Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gamebirdsonly]

Well here is a pic of some BCM eggs my hens have been laying. The flash made them look a little lighter color then they are. But not as dark as I would like.
I just wish I had a Rooster ever time I have hatched out roos they all die when they get close to breeding age. So couple days after Christmas I found someone local that was selling a rooster so went and got him paid $15.00.
Well 10 days later he died

So I don't have much luck with BCM Roos I have Cuckoo Roo no problem nice and healthy.

 

[chics in the sun]

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Our Cuckoo Marans has stopped laying like that, we did end up treating her for mights-she is also missing feathers and we are thinking that she is molting and around 10 months old.

That sounds about right. Mine molted for two months right about that age - - - I didn't see too many missing feathers - - BUT they quit laying for a couple of months. Since then, they have been laying like crazy.

Hmm. Maybe that is it, then. I checked her again, and don't see any evidence of creepy crawlies.

I did take a picture, but a bare Marans bum is not really very attractive, so for now I will not post it and just keep an eye on her. Still no egg today, and she is still acting perfectly normal. I know when my Leghorn had mites you could tell - comb got pale, lethargic, etc. Thanks for the input and advice!!

 

[flgardengirl]

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That sounds about right. Mine molted for two months right about that age - - - I didn't see too many missing feathers - - BUT they quit laying for a couple of months. Since then, they have been laying like crazy.

Hmm. Maybe that is it, then. I checked her again, and don't see any evidence of creepy crawlies.

I did take a picture, but a bare Marans bum is not really very attractive, so for now I will not post it and just keep an eye on her. Still no egg today, and she is still acting perfectly normal. I know when my Leghorn had mites you could tell - comb got pale, lethargic, etc. Thanks for the input and advice!!

One of my golden cuckoo females had lost feathers under her vent. I thought at first it might be mites and treated all of them plus the coop etc. Turns out a few naughty girls were plucking her feathers there. I don't know why, but they just decided to pick at her. I didn't see anything irregular except for missing feathers. Took me awhile to catch the girls in the act doing it.

gamebirds: Nice eggs. That's so strange that all your roos are dying upon maturity. Is it when they start crowing? I wonder if it is a nieghbor or someone because they start crowing? Give us more details on how they died...

 

[flgardengirl]

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LOL you two! I just hope there are some around when the time comes. It might be a couple of years.

Geebs, what did you mean by "off the hook"?

"off the hook" = awesome

 

[chics in the sun]

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Hmm. Maybe that is it, then. I checked her again, and don't see any evidence of creepy crawlies.

I did take a picture, but a bare Marans bum is not really very attractive, so for now I will not post it and just keep an eye on her. Still no egg today, and she is still acting perfectly normal. I know when my Leghorn had mites you could tell - comb got pale, lethargic, etc. Thanks for the input and advice!!

One of my golden cuckoo females had lost feathers under her vent. I thought at first it might be mites and treated all of them plus the coop etc. Turns out a few naughty girls were plucking her feathers there. I don't know why, but they just decided to pick at her. I didn't see anything irregular except for missing feathers. Took me awhile to catch the girls in the act doing it.

gamebirds: Nice eggs. That's so strange that all your roos are dying upon maturity. Is it when they start crowing? I wonder if it is a nieghbor or someone because they start crowing? Give us more details on how they died...

I'll watch, but she is by far the biggest and meanest, although she is not actually the top hen in the pecking order. Somehow the Barred Rock has held on to that title. Maybe the three little teenagers have gotten tired of her harassment and are sneaking up behind her to yank out a few feathers and then make a run for it. They are just the right size to pull off such a stunt. Juvinile delinquents that they are, it would not surprised me.....

 

[Mamaperreca]

Our Cuckoo Marans has stopped laying like that, we did end up treating her for mights-she is also missing feathers and we are thinking that she is molting and around 10 months old.

That sounds about right. Mine molted for two months right about that age - - - I didn't see too many missing feathers - - BUT they quit laying for a couple of months. Since then, they have been laying like crazy.

Yeah. I moved my chickens all to our new coop this weekend. Well, they haven't laid since. Its been 3 days. Not a single egg out of 4 hens.

My big hen Ginger already molted and looks great, the others have not so this might be going on.

If its just the new coop and adjustment any idea on how long before they start laying again?

 

[flgardengirl]

If its just the new living quarters, I would expect they would start laying within a few weeks.

 

[VillageChicken]

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Where do I start... I love a good challenge.
Any cross with any of your Lavenders will show no lavender in the F1 cross. It is recessive. It produces something we call "split Lav". You have to cross the F1's to get any Lavs. 25% will be Lavender.

Who did you get your Lavenders from? Lavenders are usually solid black birds with a diluting gene that makes them lavender. There are at least two lines of Black Ameraucana's out there that Lavenders could have been bred from, and I know that some of them are Birchen based (sound familiar?), and some Extended Black. I just read that on the Ameraucana forum a couple nights ago. It makes a difference to some degree what their background genetics are. It's possible some Lav birds also carry Blue.

It also seems that most of the Blue and Splash Marans in the U.S. are also Birchen based, meaning BCM or Silver Birchen Marans with genes that cover the usual coloring of Birchens.
When you say Blue Splash, I assume they are Splash, homozygous blues.

So:
Blue Splash Marans x Lav AM Roo: Blue or Blue Birchen split for Lavender - carrying only one Lavender gene that will not display. You need two to see the Lavender effect.
Blue Splash Marans x Silver Am Roo: Most likely something that looks like a Blue Birchen, blue with silver hackle and saddle, possibly some salmon color on hen's breast.
Blue Splash Marans x Blue Wheaten AM Roo: You will get the normal split of 25% Blue and 75% Splash, but likely with lots of gold bleeding through from the Wheaten gold.


BCM hen x Lav AM Roo: Black birds with a little gold or copper bleeding through, split for Lavender.
BCM hen x Silver AM Roo = Gold Birchen roosters, silver birchen hens, with varying amounts of hackle color, and possibly color bleeding through in breast of hens.
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? Most likely create BCM looking hybrids that are incorrectly colored, with copper that is too light, and black that is insufficiently dark.

With what you have, the most interesting cross would be the BCM x Lav AM. If your roo has a good beard, then all your F1 birds should be bearded, peacombed, and feathershanked.
These are all dominant traits. None will be Lavender in the first generation.

Your hens will likely be all black. Roosters may show some gold hackle, saddle and wingbow color. If you want to retain any color other than the lavender then select your F1's with the most color in the hackle. If you want to retain the olive egg, feathered shanks and bearding, select your F1's with the best peacomb, feathering and beards. Cross these selected F1's and you will have your Lavender OE's. One in Four will be Lav, of these Lavenders, one in four will have a straight comb and may not lay an olive colored egg.

You can cross your F1's back to the Lav AM roo, and get a larger percentage of lavenders, but you will lose some hackle color and some feathering on the shanks.

From what I have seen, the hackle color in lavs from these crosses don't look that great. It just looks dirty yellow. To avoid this, select your F1's with the least hackle color.

Have fun!

 

[pinkchick]

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I think they are very pretty eggs Gamebird! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing them. I hope you find a rooster. If we lived closer, I could keep you in a constant supply of roosters.

 

[Raven1]

Good Morning

I so wish for this weather to get its poop together I need to get may breeders into pens but hate to with this weather I have a hard time getting everybody taken care of now with only 6 pens. Come on Spring the way I work I leave in the dark and come home in the dark I have been out to my birds with a headlamp on so much they don't even notice and when I first started they thought some cyclops creature was after them and ran screaming now I guess they don't care as long as it has feed!