Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[geebs]

Birchen is pretty prolific.. I am seeing splash... but test mate him...

edited because Dominant was not the right word

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I honestly do not know Steve, this is the first Splash bird, or first bird for that matter (or that I know about....sometimes folks don't keep in touch about how they grow up) that has colored like this and I have grown out many Splash birds from Bill and from my Davis birds and the crosses of Bill to the Davis birds....he is the first. He was also a very different color at hatch.....very silvery blue almost looked like my little Lavender AM babies when I used to have Lav's. I kept him because he was so different from the get go. Mel has his brother, Madison, there is quite a difference in two and was at hatch as well. Madison was very blue at hatch and feathered out completely different and more normal like all the other splash birds I've grown out.

I do know that I love this Splash whatever he is bird and would like to figure out if he is worth my time or if he should just be culled. The price of feed is really hitting home and feeding these mammoths boys produced from my Bill is getting pretty spendy.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I have some test eggs in the 'bator. I crossed him to my precious little "Blue" a second gen. dark blue copper pullet from Bill crossed over one of his dark blue daughters that doesn't show any copper....neither does "Blue." I'm just having a super hard time waiting to see what the outcome is going to be.

 

[geebs]

I have had birchen come out of the woodwork. It is my understanding that both the male and female have to be positive for birchen to show up... so unless you have added a new female from an outside line it is likely just an unusual presentation.. If you have a bird positive for it you will see it again. I had a birchen rooster and he did put birchen on EVERYTHING... It has been 2 lines ago but I remember wellt hat I couldn't get rid of it... Didn't know that all my hens carried it too... go figure... Hope this helps...

I need to edit a word... sorry folks... I mean prolific not dominant.... I used the wrong word... It takes two to make Birchen... What I mean by prolific is that if you are linebreeding at all and you have it... it is easy to double up and show up again. If you are not wanting birchen it is difficult to get rid of but if you are trying to get it, I would think it is fairly simple... I am not 100 percent certain how it operates but I had it when I didn't want it and then I couldn't produce it on purpose... Someone (bev) explained it to me last year but it didn't stick in my head. The problem with the Birchen line that I have found is that the dark egg gene gets lost there... It is really hard to produce a hen that lays #4. The experts have worked on this and so far are there I think with the egg color...now for bird type!!!

You may seriously have somethng to offer there Pink!!!

You may remember my birchen hen that showed up last year... She laid a dissappointing egg but the type was off the hook. She is placed in a birchen project pen. Keep us posted on that.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
Pink, I don't have any idea what he is besides "purty."

 

[whidbey]

Quote:
First he is fantasitc looking, love his color,his size and you can send him or some of his chicks my way any time. I would only be guessing as I am not a genitic expert, or even have a clue, what is his history, but have had a couple of Splash and Blues roosters and none looked like him, I would say there is something else showing up, but am sure that some of the experts can tell us
Mark

 

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
Thanks for the laughs! Good thing I was drinking my coffee this am while reading it

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
He's lovely...I vote splash birchen. He should give you something to work with for sure. If it were me I'd put him on some girls that are black or blue solids if possible and test mate them

do you have any girls from that same bloodline? If you do...using them will improve your chances of seeing whether there is birchen or not in him.

 

[Mountain Mel]

Quote:
I honestly do not know Steve, this is the first Splash bird, or first bird for that matter (or that I know about....sometimes folks don't keep in touch about how they grow up) that has colored like this and I have grown out many Splash birds from Bill and from my Davis birds and the crosses of Bill to the Davis birds....he is the first. He was also a very different color at hatch.....very silvery blue almost looked like my little Lavender AM babies when I used to have Lav's. I kept him because he was so different from the get go. Mel has his brother, Madison, there is quite a difference in two and was at hatch as well. Madison was very blue at hatch and feathered out completely different and more normal like all the other splash birds I've grown out.

I do know that I love this Splash whatever he is bird and would like to figure out if he is worth my time or if he should just be culled. The price of feed is really hitting home and feeding these mammoths boys produced from my Bill is getting pretty spendy.

Tell me about it! I have 7!

 

[Debbi]

Wow, everything was quiet last night! Anything exciting going on today??