Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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haha...that's ok...I have a black ameraucana cockerel that is gorgeous, but for some reason all of a sudden has decided I need to be attacked..he always waits til my back is turned and is one of my freerangers...so needless to say...I feel like if someone were to watch me do chores and didn't know about him...would think I was crazy. I'll be walking and just randomly turn around really fast because I hear birds running up behind me....I think he got too spoiled with treats and thinks that if I'm not going to give them to him everytime I see him then hes going to try to beat them out of me haha. I would get rid of him, but he really is a nice lookin bird. I wanna use him for olive eggers...so I'll at least have to put up with him through breeding season next spring

Ok, now the truth comes out!

I was thinking of maybe giving these young pullets to Pip. He still has never bred anything...except the coffee can, which has now been removed, and he was ticked off about that. Now that he is starting to look more manly, maybe instinct will kick in? Now Blue Butt is a different story. He will wait until I come home from the store, wait till I get out of the truck, and ATTACK! When he sees me outside, he's coming after me too. He's a big boy, and I can hear those feet thumping towards me. I have a net on a long pole that I keep by the run. The other day, I put it near to where I park the truck. When I got home and got out of the truck, I can hear him coming for me. What a dandy surprise he got! I netted that big terd, and just kept him in it for about 5 minutes. That memory kind of cooled his jets a bit, and he has calmed down a tad. I still keep a hoe by the front door, a broom by the back, and the net by the truck! That is NO way to live...can you say SOUP???

 

[gilavina]

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haha...that's ok...I have a black ameraucana cockerel that is gorgeous, but for some reason all of a sudden has decided I need to be attacked..he always waits til my back is turned and is one of my freerangers...so needless to say...I feel like if someone were to watch me do chores and didn't know about him...would think I was crazy. I'll be walking and just randomly turn around really fast because I hear birds running up behind me....I think he got too spoiled with treats and thinks that if I'm not going to give them to him everytime I see him then hes going to try to beat them out of me haha. I would get rid of him, but he really is a nice lookin bird. I wanna use him for olive eggers...so I'll at least have to put up with him through breeding season next spring

Ok, now the truth comes out!

I was thinking of maybe giving these young pullets to Pip. He still has never bred anything...except the coffee can, which has now been removed, and he was ticked off about that. Now that he is starting to look more manly, maybe instinct will kick in? Now Blue Butt is a different story. He will wait until I come home from the store, wait till I get out of the truck, and ATTACK! When he sees me outside, he's coming after me too. He's a big boy, and I can hear those feet thumping towards me. I have a net on a long pole that I keep by the run. The other day, I put it near to where I park the truck. When I got home and got out of the truck, I can hear him coming for me. What a dandy surprise he got! I netted that big terd, and just kept him in it for about 5 minutes. That memory kind of cooled his jets a bit, and he has calmed down a tad. I still keep a hoe by the front door, a broom by the back, and the net by the truck! That is NO way to live...can you say SOUP???

hahah....yeah...I usually don't keep mean birds...but he really is gorgeous. Its just been in the last week or two he's gotten sassy...and the only thing I can think of is that I have stopped feeding treats in the morning and am mixing them in with pumpkin and etc and feeding closer late afternoon the birds have something warm. Its starting to get colder more consistently now, but I don't think he appreciates it. oh well.
I'm curious to see how Pip ends up handling being in with some girls. Maybe he'll learn to relax a bit

 

[pinkchick]

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Ok, the gender guess are as follows:

#1 pullet

#2 pullet

#3 pullet

#4 cockerel

#5 pullet

#6 cockerel

and not pictured... #7 cockerel

 

[poultryluvr18]

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Hello!!
I am not expert on the Black Copper Marans or even the Partridge Plymouth Rocks, but I not to long ago thought about adding the partridge rocks and They are a very nice breed. my friend has them. She has 16 hens and 3 roosters and they are beautiful. decent layers straight thru winter and are very good mothers. she said she has a few hens that she gets an egg a day from but mostly they lay every other day. With this said if you are trying to choose between the 2 then egg color would be the deciding factor. both breeds if raised right are very friendly and beautiful. I choose the fbcms myself because they are beautiful and you just cannot beat those beautiful rich chocolate colored eggs. Good luck in deciding..Just remember with both breeds it is going to take much research, as i am still reading! The plymouth rocks will more than likely have to mature 1 year then after their first molt you can choose your breeders.. who have the best penciling. thats the only down fall to this breed..it takes so long for the mature feathers to come in to get the best breeders. this site has alot of useful info and wonderful people who will help out.

So they lay about the same amount? Also, I live in Idaho so winters can be a problem. Is there any problem with combs freezing in the Marans? My Barred Rocks all seem to be fine so I'm not worried about the Partridge Rocks, but I've had no experience with Marans.

 

[snowbird]

Breeding Maran with the Side Sprig and Carnation Combs

I see several asking about what it takes to get the side sprig in Maran. It takes the sprig gene on both sides mom and pop. The sprig can shown up in any breed of poultry even in the rosecomb. If one shows up just keep culling as you go along. There have been many studies done in years past and a lot of research info. is available.


Carnation Combs in Maran, There have been no studies done on the Carnation problem with the Penne blood being mixed into the Maran by the dark egg experts.

In my own mind I think it only takes one bird with the Carnation Comb gene to produce some Carnation combs. Anyone with these Carnation combs needs to document the test that are done with them in trying to test mate them, as there is nothing that has been documented at this point.

I have only ever had some ebay wheaten eggs from Wisc. that showed the Carnation comb, I culled the entire hatch and should have done a test hatch with them to see what happened, but that is water under the bridge.

With the sprig if you get a comb with a double sprig near the rear of the blade that is not carnation. By this I mean a sprig on both sides of the Comb

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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The answer to this question will depend entirely on who you ask!!!

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Again, depends on the birds but I believe you might find the Rocks to be more productive layers as a general rule.

Marans are still such a new breed. There is still WIDE variation in the birds. Most folks are still experimenting, working on, and improving Black Copper Marans - even the big name folks. Rocks are well established and much more consistent.

If you are looking for productive layers you should probably stick with the known quantity - the Rocks. I believe the biggest appeal with Black Copper Marans are their dark eggs.

 

[poultryluvr18]

Is there any way you could give me a rough estimate of how many eggs a week? I understand they won't lay as well as the Rocks, but how far behind are they? Don't worry about being exact, but just an aproximation would be great!

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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This past year, during late summer and early fall, I was getting 7-10 eggs per day from 11 hens. Starting about mid October they dropped off quite a bit. I'm now getting 4-5 eggs per week out of the same birds. This is their first season of laying. I am not using any artificial lights. This is with Marans, not Rocks.

 

[flgardengirl]

Most of my Marans girls lay about every day except the dead of summer heat here then they lay better in the winter but we don't stay much under freezing durin the day in the winter and might go a week at a time at the most -under freezing at night. The only rocks I have are the barred rocks and I would say they are better layers than the Marans especially during the summer heat. My silver laced wyandottes, leghorns, key west hens, and golden comets are the heavy duty layers all year around. They are workhorses for the other slackers.

 

[DMRippy]

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I have both, 3 blue rocks yesterday laid 2 eggs today 1, 6 Marans yesterday laid 6 and today 4. Both are spring hatch pullets and I would say at this point they lay about the same really. My guess is production will slow in the Marans as the eggs get bigger, but that is my guess.

Can you not have both? Test them for yourself see which one you like better. I have the blue rocks for looks and the Marans for egg color. I like unique birds