Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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I don't think he is overmelanized at all. I think he looks pretty good on the color, nice and right in that happy middle ground for color. Around this area when I've seen people advertise BCMs they tend to be much more straw colored. Its not a color I like much at all. I have a cockerel I love the color on, but his hackles have started getting lighter lately.... does anyone notice that the coppering on the hackles lightens in the sun? This boy loves to run on the lawn and hang out in the sun a lot....so it makes me curious whether the sun could be a factor, or if the hackles will lighten over time on their own? and if it is a case of them lightening on their own...should he be culled for it? I can't keep'em all, and have never had the straw color before, so I'm not sure exactly what to think yet.

 

[gilavina]

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No! It's dry as all get out here, and 102 in the shade! And, to make it worse, my little window AC just froze up!

Guess I should've expected it, it's been running 24/7 for the last month and a half. Kept everything closed up and all ceiling fans and box fans are running. It's not too bad in here....so far. It should be defrosted by tonight, I hope?? Hope we get some good rain soon.

awww...that's too bad...i was really hoping that you would get some of that weather we had last night. The hard part about all the rain we got is that the humidity is so bad tonight that when I left work, I could hardly breathe. I don't have many problems with allergies or anything at all...so it kind of caught me off guard a bit.

Lets hope we can get a break in this weather soon! By the way...how is your garden doing? I know you said that a lot of it got wiped out, but I was wondering about whether anything ended up making it or not.

 

[gilavina]

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now, she is a cutie! I like her topline!

 

[Debbi]

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Back when they first came here (Marans) evidently someone thought that the introduction of Penedesenca chickens would help to improve egg color, or at least that's what I've read and heard. So now, that Pene blood is still milling around in our Marans gene pool here in the USA today. People don't pay attention to combs much I guess, and I am guilty as charged there myself! I'm now a comb snob, and can spot the carnation and the carnation wannbes, really quick! It takes two sets of genes to have the comb show up (express itself), but if the bird carries one gene, it can go unnoticed and passed on. Until one day, you mate two birds, each carrying the carnation gene, and VOILA!, carnation comb! You can spot it quite early, usually by 5-8 weeks from what I've seen here, and it almost looks like the comb is ingrown towards the back end when it starts to come out. Usually seen more in male Marans, but it does happen in hens too, I have one! This hen has produced two babies for me so far. How can I tell you ask?? They both have Carnation combs!

Obviously, because she expresses the carnation she has both genes, so, out she goes, out those babies go, and tonight I was even considering ousting her hatchmates as well. That said, no one else has produced that comb, no other hens show that comb, and I sure hope I don't see it again. I'm still learning here, so when the experts come in and correct me, well, take their advice!

I'm just going by what I have here, and what has been produced so far.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
I don't think he is overmelanized at all. I think he looks pretty good on the color, nice and right in that happy middle ground for color. Around this area when I've seen people advertise BCMs they tend to be much more straw colored. Its not a color I like much at all. I have a cockerel I love the color on, but his hackles have started getting lighter lately.... does anyone notice that the coppering on the hackles lightens in the sun? This boy loves to run on the lawn and hang out in the sun a lot....so it makes me curious whether the sun could be a factor, or if the hackles will lighten over time on their own? and if it is a case of them lightening on their own...should he be culled for it? I can't keep'em all, and have never had the straw color before, so I'm not sure exactly what to think yet.

YUP!!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
No! It's dry as all get out here, and 102 in the shade! And, to make it worse, my little window AC just froze up!

Guess I should've expected it, it's been running 24/7 for the last month and a half. Kept everything closed up and all ceiling fans and box fans are running. It's not too bad in here....so far. It should be defrosted by tonight, I hope?? Hope we get some good rain soon.

awww...that's too bad...i was really hoping that you would get some of that weather we had last night. The hard part about all the rain we got is that the humidity is so bad tonight that when I left work, I could hardly breathe. I don't have many problems with allergies or anything at all...so it kind of caught me off guard a bit.

Lets hope we can get a break in this weather soon! By the way...how is your garden doing? I know you said that a lot of it got wiped out, but I was wondering about whether anything ended up making it or not.



Nope. Between the flooding in May and the dadgummed heat in June and July, there is nothing left. My fault really, I baled when these temps and humidity got so bad. Sigh...maybe next year?

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
I don't think he is overmelanized at all. I think he looks pretty good on the color, nice and right in that happy middle ground for color. Around this area when I've seen people advertise BCMs they tend to be much more straw colored. Its not a color I like much at all. I have a cockerel I love the color on, but his hackles have started getting lighter lately.... does anyone notice that the coppering on the hackles lightens in the sun? This boy loves to run on the lawn and hang out in the sun a lot....so it makes me curious whether the sun could be a factor, or if the hackles will lighten over time on their own? and if it is a case of them lightening on their own...should he be culled for it? I can't keep'em all, and have never had the straw color before, so I'm not sure exactly what to think yet.

YUP!!

ok good....cause I like that little chunker and don't want to cull him quite yet. I have 3 cockerels growing up in the hatches behind gigantor and like each of them for different reasons...and was really hoping that it might just be sun bleaching more than something more serious. i just want to give them the time to see how they fill out and size up against each other....then I'll eventually have to make my decision on which ones make the cut. Gigantor is a no brainer for me...which by the way..this morning when I was doing chores he was standing next to me while I filled up their water and realized he's gotten taller again. He's also widening out. I might have a monster on my hands soon!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
awww...that's too bad...i was really hoping that you would get some of that weather we had last night. The hard part about all the rain we got is that the humidity is so bad tonight that when I left work, I could hardly breathe. I don't have many problems with allergies or anything at all...so it kind of caught me off guard a bit.

Lets hope we can get a break in this weather soon! By the way...how is your garden doing? I know you said that a lot of it got wiped out, but I was wondering about whether anything ended up making it or not.



Nope. Between the flooding in May and the dadgummed heat in June and July, there is nothing left. My fault really, I baled when these temps and humidity got so bad. Sigh...maybe next year?

that's too bad, but I totally understand why you bailed. Its been hard for me to keep up with the gardening this year. Part of that is due to my jobs and some changes with my hours and stuff. I'm working on getting the weeds under control again, but I have to work in spurts or I get way too hot and get to feeling sick. I picked my first ripe tomato last night...my original Marans hens picked the other ripe tomato. I was nooooot happy. They demolished that thing and it was just such a beauty of a tomato. The one I did get ended up weighing in at over a pound..the one they got was quite a bit bigger.
I'm also harvesting peppers of all kinds like crazy and eggplant too. Its been a really odd year here for gardening too...hard to predict what will do well and its doubly hard to keep things from getting too dry!

 

[Debbi]

Well, I did get three banana peppers and three cukes!

I should be rolling in cukes right now. I saw a sport squash plant has popped up, outside of the garden fence of course! Wonder how long it will take the chooks to see that? They were all tomato gluttens last year....sorry guys.

 

[DMRippy]

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Just with my own experience here, the pullets combs don't start turning red until they are coming up on point of lay. Here it varies from 17 - 24 weeks. Hate to say it, but if indeed you are seeing RED (not pink), combs and wattles at 10 weeks, they are most likely boys.

Best thing is to post some pics...we love pics!

Finally, got some time... Here is the suspect...not as red as the boys or as big as the boys but suspect...

Best I could do on camera work sorry

This is a girl (I hope) and she is pinking up but comb is not really getting bigger

This is a shot with the suspect next to a roo

Several girls are getting pinker too, could they be older than I think?

This is my "Redneck" Boy... I know he is not right, he has too much color especially on his breast but he is the only boy with really any color.

This is a group shot (most of them wanted the watermelon)

I am only breeding for me but I do want to do the best with what I have