Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Quote:
At 10 weeks it is way too soon to tell. At the juvenile molt, at around 6 months, is a better indication. Even then, they may not molt out those feathers until their adult molt at 9 months to a year of age. Be patient, and at least wait until the juvie molt. JMO

 

[Debbi]

A couple of this year's Black Copper Marans pullets are just starting to lay. Here are the first few eggs laid:

How do you grade color when the background is light but there are dark speckles all over it like this?


Here are some darker ones, but so far, nothing beyond a "4" to my eye:

Marcy, For me, personally, I go by the base color. While those spots are interesting and pretty, they do not make up for the lack of background color that says Marans to me. I have a Splash hen that lays a light egg with dark spots, and to me that says more work needs to be done, if not cull. If her daughter doesn't lay a darker egg than her Splash mom, they are both outta here! While we all are trying to breed towards the SOP, we need to remember that the dark eggs is what made this breed unique in the first place, and try to strive towards both ends. JMO

 

[Connie Marie]

At 10 weeks it is way too soon to tell. At the juvenile molt, at around 6 months, is a better indication. Even then, they may not molt out those feathers until their adult molt at 9 months to a year of age. Be patient, and at least wait until the juvie molt. JMO

Thank you! Patience is not my virtue . I'll try hard. I am glad you said that because one of the Roos is becoming a favorite. He follows me everywhere and comes running to me when I am near. My husband says he's my little puppy. I did not like the idea of culling him!

 

[pinkchick]

I believe when they say too much color they are talking about hte blended Hackle feathers and this should not be bred into them if you have nything else to use. I would worry more about all the white in the tail section, now this is a problem.

I see a glare possiblly from the flash of a camera I do not see white.

 

[pmessner]

So did you get your birds from the folks at art and verse? Is yours from the same line, then... or are there different lines out there? If I crossed birchen with cuckoo would I get silver cuckoo?

I have a birchen marans roo ... I am crossing him with a black marans hen I picked up locally from someone. She has an orange band so I think maybe she was in an egg production flock somewhere and culled out at some point? ... I have a particular fondness for her because when I first got her she disappeared the first day and I thought perhaps she was taken by a predator? some 3 weeks later she turned up and I realized she had been hiding in the woods on her own all that time... such strange chicken behavior... never came to the coop to roost, never joined the flock, never uttered a sound to let me know she was still around... just one day while I was leaving in the car she suddenly ran out of the bushes and scooted right across the driveway in front of me... I have no idea what she had been eating or how she survives... How she did not get eaten by a predator is still a wonderment to me. I have named her Amelia, for the one that flew away but in this case, came back. She is very oddly independent... anyway... the first eggs from crossing her with the birchens roo hatch tomorrow if all goes well. My first marans hatch. Hard to candle, aren't they!

 

[gilavina]

So did you get your birds from the folks at art and verse? Is yours from the same line, then... or are there different lines out there? If I crossed birchen with cuckoo would I get silver cuckoo?

I have a birchen marans roo ... I am crossing him with a black marans hen I picked up locally from someone. She has an orange band so I think maybe she was in an egg production flock somewhere and culled out at some point? ... I have a particular fondness for her because when I first got her she disappeared the first day and I thought perhaps she was taken by a predator? some 3 weeks later she turned up and I realized she had been hiding in the woods on her own all that time... such strange chicken behavior... never came to the coop to roost, never joined the flock, never uttered a sound to let me know she was still around... just one day while I was leaving in the car she suddenly ran out of the bushes and scooted right across the driveway in front of me... I have no idea what she had been eating or how she survives... How she did not get eaten by a predator is still a wonderment to me. I have named her Amelia, for the one that flew away but in this case, came back. She is very oddly independent... anyway... the first eggs from crossing her with the birchens roo hatch tomorrow if all goes well. My first marans hatch. Hard to candle, aren't they!

No I didn't get mine from them. My first came from some regular cuckoos I had and took me quite a while to realize what I had. I've talked with him from Art and Verse about the Silvers and their breeding program and etc and they are lovely people. He's seen my birds and is intrigued because he is seeing the same stuff they had when they got their start. What I did was found someone that was selling what they call silver cuckoos here in the states and am going to start working and test mating to see if I can develop them further. I don't think there enough silvers anywhere in the world to say that they come from one line over the other. I'm working with what I could find and if all goes well, I would think in about three to four years I should have a really well established set of birds.

If you cross a cuckoo and a birchen, you just end up with crosses, not silvers. I'd love to see your birchens as they are another major project I've got going. I also would guess with that black hen you've got that you probably have an overmelanized copper, which if this is the case you will end up with several possibilities. The chances of getting a true silver birchen is slim to none with the first cross, instead it is more likely you will get birds that are split for silver and gold and also birds that have red or buff leakage (particularly on the wingbow on the cockerels). If you end up with pullets with gold neck collars, I would relegate them to a layer flock and not use them for breeding. Females only carry one copy of the color gene and if it is gold, they will determine the color of the offspring (more golds, not silvers). The males carry two copies of the color gene which is why they can carry both a silver and a gold and if you cross them with pullets that have the silver neck collars, you will get a percentage of the offspring that have silver, but not many. The more you move into the program, you will need to be very strict about selecting for silver and eventually can get the silver to breed true once you have a male that has two copies of silver over pure silver birchen girls.

 

[desertmarcy]

Marcy, For me, personally, I go by the base color. While those spots are interesting and pretty, they do not make up for the lack of background color that says Marans to me. I have a Splash hen that lays a light egg with dark spots, and to me that says more work needs to be done, if not cull. If her daughter doesn't lay a darker egg than her Splash mom, they are both outta here! While we all are trying to breed towards the SOP, we need to remember that the dark eggs is what made this breed unique in the first place, and try to strive towards both ends. JMO

That makes sense to me. That was the very first egg and I've been getting darker ones since then.

 

[allmychickens]

my maran and olive eggers

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I see a glare possiblly from the flash of a camera I do not see white.

I rushed out to check his feathers this morning, I don't see white, but took some pictures. He is quite beat up as he was in Quarantine with his arch rival, we've since cooped him alone. I'm playing with the idea of taking some Orps to the Ohio National and may take him as well.

I'm a beginner, would this be a big mistake? Problems I see: he's not wide enough, is his breast split? ~would it be obvious if it were? Just WHAT the heck is the black on the end of his comb? and... having pictures in natural light, are his hackles appropriately colored? Thank you all so much for your help!






The End.

 

[pmessner]

Cool... thank you for the wellspring of info... this is year one for me... I lost all of my original Birchen hatch to predation except the one roo I have left... he does not have feathered feet so I assume that is a big negative to those on this thread... personally I have no problem with clean legs. After starting with that first Birchen hatch, I saw golden cuckoo marans hatching eggs on E-bay as well so tried a hatch of those... the birds I got from this hatch are incredibly sweet and docile... so much so that I prefer the two golden cuckoo roos I have over my Birchen. They are gentle delightful birds that follow me everywhere and make adorable soft cooing sounds... hard to describe... just a delightful pair.

I will attach pictures of my flock I just took today... the four eggs I have been incubating have started to hatch so I need to keep myself busy and away from the incubator... the temptation to constantly pick up the eggs is still way too great... I still can't get over those first peeps as they start pipping... talk about life's miracles. Eventually this will become more routine for me.. forgive my amateurishness.

So, my flock... Let me begin with saying I have had a lot of loss this first year from predation... I now have an electric fence installed around the chicken yard and I no longer have all the issues but I kept losing birds and feeling frustrated, I would go out and try to replace my layers with what was available locally on Craig's list... so I have ended up with quite an eclectic bunch which I will cull over time... but they are all very pretty and they are my babies...

any way, my marans... please offer feed back/thoughts.. they are just a starting point for me... and if anyone recognizes what that tag is on Amelia can you let me know about it???



Godzilla, my birchen roo... He is huge.

Amelia, my little survivor





and the golden cuckoos...

Featherfoot, the "better" of the two boys, bigger, feathered feet...

and my little sweetheart, Finnegan... he will fly right up onto my shoulder. I can scoop him up and carry him around any time I want... here I just picked him up and put him on the chair arm to take a picture of him... no problem. He does not have a lot of feathering on his feet and none of the bulk his brother has... he does have lighter coloring... don't know if that is a desirable thing or not.

Can anyone tell me the outcome of crossing the birchen roo with the golden cuckoo pullet... I gather from what was said above the chicks would be golden in coloring? only males would have barring???? like a sex link cross??? so what would the expected outcome of the pullets be? golden colored hybrid marans? Does anyone work purposely with hybrids in their flock for breed vigor? I worry about inbreeding... that is why I am asking these kinds of questions. Thoughts/further knowledge would be appreciated... remember I am just starting out, please.