Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Johnn]

well first off it's a he by the looks of things, he is 6 weeks old now, 7 weeks on thursday. He got introduced into the flock my his mother who he is still with at the moment.

you can see its brother behind him but hes a BO and you can see his mams head in the bottom corner

 

[pmessner]

You will have to enlighten me as to what a squirrel tail is... I apologize if you have done this a hundred times already but do you have a good picture of the kind of tail desired? I never noticed the gold in my birch roos feathering! Chicken genetics are very complicated and overwhelming... I will just have to pick up stuff as I go... but I see the hint of gold which probably means he's not homozygous for birchen... that is fine with me... I will probably end up just concentrating on the golden cuckoos anyway.

and please give me the run down on this squirrel business... thank you

 

[pmessner]

I did find this...

14. Squirrel tail: A squirrel tail is a tail of which any portion projects forward of a perpendicular line over the back. This is a tail that bends sharply forward over the back and touches or almost touches the head.


but it would still be nice to see pictures of what is considered a good tail if anyone has anything on file...

 

[MellowBird]

Hi Everyone,

I've learned a lot on this thread! I was wondering if someone can give me their opinion on if this is a rooster or a hen. This bird is under 3 months old. It does seem bigger than my others and has more color too. The second picture looks more rusty on the neck but its really a silvery/white.

​

​

Thanks!

 

[DMRippy]

Hens and Roos.... cuckoo chicks I just hatched.... a week ago LOL

One feathered leg


I see a pullet on the top left, roo on the bottom left and the other? I could go either way.... opinions?


2 feathered legs..... the 3rd is clean.


Pullet


Roo


Roo?

 

[Connie Marie]

So I have a question..what causes the runts in a hatch/group? I am not sure what to do with the little ones. They look weeks younger than their hatchmates except they have feathered in fine just small. Will they catch up in size or should I cull them now? This has happened in both my BCMs and my lavender ameraucanas. Thanks!

 

[snowbird]

This is a female.

Hi Everyone,

I've learned a lot on this thread! I was wondering if someone can give me their opinion on if this is a rooster or a hen. This bird is under 3 months old. It does seem bigger than my others and has more color too. The second picture looks more rusty on the neck but its really a silvery/white.

​

​

Thanks!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hens and Roos.... cuckoo chicks I just hatched.... a week ago LOL

One feathered leg


I see a pullet on the top left, roo on the bottom left and the other? I could go either way.... opinions?


2 feathered legs..... the 3rd is clean.


Pullet


Roo


Roo?

What cuties! The last chick could be a wait and see type one LOL. We aren't so good with figuring out who is who by the spots- we noticed with ours that the cockerals feather in slower. It looks like we ended up with 4 cockerals and 2 pullets out of our last hatch. Will have to up date some pictures.

 

[Hens and Roos]

So I have a question..what causes the runts in a hatch/group? I am not sure what to do with the little ones. They look weeks younger than their hatchmates except they have feathered in fine just small. Will they catch up in size or should I cull them now? This has happened in both my BCMs and my lavender ameraucanas. Thanks!

I would give them some more time as they might have hatched from a smaller egg. When we are hatching and have several groups spaced out we will move the smaller ones back into a younger group if it looks like they are being picked on from their hatch mates. HTH and good luck.

 

[slick4591]

Just wanted to stop in and say hey! I've been dragging my feet on posting but I'm still reading and keeping up with the thread.

I have put a lot of thought into my Marans and I think we have decided that we are going to concentrate on dark eggs and not so much on SOP birds. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll be forgetting about the SOP when breeding. I think the wife saw the disgust I had when all my roosters had DQ's. She really likes the SLW's more than the BCMs, so I have her out there with me now. Looks like I'll be looking for a rooster from really dark egg stock and I'll keep my #4 and #5 layers. Using them as foundation stock will give me something to start with.

Also, last night I finally was presented with a reward of another one of my projects. One of my pure bred Piedmontese heifers calved a little bull somewhere around the 80 - 90 lb area. Pic of mother and son as he stood for the first time.