Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Hey Vicki ~ Got any new pics of Gigantor and Big Boy's chicks?? Can't wait to see them all grown out! Gees, after all the bragging about cleaning out the roos yesterday, I just looked at the calendar, and today is day 16 for my Wynette eggs! I should have more roos by the weekend!

I don't have any new pics...I'm charging my camera and hoping that it will be ready by the time I get home from work tonight. If I'm not hurtin too bad, I'll try to get some when I get home.

haha too funny, more chickies are on the way! Have you candled them to see what they look like?

 

[berkeleysprings]

I have a question what is the word used to describe male and female wheaten marans haveing totaly different colors but breed true. from a genetic standpoint wouldn't let hen have just as much to say about the color of a rooster. wouldn't her genetics play a 50% part in the roosters coloring?

 

[DMRippy]

I get to practice with the feathering thing now. The Cuckoos some have feathered legs most don't. So the silver cuckoo has some middle toe feathering and he is in (or will be in) with all my pullets to improve leg feathering. From those chicks I will cull all the clean legs and THEN maybe I can start culling for darker eggs. Or vice versa.... I may tag the ones from dark eggs too. This is a long road.... I see why you got rid of them Becky

Thanks

 

[Debbi]

I have a question what is the word used to describe male and female wheaten marans haveing totaly different colors but breed true. from a genetic standpoint wouldn't let hen have just as much to say about the color of a rooster. wouldn't her genetics play a 50% part in the roosters coloring?

Hi ya Randy! Is the word "Dimorphic"? As in sexually dimorphic?? I do not know the answer to the other question, but I do know some people breed one line specifically for roos, and another for hens. Wonder if ever the twain shall meet??

 

[Debbi]

I used the same set of hens and roo last summer. I hatched ALL year long last year... I really didn't notice it being an issue until just recently.
That may of been because I had so many other defects that I was culling hard for.

Middle toe feathering was not an issue for the parents... Of the offspring, I have two really nice specimens. They are my favorites from all the rounds of culling and are carrying the middle toe feather. One is a hen and the other is a young cockerel.....
The question was is it an even split.... Well, I know for a fact that I produced a heck of a site more MALES than I did females last year LOL...
I produced 5 males for every single female BCM. . . . Right now, just looking at what I have left on the property it would appear evenly split. However, considering how many males I hatched and how that wasn't one of my big issues - IDK....

Typically, I wouldn't keep or use a bird with a middle toe feathering. However, these two birds are so much better (IMHO) than ALL the others that I hatched last year that I have to TRY something with them. Originally, I had planned on breeding these two together BUT not anymore. The cockerel I am going to use over a clean shank hen. The hen with the middle toe feathering I really really, Really, REALLY, like... will just have to set out of action until this fall.
I don't want to mate her back to dad because he would take away from her type, although he has wonderful shank feathering... UGGH. I will just have to wait and see what the middle toe feathered cockerel and clean shank hen produced... SLOW going here, REALLY SLOW going...

I hear that one for sure!!! Thanks Lisa.

 

[Debbi]

I don't have any new pics...I'm charging my camera and hoping that it will be ready by the time I get home from work tonight. If I'm not hurtin too bad, I'll try to get some when I get home.

haha too funny, more chickies are on the way! Have you candled them to see what they look like?

Nope didn't bother to candle this time, my flashlight is not up to the task. I'll get what I get...

Hope the chicks don't blow away today! Gees, 50mph gusts here...

 

[pinkchick]

Hi guys! I have solid blue marans no copper mixing in them! Their darkest egg is a. 5- 6 and lowest a 3 how do i improve them without using copper? Thanks

You can increase egg color by backcrossing your birds...ie......use a rooster that hatched from the darkest egg and a hen that hatched from your darkest eggs. Cross these 2 birds and only set the darkest eggs they lay. Hopes from here are of getting another rooster to hatch from one of those darkest eggs. Grow this rooster out and cross him back to his mother. (The pullets from this hatch can be bred back to their father.)
Each year (using the same hen) for about 4+ years or 8 generations you will hatch a rooster from only your darkest eggs, grow him out and breed him back to his mother/grandmother/greatgrandmother/greatgreatgrandmother and so on....get it? You are keeping a matriarch hen and she will be used with the new rooster you hatch out every year from a dark egg. After approx. 4 years of backcrossing the egg color will darken up and you should see the results in the female offspring of each generation..
This can also be done using father to daughter matings using the same method as the son to mother. Remember to always hatch the darkest eggs and breed roosters and hens that you know for sure came from a dark egg.

 

[gilavina]

Nope didn't bother to candle this time, my flashlight is not up to the task. I'll get what I get...

Hope the chicks don't blow away today! Gees, 50mph gusts here...

ugh....that was yesterday here. they are talking 70's here today

 

[Debbi]

You can increase egg color by backcrossing your birds...ie......use a rooster that hatched from the darkest egg and a hen that hatched from your darkest eggs. Cross these 2 birds and only set the darkest eggs they lay. Hopes from here are of getting another rooster to hatch from one of those darkest eggs. Grow this rooster out and cross him back to his mother. (The pullets from this hatch can be bred back to their father.)
Each year (using the same hen) for about 4+ years or 8 generations you will hatch a rooster from only your darkest eggs, grow him out and breed him back to his mother/grandmother/greatgrandmother/greatgreatgrandmother and so on....get it? You are keeping a matriarch hen and she will be used with the new rooster you hatch out every year from a dark egg. After approx. 4 years of backcrossing the egg color will darken up and you should see the results in the female offspring of each generation..
This can also be done using father to daughter matings using the same method as the son to mother. Remember to always hatch the darkest eggs and breed roosters and hens that you know for sure came from a dark egg.

Mornin' Pink!

Does the sibling to sibling breeding improve egg color any, or have you not tried that one? I need to improve my color, but it is down on my list of priorities for the time being.

 

[pinkchick]

Hi ya Randy! Is the word "Dimorphic"? As in sexually dimorphic?? I do not know the answer to the other question, but I do know some people breed one line specifically for roos, and another for hens. Wonder if ever the twain shall meet??

Quote:

Randy....the hens do play a part in the roosters coloring.
For example.... when looking to increase intensity of hackle color in my Welsummer males.....I am sure to use females that have excellent shafting in their breast...this increases and improves color in the male hackle. If I want to increase shafting and deepen the hackle color of my females I use a rooster that shows good and proper amounts of red in his breast. So yes.....hens do contribute to the coloring of the males. Sorry to use the Welsummers as an example but it is what popped into my mind first.
Hey Randy? Are you going to be shipping out any hatching eggs this year? My best friend's beautiful Wheatens rooster passed away this weekend and she is heartbroken. I would like to get her some eggies and surprize her.