Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[laughingclown]

Some have a "slow feathering" gene. Don't worry about the feathers unless they are being picked off by a buttheaded sibling.

If you responded to my post I was talking about the leg feathers and forgot to state that sorry. Though the luck I have sometimes Im surprised I dont have bald chicks. Maybe they would look like him!

 

[stoopid]

Oops, yes, but I heard if you take them to Canada, there is a dew that grows leg feathers.

Sorry, it's an inside joke.

 

[heath_elisha]

Believe me when I say; even though he has nice feathering, he can only pass on so much of it. In otherwords, if you are breeding him to ladies with no or very sparse feathering, you will get chicks with NO or very light feathering. At least that is what I've found here. Now, breed his daughter back to him, and the shank feathering should make some improvement. It may well take several generations for the shanks/toes to get where you want/need them to be.

Thanks for the input- I am very very new to the whole breeding part of it and you have clarified that point for me. There is just so much to learn..... guess I just need to decide what is important to me and run with it. I am not showing these birds- just for fun to make a colorful egg basket to cook from. Either way- I know that I can sell these birds easily in my area. Everyone loves chocolate

Even our beautiful mutt birds- people scoff them up faster then you can imagine. In fact, I have a date with the hatching guy on tuesday- we are swapping an easter egger for him to hatch some blue and black coppers for me lol ooooh yeah!

super excited... can you tell? I do believe you all have rubbed off on me and now I am an addict

 

[heath_elisha]

Oh, and if you send him packing to Vicki, he has to go through Missouri, so he may just as well stay here and rest up a bit!

I think Rocky looks very promising!

from Mass.? Are you just trying to redirect him? haha

And if you ladies love him so badly- you can have him! LOL!

 

[gilavina]

And if you ladies love him so badly- you can have him! LOL!

I'd take him!

 

[desertmarcy]

Taking pics of some birds today, so I thought I'd take some new ones of my Black Copper Marans cock for critique. He is just a week shy of 14 months old. Do you think he has a squirrel tail? I don't think it is set as high as the pics I've seen of that fault, but I'd like the expert's opinions. And other things needing improvement on him, since I'm raising up so many cockerels right now. Thanks

 

[Debbi]

Marcy ~ While I would not call that a Squirrel tail, the sickle feathers look exceedingly long to me. I like his color, but he has too much coppering on his breast for me. That said, if you have a bunch of very dark hens with no copper, he should bring it out in the female offspring. The blade of the comb sits on his neck, it should stand off, but otherwise it looks good. All in all, I like him, it's the tail that throws me the most.

 

[Debbi]

And if you ladies love him so badly- you can have him! LOL!

Send him to Vicki, she is the Birchen gal! All I need right now is another color...or chicken for that matter!

 

[Debbi]

Has anyone tried this method for hatching?? I assume they are setting the temps at 99.5, and they said they were using the dry method, so humidity would be low. Never heard the bit about "no turning" for 7-8 days???

Let rest 24 hours prior to setting
Set in an upright position for seven days, no turning.
Start turning on 7-8 day, either upright or on side.
Turn till day 18
Move to hatcher
PRAY!!

 

[gilavina]

Hey Debbi! Wed night I put 71 eggs in the hatcher and this morning they started popping at their regularly scheduled 24 hours ahead of schedule. I currently have 12 and 59 more to go. This is my second set of eggs from the pen with my alternate BCM roo. He's got my best girls, so I'm excited to see what they produce. Tons more pips in those 59 remaining eggs, so should be an eventful night!