Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

They can for sure. I would pick for the pea comb to increase the chance of an olive egg. I have 2 EE with puffy cheeks and straight comb and brown eggs

I may sell them, but they are so pretty

Maybe I will get olive eggers from them in the chicks...

they lay a nice dark egg and are with a green egg roo.

that's what it was....I couldn't remember what has been said in the past about olive eggers and peacombs. I'm curious to see what she ends up looking like as she keeps growing...she has a fabulous body type....so she might go to the layer pen when she's older.

 

[gilavina]

Evidently, they are just now talking about it in the OE thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/131131/the-olive-egger-thread/3910

haha thanks lady! I didn't even know there was an Olive Egger thread. I am behind on the times apparently. Might be cause I'm outside most of the time if I'm not at work

 

[gilavina]

No they do not always have peacombs and the females seem to get more peacombs than the male chicks do for some reason. You will get less peacombs if you breed back to Marans for your 2nd generation and more if you breed back to Ameraucana in the 2 nd generation. I have some girls with a straight comb that are Marans x Ameraucana that lay brown eggs that definitely have a green tint to them. Not quite olive but not solid brown either lol. The females that get the straight combs usually have a floppy comb too. I have one OE with the floppy straight comb that lays so good I kept her and put her in the layer pen. Her name is Flopsy LOL. Its wierd but the OEs are better layers (more reliable) than both the Ameraucanas and the Marans.

that's an interesting fact...that the OEs are better layers...I guess that thought never occured to me. I'm going to go back through my chicks from that pen again to make sure she's the only one....they zip and zoom so fast its hard to get a clear look at them.

 

[flgardengirl]

They are definitely better layers. The Orpingtons x Marans are excellent layers as well. I did a cross of lavender orp male x black marans female and the offspring hens lay pretty much every day, a #4-5 (on the Marans chart) extra large egg.

This is kinda hard to tell from the pic but the egg on the left is a Olive egg. The one on the far right is Flopsy's egg (she has a straight floppy comb but is Ameraucana x Marans). It is brown in some light but has a greenish cast. I kinda like it. The other straight combed OE girls seem to lay this way too whether crossed back to Marans twice or just once.

Another OE ...just for fun LOL

 

[gilavina]

They are definitely better layers. The Orpingtons x Marans are excellent layers as well. I did a cross of lavender orp male x black marans female and the offspring hens lay pretty much every day, a #4-5 (on the Marans chart) extra large egg.

This is kinda hard to tell from the pic but the egg on the left is a Olive egg. The one on the far right is Flopsy's egg (she has a straight floppy comb but is Ameraucana x Marans). It is brown in some light but has a greenish cast. I kinda like it. The other straight combed OE girls seem to lay this way too whether crossed back to Marans twice or just once.

Another OE ...just for fun LOL

I wouldn't mind in the slightest if I ended up with an egg like Flopsy's I thinks its beautiful. Its a beautiful green gold color.

 

[flgardengirl]

It makes for a nice egg basket lol. I just love seeing all the different colors in my fridge. I wouldn't mind some of those pretty purple eggs either lol.

 

[gilavina]

It makes for a nice egg basket lol. I just love seeing all the different colors in my fridge. I wouldn't mind some of those pretty purple eggs either lol.

yeah...I admit...I smile alot when I get some of those really bloomy eggs. I have an egg buying customer that just goes gaga over them...makes me laugh at how excited she gets!

 

[Debbi]

Funny you said that. I was standing in front of my fridge today, admiring my pot of eggs! I would love to have some blues and olives in there too, but then, I might never use them! They are so pretty, I cringe every time I crack one open.

 

[flgardengirl]

I have one blue copper hen, that every great once in a while, I get a bloomed egg that is sorta mauvish but I have tried setting them and they never hatch. I don't know if they are more porous or what. It's wierd. I wonder if you crossed a mauvish layer to an Ameraucana and got it to hatch if you could a nicer purple?

 

[flgardengirl]

Funny you said that. I was standing in front of my fridge today, admiring my pot of eggs! I would love to have some blues and olives in there too, but then, I might never use them! They are so pretty, I cringe every time I crack one open.

I love my Ameraucanas to death they are the sweetest friendliest birds I have, even all 4 roos that I kept LOL. The problem is they are horrid layers. They seem to stop when it gets too hot. They don't seem to lay when it is winter. Sooo basically they lay fall and spring and that's it. One of mine actually went broody this spring. I didn't let her set on eggs because then she would quit laying for awhile and she doesn't lay enough as it is lol.