Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Christie Rhae]

This past summer I set out to get a few starter birds of the marans and ameraucana flavor. I bought all my eggs from here and incubated them. I had terrible terrible hatch rates ( some batches were even a fat zero) but by September, I found myself with one marans cockeral and one marans pullet... along with 13 ameraucanas.
I just love this fella. His name is Igor. He is 4 months old. I got his egg from Peachick. He was the only one to hatch out of 12 so was super special to us right from the start. He is the only one so far to crow. It is so cute and pathetic. Not very loud... I dunno if they get louder as they get older?
Someone mentioned a couple pages back about the rudimentary toe. This guy has it...kinda why we named him Igor. He has very feathered feet. Even has feathers on the next toe. I read somewhere that feathers on the next toe is undesirable.
Our little marans pullet does not have near as many feathers on her legs and feet so maybe the two will compliment each other. lol

Just wanted to share... so proud of my lil teenager.

P.S. No pics of pullet yet... she is shy. lol Those guys in the background are Igor's Ameraucana buddies.

 

[stoopid]

Wow, to have any eggs hatch from a trip so brutal... Congrats!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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They are beautiful, Christie! And, yes, he WILL get louder. Very much so.

 

[pinkchick]

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Look at those puffy cheeks! Cute!

Your cockerel is pretty....is he suppose to be a solid Blue Marans or is he a Copper? Oh and he will definitely get his louder crow on, sooner than you think too. I love when they first start to crow.

 

[pinkchick]

Holy Cockeroli this was busy busy place yesterday!

I don't know if I will be able to catch up. WoW!




Thanks Math Ace and Mel!

 

[Stellar]

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Absolutely there has been progress made, with things like white feathers and clean shanked birds. Those faults are easy to see and weed out of the breeding program. Where the problem lies here, is you may never know you have a whole flock of carriers for these combs, until one day, you change something as in bringing in a new bird(s). Then you hatch out 100 birds, don't have a clue as to why they "look" different, and either breed them anyway, or pass them on as "Marans". This is where the research comes in, and this is why I brought this problem to light to begin with. Can't believe me and Kim are the only ones in the country with this problem, and from all the e-mails I have received, prooves I was right. It's just going to take time to straighten the whole thing out, and it probably won't come in my lifetime..

IMHO...the best thing a person can do is to "Super Cull" and get rid of the problems, thereby developing your "own" flock. I look forward to the day when "Pink Flamingo Marans" are held with as high of respect as Bev Davis birds. When you buy eggs or birds from another flock, you only open up your "own" flock to any defect that they may carry. IMHO.

I couldn't agree more. I don't post much here as I am in the quail section often. I have had some Marans with too much red on breast (culled), white feathers on shanks (dq and culled). I love Bev's birds. Superior quality and breeding. Now, I worked on cuckoos for 2 years now for egg color and feather shanks (keeping the two together) and finally have accomplished that goal with the help of Bev.

 

[math ace]

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PLEASE, let me know if you do this and how it works out. . . .

I have two of your pullets that I would have no problem doing the tesing on . . . but I would like to know how it goes with Gnarles first.
I am not setting eggs until January or Feb., so let me know if you do something before that. . . .

Your girls are already in with my beautiful dellie rooster ( Yes, I am as sweet on him as he is me! The dellie roo is my stalker roo that follows me all over the place doing the wing dance.

) So, I can set eggs without any trouble, but I want to be able to compare results with you.

It is simply the mathematician in me demanding validation of the results

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

So I chatted with our son last night about everything shared here yesterday about the BCM issues. He still wants to move forward with them. He is aware it will take time and lots of culling and wants to work with a breed that he can try and help improve. So with that said, I will be getting him set up here on BYC so he can ask questions as well as we embark on this.

These happen to also be the breed he chose for his science project this year that he is actively working on. So he needs more hatching eggs for his school project, anyone willing to sell some and ship please PM me so I can get them paid for. We will post pictures soon of the current chicks he has hatched.

Besides those that wouldn't work in his Marans pen can be egg layers for eatting or used for olive Eggers.

 

[snowbird]

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I have a suggestion for you, how about having your son do a project on the Penne influence chicks and see how they develop as the grow. Take a picture of the Penne influence fowl and start taking pictures of their young as they start growing to use as a research project.

 

[pinkchick]

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I have a suggestion for you, how about having your son do a project on the Penne influence chicks and see how they develop as the grow. Take a picture of the Penne influence fowl and start taking pictures of their young as they start growing to use as a research project.

I could definitely donate eggs for this cause when the girls pick up laying again.