Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Hens and Roos]

Why would it just show up after this amount of time?

not sure, this could be part of how long it takes their body to finish changing?

He is a handsome boy.

 

[Raven1]

Thanks everybody. God this is so hard!
How about looking at a couple more, I know I don't have all the angles but these two look promising.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Thanks everybody. God this is so hard!
How about looking at a couple more, I know I don't have all the angles but these two look promising.

not sure if it is how I am seeing the picture but you might want to watch the black pullet as her comb looks to have a small wave right in front. I'm now wondering if my girls did have a small wave going on and now their combs are flopping in both directions.....

 

[Raven1]

Nope no wave and that is a cockrel (pretty sure) they are about 10 weeks

 

[Raven1]

Here are a couple of pullets

 

[pinkchick]

Raven~

That young Black Copper male in the first photo reminds me of the young boy I posted photos of the other day. I think you might want to keep an eye on this one.



Oh, Ohhhhhhhh Vicki!!!!!!!! Saw copper on my BCM boyshackle yesterday!!!!!!!!!

Now watch.... with my luck....it will be too dark!

 

[heath_elisha]

My little Cowboy has color showing on his neck and along his back... he is almost 8 weeks old.... seems to be showing a lot earlier then the last blue roo I raised..........

And my chunky monkey Gracie caught my eye yesterday... looks like there are two points on her comb that are side by side. She wouldnt sit still long enough for me to be sure. I have not noticed it before.... so I am a little

Going out with the camera when the little kiddos go down for a nap...... hopefully it was just lack of coffee.....

 

[LukeandAli]

Well Im not familiar with the color eggs Leghorns lay. I know they are either white or brown. If they lay white eggs you will get i think the standard brown color eggs. If they lay a brown egg, you may get a shade or two darker. You probably will not get any substantially dark Marans shades of eggs. If you crossed a Marans with a blue egg layer you would get an olive egg. If you are looking to get dark eggs stick with Marans/Marans. I hope this helps.

Thank you! That is exactly what I wanted to know. I figured it was probably similar to mixing paint together (dark+light=medium), but, I wasn't sure as chickens and paint aren't the same. Leghorns do lay white eggs (and are know for being the highest production laying hens). A friend of mine just gave me a dozen to incubate and I wondered if it'd be possible to get marans color with leghorn production. LOL. Not my brightest moment!

 

[LukeandAli]

DON JUST SKIP THIS POST

I would think you would/could get either a Dark Egg Layer or a white egg layer. The darkness of the Marans egg might get diluted some. If you want to play with it for your own back yard, give it a go! I have crossed WL with Ams and it makes a Super Blue Egg Layer (higher production of eggs, bigger eggs,early layers and nice blue color too) I have a young WL in with my Olive Egger Roo, gonna see what I get.... maybe Super Olive Egg layers. I have thought about a Marans cross, but just don't have room to more TYPES of crosses. You will get 100% white chicks, WL are Dom White. There are a lot of genes involved in making eggs so it can be a crap shoot. I would like to know what you get, if you do the cross. Just so I will not be tempted to make the cross.

Thank you for going back to answer my post! I appreciate it. I still have leghorns in the incubator, so, it will be a while, but, I am genuinely interested and I may give it a try. We raise our flock for our own fun and love of doing it and to provide our family (and our extended family) with eggs. What can it hurt? Thanks again for the great info! I thought I was weird for wondering.

 

[LukeandAli]

Pinkchick, that was an awesome article--very informative. I feel like I've learned a ton this morning and it's not even 10am where I am!