Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[fowlman01]

Quote:
We're moving away from calling them "French" - the American [proposed] standard calls for feathered shanks, thus...they are American, and non-feather shanked Marans would be disqualified in a show pen. But, many folks, including myself, have called any Marans with feathered shanks a "French" variety.

That brings up a good point or rather question I've been meaning to ask. So what will all the folks with clean legged Marans now call their flock since clean legged will be disqualified as if they are no longer Marans?????

Or, in other words, what language will those of us with the former "French" variety (feathered legs) use to differentiate from the former "American" version (clean legged) and vice versa????

It seems like if everyone is now going to call them simply Black Copper Marans we will forever be having to say "feathered legged" or "clean legged". I guess over time, those with the clean legged, since they won't be able to show them, will just get rid of them. Seems a shame since there are some nice looking clean legged Marans out there.

And everyone - please know I'm just asking what, to me, seems an obvious question that I haven't seen addressed. I mean no harm, ill-will, and certainly don't want to cause trouble and I'm not directing this at anyone in particular - just putting it "out there" for discussion.

It remains to be seen, but the APA versions will only be called Marans...not feather legged Marans. There will always be a market for the eggs because of their color and some folks don't really care about an APA Standard bird. They just want a chicken to cross into their EE's or simply a chicken that can lay a hershy egg, so I think there will always be a place for the birds with clean legs. I would also say that the clean legged birds would be thought of more as British/Australian Marans rather than an "American" Marans. The only Marans I saw as a judge/exhibitor until two years ago were cuckoo clean legged Marans.

Walt

 

[flgardengirl]

The French Marans Club of Australia has some info on the Golden Cuckoos scroll way down and look under Golden Cuckoos on this link.
http://frenchmaransclubaustralia.yolasite.com/notes-on-breeding.php

 

[flgardengirl]

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I don't think the wheatens are the scrounge of the marans world at all. The males seem to get very large and have a really striking appearance. The males and females are both very sweet in temperment, I know mine are. My dd is not at all that thrilled with chicks (teenager) but she thinks the male wheatens are the prettiest. She was like, "Wow what kind are those?" A lot of people like thier big 'mane like feathers' the males can be a little lighter in the hackles than the BCMs and get away with it, I think and it is quite striking against thier black feathers.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Good one Wynette. Hey, I can come back home now! I have some GCMarans Wynette but I can't say that they lay a decent color egg. One is laying a fair color but the other is as light as any RIR egg...?

What is the best way to breed for a darker egg with this color variation?

 

[fowlman01]

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These are feather legged, so there must be two separate Marans in Australia too. The Australian Poultry Standards calls for clean legs in the Marans. It appears that adding the title "French" denotes the difference........maybe?

Walt

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
These are feather legged, so there must be two separate Marans in Australia too. The Australian Poultry Standards calls for clean legs in the Marans. It appears that adding the title "French" denotes the difference........maybe?

Walt

Walt, I'm sure that must be right, as most folks here in the states currently call a feather shanked Marans a "French" Marans.

 

[halo]

Ive been doing a little "cross coloring", hatching eggs from my wheaten marans roo and cuckoo girls. Im getting sex linked babies, with the boys having white head spots and the girls are basically black. The first batch of this cross is about 3 weeks old, and the girls pretty much all look basically the same, black with a lot of brown in the feathers; sort of like a very mossy black copper hen. I have gotten rid of all the boys, so I dont know how they are growing out.

Also, interestingly enough, my roo has feathered legs, the cuckoo hens are clean legged, and all the babies are feathered legged.

 

[chasehope]

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Do you have pictures of what few feathers they do have now?

 

[Cold Canadian]

Sorry for this question , most likely already been discussed already .I have dial up here and it would take forever to get the right posting ............so here goes .How may "" True "" breeds are there of the Maran's ? I have read of all these other color variations and am a bit confused as to which are the true Marans ............other then they should have feathered feet ( French ) .I have Cuckoo Marans .....clean legged , although some of the roo's have some feathers showing , with the white legs .I did have a few Roo's with yellow legs , but removed them from the flock .So this is what I understand ....feathered legs , white or black legs based on color variation ...eg ..Cuckoo, Black Copper ? no yellow legs .Which are recognized as true ??

 

[FOGELLY]

I recently acquired ten BCM chicks, they were hatched on 10/13/10. My question is, I noticed several have more defined combs than others, do these birds start to show their sex this early?