Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Arielle]

I personally have been breeding to a bigger bird. A lot of traits may have been lost when it was all the rage to breed for the darkest eggs. I process roosters for meat at about 16wks, and I find they are good size; they're no cornish cross but much better than a leghorn. I find them to have much bigger leg and thigh, and that is the best meat on them!

haahaaa- thigh is my favorite!! But if I'm going thru the effort, I'd like quite a bit of meat everywhere

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are my promised close-up pics of the comb sprig on BCM cockerel no. 7 (destined for the freezer):

 

[desertmarcy]

And speaking of combs, would you all comment on this Blue Copper Marans comb? Is the blade okay? Do you see any DQs in this comb? I am having a terrible time raising up a decent blue copper cockerel--I've culled I don't know how many so far that have had issues. Only have 3 left that I am still watching. This boy is the oldest:

 

[desertmarcy]

Pic of the day, Black Copper Marans cockerel #33. This boy is one of the younger ones. I don't much like his comb. He hasn't colored in yet. Still a little white on the wing tip, and darn those older cockerels, pulling his tail feathers I suspect. I don't see a lot to be enthusiastic about, but don't let me color your opinion--if you think he is good enough to watch, let me know!







I was having trouble getting pics of him away from the other birds. Here he is in the back, behind the other one.

 

[Arielle]

Here are my promised close-up pics of the comb sprig on BCM cockerel no. 7 (destined for the freezer):

The tiny point off the back of the comb is the sprig?? You all have superman x 10 vision!! lol

 

[snowbird]

Pic of the day, Black Copper Marans cockerel #33. This boy is one of the younger ones. I don't much like his comb. He hasn't colored in yet. Still a little white on the wing tip, and darn those older cockerels, pulling his tail feathers I suspect. I don't see a lot to be enthusiastic about, but don't let me color your opinion--if you think he is good enough to watch, let me know!







I was having trouble getting pics of him away from the other birds. Here he is in the back, behind the other one.

Marcy, Most all of these young males have funky combs. Look in the blade area most of them have a point coming out of the blade right at the beginning.. Take a look at the males and see if this is true on most of them. This look makes them to appear like they have a short Blade.

Where did these BC originate from the parents.

 

[desertmarcy]

The tiny point off the back of the comb is the sprig?? You all have superman x 10 vision!! lol

Yeah, that's the sprig. Don and Vicki spotted it, I was amazed. I caught him and examined it and could feel the little pointy bump, no problem, once I had him in my hands. But seeing it in the photo? I did not catch it.

 

[desertmarcy]

Marcy, Most all of these young males have funky combs. Look in the blade area most of them have a point coming out of the blade right at the beginning.. Take a look at the males and see if this is true on most of them. This look makes them to appear like they have a short Blade.

Where did these BC originate from the parents.

I bought hatching eggs off Ebay, January of 2011, seller's user name pwells777, I have no idea who that is, lives in Hermitage, MO. Overall I've been pretty happy with them as a starter flock, now just trying to breed them up. Seller said they were Wade Jeane and Cottage Hill lines. Some of these I have been posting "might" have come out of my Black Copper rooster over a blue copper hen and a black copper from a different person, I bought Blue Copper hatching eggs as well. I had one blue copper and one splash plus 5 black copper hens in my breeder pen with the one founding cock that I held back from the original hatching eggs. The blue copper and splash and one of the black copper hens came from an entirely different person and I had no way to separate and keep track of which eggs were which, so the black copper offspring all got mixed together. In my opinion, the Black Copper stock from the MO seller are better than the Blue Copper stock---I had no sprigs in the black copper stock and I did have sprigs in the blue coppers (not in the breeding pen), plus the Blue Coppers had way more extra breast coloring. Sorry, I'm rambling now, that is more info than you asked for!!

 

[desertmarcy]

I bought hatching eggs off Ebay, January of 2011, seller's user name pwells777, I have no idea who that is, lives in Hermitage, MO. Overall I've been pretty happy with them as a starter flock, now just trying to breed them up. Seller said they were Wade Jeane and Cottage Hill lines.

Oh, and I should add, I was impressed that the seller took the time and effort to include a copy of the Standard in with the hatching eggs. I figure if they did that, they were trying their best to breed to the Standard themselves or at least cared enough to have it.

 

[3riverschick]

I bought hatching eggs off Ebay, January of 2011, seller's user name pwells777, I have no idea who that is, lives in Hermitage, MO. Overall I've been pretty happy with them as a starter flock, now just trying to breed them up. Seller said they were Wade Jeane and Cottage Hill lines. Some of these I have been posting "might" have come out of my Black Copper rooster over a blue copper hen and a black copper from a different person, I bought Blue Copper hatching eggs as well. I had one blue copper and one splash plus 5 black copper hens in my breeder pen with the one founding cock that I held back from the original hatching eggs. The blue copper and splash and one of the black copper hens came from an entirely different person and I had no way to separate and keep track of which eggs were which, so the black copper offspring all got mixed together. In my opinion, the Black Copper stock from the MO seller are better than the Blue Copper stock---I had no sprigs in the black copper stock and I did have sprigs in the blue coppers (not in the breeding pen), plus the Blue Coppers had way more extra breast coloring. Sorry, I'm rambling now, that is more info than you asked for!!

Hi Marcy,
The Internet says you probably bought from Perry Wells : http://www.survivalseedsowers.com/Ordering-Details---Info-Page.html
At different places on the Net he sells both BCM and survival seeds.
Best,
Karen