Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

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Hi Slick,

Are the boys getting ready to molt? All of my boys molt very slowly, and I get feathers that turn white. They don't grow in white, they are black at the end by the skin. They don't get white tips either, the white shows up in the middle of an otherwise black feather! Mine show up in the sickle feathers of the tails, and every last roo I have here on my place has at least one of these right now! Myron lost his the other day, and Pip has one flagging in the breeze like a loose tooth!

After they are done with molting them out, what grows back in is black once again.

Lynette ~ My heavier feathered shanked boys get a white feather on each foot, but I find they molt out too, and grow back in normally colored.

Interesting. Mine don't seem to do that on thier shanks or feet even the street sweepers lol. Must be different in different lines etc.
You are right about the tail molting thing -I have seen that in a few of my boys right when they are getting ready to molt.

 

[flgardengirl]

Vicki: I take back what I said about the birchens and size (at least the males lol). That blue birchen boy is almost as big as most of my mature black copper roos now and he is still a baby. I just realized it today when I saw him run up and try and start sumpin' with one of the older BCM roos. All 3 of the birchens do seem to be extra spunky!

 

[gilavina]

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awesome! I've kept back 3 full colored birchen boys and 2 birchen boys that are an F1 cross from a solid roo I had to a birchen girl before the roo got snagged...so, they only have birchen collars, but those two are huge. The first three are getting size on them just now and are hitting 5 months. The main thing I notice with that line is that it takes them quite a bit of time to fill out. The girls for sure take well over a year before you start seeing them bulk up. I'll see if I can snap a couple of shots of birchen girls to show you how they have finished out from that line. I didn't keep many of the original stock...I think 2 girls and have a bunch of young ones growing out now. And yes...out of all the Marans...the birchens are the most spunky! That's for sure.

 

[Debbi]

I wonder why some varities are like that?? I can see the differences in the Silkie flock. The Partridges are the most laid back. The BBS are a bit more animated. The Whites are holy terrors!

 

[flgardengirl]

My 2 birchen girls are still quite small especially Sassy (the bl birchen) she is smaller than her younger sister. I bet she will stay on the small side.
I was thinking of putting my uber dark laying blue girl, Cocoa in with the bl birchen male for awhile. Cocoa is just a huge porker. She also had heavy feathered shanks and even a few feathers on her middle toe (her one bad fault) but my birchens are clean shanked so I'm hoping she can fix that. She has a very mellow personality but I kind of like them sassy so hope she doesnt tone them down to much personality wise lol.
I am interested in seeing your birchen x solid crosses so I can know what to expect on mine somewhat.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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I guess that explains why my white Ella is doing JUST fine with the Marans!!!!!

 

[flgardengirl]

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I guess that explains why my white Ella is doing JUST fine with the Marans!!!!!

You might be on to something, my white silkie male is a terror. My buff girl is mellow the partridges are pretty mellow and my blues are kinda sassy especially the splashes. The splash girl seems to like me to pick her up and hold her but sometimes she will just jump straight up and bite me when I set her down in her coop. What the heck?

 

[gilavina]

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I think you might be surprised about how they fill in. They may not ever get as big as your other stock, but the one light blue girl I kept was teensy tiny....and just since this summer when she hit a year old, she has bulked out....in a MAJOR way. This will sound stupid, but for a couple weeks this fall I was convinced that she had escaped the pen and had gone missing. It wasn't until I started hunting around in the nests where I had three girls trying to go broody, that I found she WAS one of the ones trying to go broody. Quite easily I would say she double her size after she hit her growth spurt. I guess I think of them kind of like the wyandottes, that grow easily for 18 months before you really know what you've got.

I think trying Cocoa in with him is a good idea. I have a splash girl that is just a butter ball that I'm pretty sure came from that same solid blue roo x birchen girl cross...she has the exact same carriage and look of her momma....she has one feather on a middle toe, but my boys are clean, so I'm hoping as well that they will average each other out leg feathering wise. i'll just be selecting for the proper leg feathering or as close to it I can get and settle in for the long haul working on them more.

I'll see what I can get for you photo wise over the next few days. Inventory is tomorrow at work, so I have no idea how that's going to go.

 

[Debbi]

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I guess that explains why my white Ella is doing JUST fine with the Marans!!!!!

You might be on to something, my white silkie male is a terror. My buff girl is mellow the partridges are pretty mellow and my blues are kinda sassy especially the splashes. The splash girl seems to like me to pick her up and hold her but sometimes she will just jump straight up and bite me when I set her down in her coop. What the heck?

My one Buff girl is like that. If I pick up another bird and it squeals, she attacks my feet or hands, whichever she can reach! Too funny! My lone Splash girl fence fights with the blue and splash Marans, no other colors. What's up with that? I think she's just jealous. She liked being the lone Splash for too long! One of the Blue cockerels is the pistol of the bunch, and he and the White monster, Mr. Bossy, will do the drop wing dance all day long, although I've never seen them get into it, they just love the bravado! They are such a strange breed, and so much fun to interact with.

 

[gilavina]

Is it bad that I'm not a silkie fan?

Just never could get into them...

Btw Debbi...I finally got an email sent off to ya...only took a few days eh?