Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ruth]

Quote:
My prayers are with you Debbi - my son leaves Iraq late Feb. or early March. Has the same detour before coming home but will be home for good mid-March, if not earlier. This is his second tour in Iraq but his final days with the U.S. Army (thank God). He has served his 8 years. Like you, I hold my breath and pray till the day he steps off that plane.

 

[math ace]

Day 17 - I hear chirping

Things are going so much smoother the second time around. LOCKDOWN- - Tomorrow!

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
I read somewhere that Marans lay on average 200 eggs per year, that would work out to be approx 3-4 eggs per week per hen.

I think that a 5 egg on the scale is the norm for alot of Marans, with some 6's and high 7's being tossed in the mix, but even hens who lay the occassional 8 and 9 do not lay that dark of an egg everytime they lay, IMO. I just hope for maintaining the egg color I have and if it gets darker I consider it a bonus.

and yes, egg laying abilities/traits can be passed on.

Gees Kim, that would work out to 3 or 4 a week all year but my girls have been on vacation for months & I was talking about at the peak of their laying. Gosh I wish these beautiful birds weren't so tempermental..............LOL. I will see what the Spring brings & do some culling I guess. I may end up with dark eggs just as accents in my colorful egg basket.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
When your girls resume laying WATCH THEM VERY CAREFULLY. . . Every 30 minutes for a week ( if possible).
I did this when I was collecting eggs for my first hatching and discovered that one of my hens NEVER EVER LAYS.
I have another who lays seldomly - - like 2 eggs a week. Then I have two hens that lay 5 or 6 days a week.

So, was getting on average 3 or 4 eggs a week per hen, but I had two duds and two highly productive marans. It is possible that one of your girls is doing MOST of the work and the other is a SLACKER. Breed only the worker.

Geebs and Pink both had an issue with an egg eater. . . So that could be a problem too.

As far as egg color goes, line breeding should help improve that. My girls don't lay super dark eggs BUT THEY ARE HUGE JUMBO eggs. I have seen others with eggs that are darker, but smaller. I really like to have a carton full of eggs that are so BIG that the lid won't shut - - - I am all over that

 

[SueMuffin]

Ok Folks here are a couple more pictures of my FBCM Roo. Took them all this afternoon. It was all of 19 degrees here today! He is either starting to molt or someone is picking his feathers out. Im not sure which it is.

 

[math ace]

So how windy was it today? Is the roos tail normally that high up? If so, he has a squirell tail. .

I've noticed a couple of breeders advertising roos without the copper in the saddle area - - The proposed standard does specify copper in the saddle area, doesn't it?

He does have a nice comb - - (frostbit, but it was nice). It only has 4 points and the standard calls for 5 - - but no biggie. I would trade my roos 8 point wacked out comb in a heart beat for that boys evenly spaced 4 point comb

Nice Chunky boy. . . I think you may have to take more pics on a better weather day. The girls look like they have nice coloring. Have you gotten any eggs for them yet?

 

[aussieheelr]

SueMuffin: Looks like you have a great start to a BCM flock

That's the same size as mine, 3 hens and 1 Roo. I don't see any coloring in his saddle but to be honest I can't make out true saddle feathers. Is it the saddle area that he's loosing his feathers from?
And your hens have such nice coppering and beetle black! Their body type seems nice too

Overall a good start.

 

[dldolan]

Wowie! Leave the thread for 24 hours and there is mega-activity. Nice.

So pinkchick, you asked what my project is. and I was thrilled to see that most of today's comments have to do with color genetics, as that is what I am interested in. I hatched the four FBCM's that we are hoping are pullets (will post more hick photos in the future for critique, but see hatched eggs for color below...) and now have the other Broody Cochin on those ten Blue Splash Marans eggs that I bought from TX (I posted the seller's comments on this thread about her breeding program on page...992, post #9919, and the Splash eggs/color are on pge 985, post $9845).

So, let's say in theory that I will have some BCM pullets and some Blue Splash M pullets. I will shorty have a purebred Lavendar Ameracauna roo, Blue Wheaton Ameraucana roo, and a Silver Ameracauna roo. I searched on this site, http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/theory.html
which shows the placement of Lavendar, but I can't figure out what will happen if I do the following crosses with these birds (olive eggers resulting, I know). If any of you can give me percentages (and even better, tell me why!) i'd appreciate it:

Blue Splash Marans hen x Lav AM Roo=
Blue Splash Marans hen x Silver AM Roo =
Blue Splash Marans hen x Blue Wheaton AM Roo =

BCM hen x Lav AM Roo =
BCM hen x Silver AM Roo =
BCM hen x Blue Wheaton AM roo--this is the only one I can guess at: 50% blue and 50% black, but what will the "wheaton" do?

Then, I hope to create a Splash, feathered EE! I would try for that by mating this cross, right? Blue Splash Marans hen x Blue Wheaton Roo

On top of that, I want a variety of egg color because I love color and texture! Ha!

Here's hoping my DH has a lot of patience...!
Dawn

FBCM hatched eggs, with one brahma egg thrown in for contrast

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
My prayers are with you Debbi - my son leaves Iraq late Feb. or early March. Has the same detour before coming home but will be home for good mid-March, if not earlier. This is his second tour in Iraq but his final days with the U.S. Army (thank God). He has served his 8 years. Like you, I hold my breath and pray till the day he steps off that plane.

Thoughts and Prayers until THEY ALL COME HOME!!!!

Good to see you Monique! How are your birds doing? Are you getting any eggs? Hatching any chicks? What's the scoop? I love hearing about what's new at your place or what your up too with your Marans.

 

[pinkchick]

Math~
How's lockdown going?