Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

I think you are right that they were from cuckoos. I don't have access to the archive site, but would be interested to hear whether anyone has more info. I'll be seeing what I hatch this spring as I've also hatched out some birds from cuckoo to cuckoo crosses....who knows how it will end up going, but I'll give it a shot to see how it pans out.

 

[3riverschick]

Some one needs to let Nifty know that we need, REALLY NEED, to be able to edit our posts more than once.

Otherwise, I am going to have to type only ONE line responses

AND use lots of smilies

Who do we complain to???

This feature is driving me nuts because
I am constantly rewriting and amending posts with URL's and further notes.

plus, I am a terrible speller when typing and Edit is the only spell checker available.

 

[gilavina]

I have grown many types of kale, all were very prolific and hardy. Just picked the last tonight to give the chickens tomorrow (planted last May). It will keep growing all through the winter and will withstand many days of freezing. The leaves don't get slimy like the outer leaves on cabbage after a freeze. Siberian or Winterbor have a finer leaf that I like in a sausage soup I make, Winter red has a tougher leaf but is great as well. I don't think you could go wrong with any variety but some claim to be more winter hardy. If I put it on the ground in the pens, the chickens don't eat it but if I zip tie it to the fence it gets eaten in a hurry!

thanks for the info, that helps me be able to plan better!

 

[3riverschick]

I'd guess a mix based on the leg color...but if I had to put in a second guess...blue tailed buff. I've hatched those out before too! what the heck is going on??? They were from some marans girls I bought and tossed their eggs in the incubator for kicks to see if the person I bought them from had them in with a boy...and out they popped. Only the girls were this color tho...all the boys came out white with dark accent colors....odd.


Hi,
That's right. I got the same results with some eggs from Connie Zullo. Dams were GS from Missouri; sire was a Golden Salmon from non-GS parents. ( no black coppers involved). The females were lovely Black-Tailed Buff. The boys were all mismarked with darkness and I culled them. The girls have reached point of lay and laying a lovely 5-6 egg. They have white with rose cast shanks/feet. Lovely, BTB plumage. These BTB females were 25% of the hatch. 75% were mismarked males. still well worth it to get some nice BTB females froma new genetic wellspring.
Best,
karen tewart

 

[gilavina]

Well, I learn something new everyday. I didn't keep any of them, but did enjoy them, they were sweet and very cute. What would you cross those girls with if you didn't have a BTB boy?

 

[3riverschick]

Only the girls were this color tho...all the boys came out white with dark accent colors....odd.
--------------------wait a minute, white with dark? Not brown with dark like I got? --------
what kind of white with dark accents? You mean a red-shouldered silver duckwing like this?
http://www.poultrymad.co.uk/chickens/dutch.html
red-shouldered silver duckwing in upper right hand corner.
regular silver duckwing in lower right hand corner.
These are not m\Marans but the color is the same.

 

[3riverschick]

Well, I learn something new everyday. I didn't keep any of them, but did enjoy them, they were sweet and very cute. What would you cross those girls with if you didn't have a BTB boy?

I would cross them with a Golden Salmon male to winnow out any genes which might be recessive and keeping them from being pure BTB.
Hopefully 12.5% to 25% would be pure BTB. Make sure the GS male came from GS parents. Ed Hess might be able to help you there .
He is in Portland, Indiana.
Best,
karen
P.S. Only keep get with proper "white with pinkish cast" shanks/feet. regardless of anything you read. GS and BTB males and females should have ths color shanks/feet. Yes, I know the MCC GS proposed standard still states slaty black for female shanks/feet.

That is a error I hope is soon corrected. GS is a completely recessive color palette. e+/e+ s+/s+(-) only! Dark shanks means there a gene in there corrupting the proper GS palette, even if the only place one can see it is in the color of the shanks/feet. Sorry, a sore point with me.".

 

[gilavina]

I would cross them with a Golden Salmon male to winnow out any genes which might be recessive and keeping them from being pure BTB.
Hopefully 12.5% to 25% would be pure BTB. Make sure the GS male came from GS parents. Ed Hess might be able to help you there .
He is in Portland, Indiana.
Best,
karen

i dont plan on doing anything with them, i sold all of them all off, but just am naturally curious.

I'm also not feeling very well tonight, so I might be kind of slow absorbing info

 

[gilavina]

Only the girls were this color tho...all the boys came out white with dark accent colors....odd.
--------------------wait a minute, white with dark? Not brown with dark like I got? --------
what kind of white with dark accents? You mean a red-shouldered silver duckwing like this?
http://www.poultrymad.co.uk/chickens/dutch.html
red-shouldered silver duckwing in upper right hand corner.
regular silver duckwing in lower right hand corner.
These are not m\Marans but the color is the same.

there was a range of colors on the boys, which is what made me think they were mixed. i'll go back to photos and see what i can find for you. its amazing what you find when you have no internet and have plenty of time to sort photos i thought i had lost! back in a few minutes

 

[gilavina]

ok....these are all i could find really fast....they were really sweet, but didnt keep any of these either







im guessing mixed up birdies