed good quality roo would go for more. THIS WAS MY REJECT - - I sold him to a lady who just wanted a barnyard roo. She was delighted that he was a marans and had no intention of showing or breeding him for show bird

GOOD LUCK - - AND VERY SORRY MY RESPONSE WAS SO LONG.

 

[Braclin]

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Hi

Congratulations!!!

I am not sure we should cull roosters that are protecting their flocks at mating time. I know it's not a nice thing to happen but there must be a reason why they do it. I have noticed that when I only had one rooster he was fine but as I increased the number of roosters the aggression also increased. Any other thoughts on this?

Bev

Compounded testosterone and competition maybe??

 

[BevDavis]

Quote:
Hi Debbie

Here is the standard that has been written so far but it hasn't been accepted by the APA or gone through the Standards Committee yet. I would have thought that the hackle feathers would be lighter in a bird with the blue gene because the blue gene is a bleaching gene and tends to make gold a lighter color.

Disqualifications
White in ear-lobes. Two or more white feathers in plumage.

Color of Male

Comb, Face, Wattles and Ear-Lobes: Bright red.
Beak: Dark Horn.
Eyes: Reddish bay.
Shanks and Toes: Slate, bottom of feet, pinkish white.
Head: Lustrous deep coppery orange.
Neck: Hackle—Lustrous deep coppery orange with narrow blue stripe through the middle of each feather terminating in a point near its lower extremity.
Front of neck—Blue with narrow lacing of deep orange.
Back: Back—Lustrous deep coppery orange.
Saddle—same as hackle.
Tail: Main Tail—Blue with slight luster
Sickles and Coverts—Lustrous blue.
Wings: Shoulders and Fronts—blue.
Bows—Lustrous deep coppery orange to match back.
Coverts—Lustrous blue.
Primaries—Blue.
Secondaries—Blue, with exposed portion forming wing bay, with slight luster.
Breast: Upper breast, blue with narrow lacing of deep coppery orange.
Lower breast—blue.
Body and Stern: Blue.
Legs: Lower Thighs—Blue
Shanks and Toes—Blue.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
I don't post alot on this thread since most times I don't want to get in trouble on BYC and get reported by the Marans group so I just shut up. However this is an ongoing issue with Marans on the lines. Once you get them and breed them they are no longer... Wade Jean etc etc. People claim the lines and have no clue what they have when they mix and match lines and claim Jean, Davis, Presley and they aren't. they are mixed lines, and who knows what they are unless you got them from the person you named. Alot of people claim C1 wade jean but they have to come from 2 people and even then both have said they can't be sure. it's really to bad for the breed, I'm glad to have the Fitch line of Cuckoo Marans and the Cottage Hill line of BCM's. The Cottage hill are easy to trace and our Fitch are person to person thru 3 times from Bill Fitch.


Steve

The website is mydarkeggs.com
here is a link
http://mydarkeggs.com/how_we_got_started
On the Wade Jean line of CBM.