Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[growinupinfl]

Congrats on your eggs once again Duck,

I have another question for you fair marans people. I posted this under what breed is this, then realized ya'll had a marans thread.

I got wheaten Marans from Green Fire Farms, and this chick looks frizzled to me. I'm pretty sure it is a pure breed, is this normal or is something up with it's feathers.

Let me know what ya'll think

Christal

 

[Keara]

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should, they are the same dimentions I believe.

 

[StevenW.]

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Congratulations ducklover!!!!!! They are wonderful! We all know how photos are when it comes to eggs! Tons of good luck coming to you! Aceschix is AWESOME! She has some of my Wellies going in her 'bator right now.

Hope your hatch goes well!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Well it looks like we have 4 chicks at this point: 1 black, 2 blue and 1 splash. Pink do you have the picture of fixing a spradle leg chick? I'll attempt some pictures later today. Still have 4 eggs in the bator- nothing doing at this point and 1 that pipped and died.

 

[xyresicchick]

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That chick doesn't look frizzled to me. Probably just got pecked or caught on something. Sometimes feathers can get bent from being pecked at or wedged somewhere. If it was a frizzle, ALL of the feathers would be curling outwards.

 

[Debbi]

Math,

Lisa, prayers to you, your family, and your Dad.

As for the bator, as many as you hatch these days, how about a Sportsman?

 

[Debbi]

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Ok....I'm either very slow today...or perhaps just very dense...but I can't wrap my head around this........

Why not breed a Black Copper (produced from a Blue Copper) back into a pure Black Copper if the Black Copper produced is of nice type and meets the requirements of being a Black Copper?
In my mind...I cannot see why that BCM produced from a Blue Copper or Splash Copper would be a problem...it is still a Black Copper...it is not a Blue Copper....it is not a Black Copper that carries the Blue gene (if it carried the blue gene it would be blue) so how would using that Black Copper be a problem? I could see it being a problem if it had Wry tail, Squirrel tail, crooked toes, excessive white in the plumage upon maturity, yellow legs, roach back, pinched tail....etc..etc...etc.
Is the point that some Blues can be so dark that they can appear Black instead of Blue and be mistaken for a Black Copper instead of a Blue Copper?

Kim, Look at all the show results from around the USA and see what has won Best of Breed and reserve. I have never heard of anything but a BC winning ever. The BC type and over all Marans type is by far better than any other color. That is the reason you should not breed an inferior Marans from the Blue variety back into the BC. I believe you are concentrating mostly on color in the above post.

Lets put it this way if breeding the BC there is no benefit to adding any Marans from crosses into the pure BC. Don

Don,

Could this possibly be that it's because the Marans is virtually "new" to the show ring, and that many judges will pick the BCM over other colors because they know so little about the breed as a whole? I've got to tell you, I've seen quite a few outstanding blue and splash birds that would make me pick them over a nice BCM any day! Look at Kim's birds. It was the same in the Doberman show ring when the Blues and Fawns first started coming out. Judges had NO idea what they were, so the Black and Red dogs kept on winning, even though some were grossly inferior to the dilute colors! Just a thought...

 

[Debbi]

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Oh Randy, sorry to hear that.

Got to tell you though, that the younger chickies want action, not the mellow simple life that folks yours and my age want! You need to start going to some chicken shows and find a gal with your similar passions! My ex-husband was jealous of my show dogs! I should have dumped him rather than the dogs! Ended up doing it anyway, and it was too late to get my good stock back. I could only imagine how he'd feel about chickens!!

Ok, I'm off my Dear Abby soapbox now!

 

[snowbird]

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Kim, Look at all the show results from around the USA and see what has won Best of Breed and reserve. I have never heard of anything but a BC winning ever. The BC type and over all Marans type is by far better than any other color. That is the reason you should not breed an inferior Marans from the Blue variety back into the BC. I believe you are concentrating mostly on color in the above post.

Lets put it this way if breeding the BC there is no benefit to adding any Marans from crosses into the pure BC. Don

Don,

Could this possibly be that it's because the Marans is virtually "new" to the show ring, and that many judges will pick the BCM over other colors because they know so little about the breed as a whole? I've got to tell you, I've seen quite a few outstanding blue and splash birds that would make me pick them over a nice BCM any day! Look at Kim's birds. It was the same in the Doberman show ring when the Blues and Fawns first started coming out. Judges had NO idea what they were, so the Black and Red dogs kept on winning, even though some were grossly inferior to the dilute colors! Just a thought...

Debbi, Never been a blue hatched in the good olde USA that would beat a good Black Copper under any Judge. I will try and extract myself from this discussion as it is so difficult to talk Breed type when non showers only see color.

Another hatch coming up this weekend. Good luck to all, Don

 

[pinkchick]

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Congrats on the chickies Cheryl! I wish everyone had better hatches like Poularde and Enggass did. I'm kinda dissappointed in the hatch rates on them after being shipped. But then again I know eggzactly what to expect from shipped eggs.
Slightly off topic but keeping on the track of low hatch rates...the 4th round of Barnevelder eggs from my friend Farmer Johan were just as dissappointing as the first 3 shipments, 2 chicks hatched. Just like last time one boy and one girl. ARGH! Now these are some tough eggs to hatch...but I will keep buying new blood from him every year he offers them up because of the superior quality of his birds...even if it means 2 chicks at a time. Heck even my own Barnevelder eggs from my mature birds have the same hatch rate their parent stock from Johan. Frustrating!

Here's a photo of the hobble I make for the chicks if needed. It's just a piece of vetwrap cut into about 5/8" strip and I wrap one leg and press together and then wrap the other leg and press together. I leave just a touch more than natural distance apart in the legs on the hobble.