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Me too Wynette. That's just it. I don't think anyone has the "perfect" bird but the thread is starting to become a "beauty pagent" where APA SOP is the most important thing. I realize it is to "show people" but I just want to remind everyone that most people out there are not show people. They are kind of excluded from this thread and afraid to "jump in" and post or to ask questions. I know, because they write to me and most order birds. Why.....not because they intend to show but because so many of those that do won't sell their birds because they aren't perfected yet.
As I stated a little earlier, on closer inspection, I would have to cull my entire flock. The endless list has taken its toll even on me and I thought I was pretty "non-involved" in the APA SOP "thing". The "fun" can be drained if it becomes nothing more than a "well that one's not good enough...that one either....nor that one" mentality when you look around your flock.
I liked the "old days" when everyone who got BCMs was so thrilled. Now it's more like, all those same people are now disappointed.
Hi
I have just returned from vacation and haven't read very much for the last three weeks but I will jump in here and answer a few questions. I do have jet lag so please forgive me if .......
One of the requirements to get a breed accepted by the APA is that five people have been breeding Marans for five years. I believe I was one that signed that I had, in fact, I have been breeding black copper for much longer and so had the other people who signed. My birds aren't perfect and never will be, one or two may come close but certainly not all of them. No one has the perfect bird just the same as no one has the perfect child. Some people that like to breed birds will breed for one aspect of the bird one year and something else the next. They might even have to go back the following year to correct something that they thought they had corrected the previous year.
When I came to America in 1996, I wanted some Marans just like the ones I had in Wales/England. I couldn't get any and joined a Marans club in the hope that I would be successful. Eventually, I did manage to get some but when they arrived, some were black and some didn't even look like Marans. At that time, as far as I knew all Marans were cuckoo and should have laid a large deep terra cotta egg. Out of all the chicks, there was one pullet that laid a dark egg but to be honest, it wasn't even the accepted color for an egg. I bought eggs, I bought birds and was told they laid very dark eggs, I was disappointed each time. I did try to import a couple of times and failed for various reasons. The only way forward as far as I could see was to breed for better birds and egg color.
I was almost kicked out of the first club because I objected when it was proposed that the standard for the birds had yellow legs. The quality of bird in those was very poor compared to what we have now. Yellow legs were very common and as for feathers on the legs, forget it.
Over the years I have learnt a lot, done a lot of breeding and met some very fine people along the way. Rome was not built in a day and I would be very foolish if I thought it was. What you all have now is the result of a lot of breeding that has been done by a lot of people. Most of the major faults have already been bred out. I am sure there are faults also that have been bred in, the road has not been an easy one to follow.
I think the main thing is to enjoy your birds and if you want to show, that is fine. It's also fine just to have birds to enjoy and not to look at them with a critical eye all the time. Marans is a very young breed in America and there will be people who will develop their own lines. Some will want nicer looking birds and some darker eggs. Please appreciate what you already have, although you see faults there are good things as well.
Bev
Thank you so much Bev for your thoughtful response. You are the only person I could think of that I knew had been breeding Marans for over five years and was "maybe" getting consistent results (today) in appearance of offspring. Even then, from what I've read, the birds your producing now are not the same as the birds you were producing five years ago because you have continued to work on the breed and improve your "Line". You have been the forerunner in the Marans breeding program and we all look to you for your advice and experience. Thank you for always being willing to share with those of who have so very much still to learn - as we go down the paths you've been down many times before.
