Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[snowbird]

Comb improvements, This is from my own flock of Marans, to be honest the faults will be the same with other Marans flocks and other breeds of Fowl.

We have to take into consideration that most Marans have PENE blood mixed into them trying to get the almighty #9 egg on the chart. The PENE blood will show up in the males as a carnation comb, I have not had a carnation comb on a female. These should start showing up at around 4-6 weeks without looking real close. I believe the females are the ones with the back of the comb turning sideways. I believe if we discard the Marans with all the points on the blade we can eliminate most of the faults from our flocks.

The only way to pinpoint where the sprigs are coming from is to single mate and mark all the chick when they come out of the incubator. If you get some sprigs from a mating' switch these two with a mating that didn't have sprigs in the offsprigs. Most oldtimers just recommend culling anything producing sprigs.

When breeding try and breed fowl with 4-6 points and you will have lots of real good combs. The comb points do not bother me unless they look like a row of fence posts. Try and keep the points off the blade by culling. The sprigs and the split comb are DQs and the twisted comb and thumbprint are faults. Most of the comb faults will reproduce themselves.

Will start working on the fault pictures this weekend. I still plan on doing the study this fall with the single matings and will document everything from the egg until adult.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Yes, the sprig can just be a small bump, I have seen a judge use his thumbnail accross a comb looking for a sprig. They will also do this if they suspect a sprig has been removed with a razor blade. The sprigs have been around on chickens for ever and very little research has been done or at least documented. The sprigs can also show up on the female also.

 

[poularde]

wow... thanks Don. I look forward to that wealth of info.

 

[flgardengirl]

I am gonna go and catch the little pullet that has a side sprig. It is the first time I've ever seen one in a female. I will post a pic later tonight or tomorrow because I have a lot of errands to do today. It is a shame because she is pretty other than that and will prob. lay dark. I guess she will make a nice egglayer for someone.

 

[seabreeze]

Thanks Don.

Do the Penes lay darker eggs than the Marans so that is why the crosses occur/occurred? (pardon my ignorance)

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
When first mixed into the Marans they layed much darker and still lay darker than most Marans. They are real flighty and more Game shaped and have the white ear lobes explaining where a lot of Marans got the white in ear lobes.

 

[seabreeze]

I had heard that about the Pennes' being flighty but didn't know they lay a darker egg. I like my Marans' more mellow disposition as well as that stocky substantial build! Maybe that's why I love my breed of dog too

...thick, stocky and powerful with mellow temperaments

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Ok, thanks for that Don. Is it possible then, to have a sprig but not pass it on? If there have to be two sets of dominant genes, would it only express itself (sprig/s) when mated to something that also had that pair of genes? I can see where it would lead to doubling up on the undesirable genes down the road when breeding back to a parent or sibling, but if you stayed clear of that type of mating, could you eventually breed it out entirely? Sounded good in my head, hope the idea came through in type!

ADDED: Also, do side sprigs tend to show up with any other specific faults? Like for example, sprigs and white feathers, or sprigs and different color varities? In otherwords, are the sprigs linked to anything else that you have found?

 

[Ivywoods]

I've only hatched one chick with a side sprig. BUT considering I've really not hatched very many marans chicks, it would be hard to say what the percentages are. I've got a number of eggs in the incubator right now out of the same rooster, but unfortunately I have no idea what egg came from which hen.

Thanks, Don, for all the info. I've found this to be a very interesting and helpful discussion.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Don......I would be walking around in the dark if it weren't for you and peeps like VillageChicken, Wynette, Geebs and more! THANK YOU for your thoughts and insight......as soon as my Lil' Bill is doing his thang, I'm going to be very busy test mating alot of birds.
If I play my cards right and the hatching gods are with me, I will have a nice Black Copper out of Bill and then I will be set for 3 males from Bill that have nice combs, feathered legs, good type, fantastic eye color and one of each color, Black, Blue and Splash.
One day with any luck all of my birds will have Bill blood in them.