Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[geebs]

BRAVO: Okay... ground zero... THe bird is red or some shade of red.. The black covers the red... (copper)

You are balancing the color of the copper... red to wheat .... and you are also balancing the amount of black (called melanisers)...

grey to scarid green/black (I hope I used that word correctly)

There is enough black on the bird to produce good offspring that is clear.... THere is also the good copper balance... you have the recipe now you have to manipulate it using your hens..

Small fish... comb and leg feathring (as long as some exists)

Does this further help?

If the black is a little thinner (like spraypaint) on the front of the bird..some of the red (copper) will show through and you will see it... If only we could move the extra black from the chest,ear coverts, saddle to the leg then we would have a premium color presentation.. faults notwithstanding. Does this clear up the mud a little?

 

[Cadeau]

I, too, am at the very beginning of my journey!

I was lucky enough to get this cockerel from a BYCer and bought some 2mth olds from another BYCer.
Hatched and got day olds that will be mostly "eating egg" chickens.

From there - I'm on my way!!
Going to work with what I have and see how things go!!



So - for substance - I have one really chunky monkey 5 wk old cockerel.
He's not fat, but he is a BIG guy, very heavy compared to most of the others - has been since he hatched.

So...keep an eye on him for adding substance?



Can anyone tell me what a "thumbprint" on the comb is??

 

[geebs]

ya.. lets see em... I usually keep a couple roosters around.. I think you need em to add and subtract things... but that is me...always keeping an "ace in the hole".

I am out for now.. See ya all later...

 

[Bravo]

Quote:
I get where you're going. I think I misinterpreted your original comment (the one that prompted my questions) to something along the lines of you suggesting that you'd have liked to see more copper in the breast. Obviously that wasn't what you were saying. I'm a little slow today--caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.

In other news, knock on wood, all my little BCM chicks are making a full recovery from Cocci. The little pen of12 mostly pink combs/wattles can now compete with Lisa's rooster hatch rate. Somehow, even though I might win this round I still feel like a loser LOL

 

[Cadeau]

Geebs - that make a LOT Of sense to me!!

Thanks for that explanation.

So - melanizers are different than limiters in horses (which are more predictable)

It explains a lot that I'm working with a RED bird and adding black.



How does the shade of red work?

 

[birdygirl123]

Thanks for answering, because.. I'm the type of person that wants to be more of an assest to the breed.

I guess my thought is.. work on one fault at a time??.. If this roo has on little toe feather, but everything else is great.. then I would think that is a good place to start, and I would find myself lucky to be starting higher up in the game.. I would think the toe feathering would be easy to fix.. who knows.. maybe my lil guy with the middle feather.. maybe he will be perfect otherwise.. and it will be the ones with the leg feathers that will have the bigger flaws..

My biggest question now is what style of hens to I find.. I am going to need more to start my flock.. and I want to get them now while theses guys are young.. so i'm dealing with around the same age birds..

Quote:
I'm just learning all this with chickens as well. When you are dealing with genes, it's basically a crapshoot. When I was breeding dogs, I used some pretty doggy looking females, two of which, had I ever taken to a dog show would've gotten me laughed off the grounds! They weren't laughing after the pups hit the ground, one who went on to be an AM/Mex CH. and Specialty Show winner!

When I bred him to yet another ugly girl who had some things better than he did in pieces, those pups also excelled in the show ring. It's a pick your battles kind of thing, and trial and error too.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
I get where you're going. I think I misinterpreted your original comment (the one that prompted my questions) to something along the lines of you suggesting that you'd have liked to see more copper in the breast. Obviously that wasn't what you were saying. I'm a little slow today--caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.

In other news, knock on wood, all my little BCM chicks are making a full recovery from Cocci. The little pen of12 mostly pink combs/wattles can now compete with Lisa's rooster hatch rate. Somehow, even though I might win this round I still feel like a loser LOL

Glad all the ROOS are recuperating!

 

[Lotsapaints]

Great discussions this morning and we all follow our own paths with what we have to start with...I know first hand about not hatching many decent birds and the anger of being sent worthless eggs. I learn so much from Geebs and Don and from Pink and so many others who have been working with this breed for more than 3 years. Thank you Math for the pictures of the chicks I'm learning so much. Stubs are stubs I understand Don's point of not using them but I lean to Jan's answer and really appreciate flgardengirl's experience with the feathers on the middle toe. I have my Goldens who need feathered legs and darker eggs but I have the barn same with my Silver Cuckoos I need more leg feathers egg color is nice.....I hope Don will share his Black Coppers more I love that you are posting some pictures....I really hate trying to hatch shipped eggs but I sure have a hard time finding chicks to get shipped from any worthy breeder......so until then I'm working with what I have a little at a time thanks everyone for the help I'm loving it.

 

[geebs]

We are working with modifyers and restrictors... Some of the stuff is just over my head completely... but this much I understand... There is a variance in red.... starting at the straw end and ending in mahogany...our goal is the middle of the road.. you will have just a slight difference in color on the wing tips than the saddle... that is to be expected... But ideally you want to see copper from hackle to saddle.. that is the goal... the color copper... the black is what covers that and shows it off... knowing what lies under the black is an asset.. THe shanks are clear... but tinted... clear would show what the legs look like with nothing on them... (sorry so graphic) but the amount of melaniser is like photogray sunglasses... the amount of dark in your shade... depends on how much light they are exposed to... THe shanks are in essence photogray lenses!!! THe US likes to see just a little bit of the gray...not black... (not full on sunshine folks)

 

[Bravo]

Quote:
Isn't that the truth. The sire of my top-ranked special is nothing well...special--could barely finish his championship. The puppies he has produced have been awesome--he's been one of the top producing sires of CH progeny in the country for many years.

Don himself has even said on many occasions, to do a test breeding with your birds and see what they produce before you cull. I don't know why the same wouldn't apply to the rooster in question--or any bird for that matter. For my breeding program, I just don't have the space for that--if I did, I would be test breeding too.