Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

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Mine got wet and dry pox at the same time..... I lost a few birds to the wet pox before we knew what was going on.... We were just plain ignorant! You have to be aggressive with the wet to have the bird recover. We didn't loose anymore after that, BUT it was a lot of work.... We were careful not to spread any of the spores to the other birds on the property. We always took care of the sick birds LAST and then totally changed our clothers.

NO FUN is the understatement of the year! If your stock is at that Crazy pick on each other age.... it will spread and spread and spread.... The bullies get it first, but it will eventually make its way through everyone in the pen. Eye ointment, antibiotics, triple antibiotic EVERY DAY EVERY BIRD
.. . .

 

[babigyrl22]

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Actually, momma is a real docile bird. She just puts up a weak fuss if you mess with her. She is all cluck and no peck.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

I'm looking for advice on a Marans rooster I have. I was told that he is a Blue Golden, which I have never heard of. I have also been told that he is Blue Birchen, who carries a copy for one silver gene, and one gold gene, hence the two colors showing up. I have heard of Blue Birchen, but have not worked with Birchen's of any sort in the past. Is a Blue Golden a new variety, or just a Birchen with gold leakage?

I also have a splash hen, a black hen and a black copper hen. Just trying to figure out how to move forward. Should I not even bother breeding him to my hens? Should I just get some pure Birchen Marans hens to breed with him? If I do breed him to the hens I have, what would be the quickest way to get a pure variety? I'm just trying to figure out the best thing to do here. Any advice on what you would do would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[nincomcoop]

New pics of our 8 week old Blue Copper girls!

 

[Debbi]

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No such thing as a Blue Golden variety in Marans. He is, I still believe, a Blue Birchen carrying both the silver and gold genes. As to who to breed him to, realize it will take several generations (if not more) for the silver to really show up well, as desired. Is your Black hen born of two pure Black parents, or was she derived from a Black Copper breeding, and is just not expressing the copper? Realize also, the Black Coppers are also Birches, only expressing the gold gene. As for the Splash hen, that may be the way to go. You will get both Splash and Blues out of the mating. Did your Splash come from pure Blues, or Blue Coppers? If she is from pure Blue and not just hiding the copper, then in my opinion that would be the one to try him on. I may be totally wrong here, but that's my line of thinking. Take the Blue daughters from himxsplash hen and breed them back to him. If you are lucky enough that the "Black" hen doesn't carry any copper genes, which is very unlikely, that would be the way to go. It would still take a few generations to get the color right there again too. There are others on this thread that do have Black and Blue Birchens, so if I'm waaaay off track, they will chime in for ya!

 

[jeremy]

The egg my Wheaten girl gave me today, pretty good color still for a hen who's been laying since late February...

 

[Debbi]

Nice on Jeremy! I love the little "beauty marks" on it!

Here is what I've been getting from my two new layers. So far, one of them is laying double yolkers in two of her eggs. The egg size so far, is a medium, so hopefully they will get bigger and darker!

 

[jeremy]

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Thanks Debi, I love the little "pimples" on her eggs.

Beautiful eggies, I can never seem to collect enough eggs before they get eaten to take pictures like that.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

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Oh, I have chocolate egg envy! I have all EE and OE except for some brown egg layers I picked up in a late spring panic of not enough layers. An Australorp laid her first egg and it was so brown compared too the others it only made me yern for a real dark brown!!! So I found my way to this thread to confirm my addiction to colored eggs! Hey, I'm an artist!

 

[gilavina]

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No such thing as a Blue Golden variety in Marans. He is, I still believe, a Blue Birchen carrying both the silver and gold genes. As to who to breed him to, realize it will take several generations (if not more) for the silver to really show up well, as desired. Is your Black hen born of two pure Black parents, or was she derived from a Black Copper breeding, and is just not expressing the copper? Realize also, the Black Coppers are also Birches, only expressing the gold gene. As for the Splash hen, that may be the way to go. You will get both Splash and Blues out of the mating. Did your Splash come from pure Blues, or Blue Coppers? If she is from pure Blue and not just hiding the copper, then in my opinion that would be the one to try him on. I may be totally wrong here, but that's my line of thinking. Take the Blue daughters from himxsplash hen and breed them back to him. If you are lucky enough that the "Black" hen doesn't carry any copper genes, which is very unlikely, that would be the way to go. It would still take a few generations to get the color right there again too. There are others on this thread that do have Black and Blue Birchens, so if I'm waaaay off track, they will chime in for ya!

Hey Debbi Debs!

You asked pretty much all of the questions I was going to ask the OP...but you can use any of those girls...depending on which ones you pick, that will determine how you need to set up your breeding program to eventually get to pure silver and/ or blue birchens. Regardless...if you hope to ever get to where you have consistent pure silver coming through in a line...you will NEED breeding records and in your case would recommend individual mating so you know what chicks come from which hens. Otherwise...you will be taking a lot of stabs in the dark and making more work for yourself in the long run....