Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[RyeRanch]

Can anyone tell me if a black copper Marans pullet has to have copper feather on her head or neck? I have 2 beautiful 13 week pullets who have a beautiful greenish purple sheen in the sunlight and dark black tiny combs. I panicked when I saw the sheen to their feathers, but nothing else about them looks remotely like a roo. I know they came from dark brown eggs.
Thanks!!

I have a BCMS pullet about the same age who has the green/ purple sheen to her feathers. I think you are pretty safe at 13 weeks. The Roos that are the same age have bright red combs and some quickly developing waddles.

 

[gilavina]

On black birds you will want the sheen no matter whether its male or female, in particular the more green sheen is what I select for. I will have to have a chat with my dad about specifics of why (I know its related to having more desirable genetics), so usually birds that are way more purple sheened if they are fantastic in every other respect, I will breed with them, but mark their eggs I set to see how they color out. I then will select for the sheen color in the following generation. Its something I've always don't around here with all breeds I've had that have black. I might be getting into hair splitting territory here, so take what I say with a grain of salt. There are so many other things to work on with the marans that need the attention. I will say however, I do find a correlation with my birds copper coloring being more evenly toned and patterned on the birds I select that have the sheen I like.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Amen. We have lost many precious acres to housing develeopments. One in particular makes me sad when I drive thru. I just can't find any pleasure in the beautiful homes. I saw it when it was pasture both sides of the road when I was on my way to the grain store. A zillion houses went up on several new roads, and the feed store is gone too.

"No Farms.....No Food"


The bumper sticker that adorns my vehicles, my parents vehicles, my sisters' vehicles and anyone else who comes over and agrees to have one stuck to their bumper.

I was raised hunting with my Dad and knew how to gut, skin, cut and wrap a deer or elk at a very young age. If and when Dad came home from huntin' camp with an animal, your buns better have been down at the shop pronto to help out or you didn't eat any of it.
We also raised cattle and pigs when I was growing up.......our favorite 2 cows were named Hamburger and Steak and that is exactly what they became.

Boy-o-boy......we lived on the edge in our younger days........we also drank unpasturized goats milk and cows milk.

Had a sister who would not drink fresh milk, so Mom always kept a gallon of "store bought" milk in the fridge for her.........................one year on Thanksgiving....my older sister and I switched it up and exchanged the store bought milk for goats milk...........and told her after she was done eating dinner. Can't discuss how much trouble we got in to.....but can say it was worth it.

I bet it was worth it!

 

[Arielle]

Responding to Marcy's inquiry about her Delaware cockerel. Off topic for just a moment.


Marcy~ I looked at your link. I really see nothing wrong with him.....his comb is not terrible, missing a point and having a small heavy twist or slight thumb mark is not a huge issue......his attitude is though.
How long has he been isolated?
Also.....he is at that age where he is nothing but one large hormone and not having any pullet to say....excerise his natural talents with may irritate him a bit more, so with out, it does not surprise me that they try and get away with flogging or some sort of aggresiveness at this age. So often folks are quick to cull young cockerels at this age because they believe it to be pure aggressiveness. If it is continued behavior that does not stop and they do it at everything and everyone....then yes it is aggressiveness and should be dealt with, if it is a one time thing or perhaps a 2x thing it very well could be hormones.


This is the age that I like to work with cockerels best..when they are froggy and feel like they have to jump. Riiiib-bit........riiiiib-bit little froggy.

Taunting the chicken, not you...LOL

If I have a boy like this.......this is when they are forced to trust me. If they don't get past their 'tudes here at this stage in the game, they are dinner. If they try jumping or flogging me 1 time they get the special humiliation treatment from me for about 2 weeks. If they feel so obliged to try jumping or flogging again they signed their own execution orders.

I am happy to say that I have only ever had 2 cockerels that ever got froggy with me.......one of them did not reform....the other is still living a happy healthy Welsummer lovin' life and will be 2.5 years old now. The lady that took him has her children in an out of the coops and chicken area and he has never tried a thing with her or the kids, or anyone. I carried this rooster around in a baby snuggie for 2 weeks as a portion of his humiliation treatment. Awe, the poor wittle baby! LOL!

I house excess cockerels together away from any of my breeding pens....away from everything for that matter. When I go down to do chores I pick a different cockerel each time I go in (unless one in particular needs the most attention then I work on him) and I pick him up and carry him around with me until I am done with chores. I talk to them like they are babies and stroke their heads, necks and bodies and lightly rub their combs and wattles. I get them used to me doing everything to them including a trip to "the attitude adjustment block" where I lay them down so they get a textile experience...."just because we feel it and touch it does not mean we should buy it"....is usually what I say to them. LOL!

Please understand that I am not saying all cockerels are going though hormonal changes and that is the blame.....some of them are just plain meanies and need to be dealt with. What I am saying is just don't be to quick to judge him if all it will take to calm him down again is a pullet or some behavior training.

Great write up of the details.

I had a young cockerel that would run up behind me and grab my pant leg with his beak. THis happened several times. I chased him for a minute each time. I did this about 4 times. ANd he quit being a pain. LOL

 

[Arielle]

On black birds you will want the sheen no matter whether its male or female, in particular the more green sheen is what I select for. I will have to have a chat with my dad about specifics of why (I know its related to having more desirable genetics), so usually birds that are way more purple sheened if they are fantastic in every other respect, I will breed with them, but mark their eggs I set to see how they color out. I then will select for the sheen color in the following generation. Its something I've always don't around here with all breeds I've had that have black. I might be getting into hair splitting territory here, so take what I say with a grain of salt. There are so many other things to work on with the marans that need the attention. I will say however, I do find a correlation with my birds copper coloring being more evenly toned and patterned on the birds I select that have the sheen I like.

Interesting observation.

 

[RyeRanch]

On black birds you will want the sheen no matter whether its male or female, in particular the more green sheen is what I select for. I will have to have a chat with my dad about specifics of why (I know its related to having more desirable genetics), so usually birds that are way more purple sheened if they are fantastic in every other respect, I will breed with them, but mark their eggs I set to see how they color out. I then will select for the sheen color in the following generation. Its something I've always don't around here with all breeds I've had that have black. I might be getting into hair splitting territory here, so take what I say with a grain of salt. There are so many other things to work on with the marans that need the attention. I will say however, I do find a correlation with my birds copper coloring being more evenly toned and patterned on the birds I select that have the sheen I like. 

Interesting, I had never heard that there was a preference for one color over the other . I just thought it depended on how the light hit them. I will have to look more closely.

 

[Arielle]

My file is filling up with pages of good info from this thread. Too much to reread it all, so I decided to make an abridged version!

 

[buckabucka]

My file is filling up with pages of good info from this thread. Too much to reread it all, so I decided to make an abridged version!

Are you publishing this? I always liked the cliff notes for Mahonri's Easter hatch.

 

[gilavina]

Interesting, I had never heard that there was a preference for one color over the other . I just thought it depended on how the light hit them. I will have to look more closely.

Its something I was taught from the time I was little, so its ingrained in me. There are birds that have both and some that will show either all purple or all green. Like I said, its small potatoes in a lot of ways, but where its something I've always done tend to notice it does make a difference in the coloring the bird will carry.

I did some looking around and found a bit of discussion on the matter and will post the link. The posts in particular by ritterhahn on there sound exactly like how my dad used to talk about things, but when I was little, most of that didn't make a ton of sense to me back then. I thought about calling my dad to ask, but figured where he's in the hospital right now, the last thing he needs is me bothering him about birds haha.

http://www.poultryconnection.com/fo...reen-sheen&s=a9d3a6bd316a850c497c78dfd4fc9ae9

 

[Arielle]

Quote: WHat cliff notes? What did I miss???