Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

elless, I can't answer that question - I don't have wheaten myself, and all that I wrote above is just what I have been told by others, so I am unsure what has been verified. I think it's great to have an idea where to start when looking for these issues and how they came about, and it does worry me that folks have seen it, generation after generation, after culling for it. It's stubborn, whatever the gene (or genes) is/are that is causing this WF issue.

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

Wynette, AS you are aware this yard breeding drives me insane just thinking about the results. Most are trying to breed too many pens and matings of Marans at once. The Black Copper when bred into the Blue or splash , the BC off spring from this mating should never ever be bred back into the the BC Marans as they are never as good type wise or anything else wise.

Forget about the Genetic Fourmulas for a minute there are certain ways to mate up the Cross variety breeding yards to get a majority of good useable young.

Just because we want to breed a BC over Blue and splash does not tell anything. We have to know what color male to use in this form of mating. This can and should be went into deeper.

So Don - what kind of breeding do you suggest? I have been thinking of having one big pen for a flock of the marans and divide the current layer pen into three sections (This is why I sold most of my layer flock within the last month to prepare for next year's breeding). Keep the best roosters in the pens during breeding season and select the best hens and plan matings in the best ways possible. (improve this or that and so on) and use the rotational breeding. This I can prevent inbreeding so fast for x amount of years.

 

[PGRanch]

Is this guy a black copper maran? He is a young guy 5-6 months.

 

[snowbird]

Wynette, The reason that people keep seeing the white feathers year after year is because they just pretend to cull. To eliminate any of the DQs and faults we must cull very heavy and deep. After the Juve molt any with white should and must be culled if anyone is serious about breeding to the SOP. We have to go forward and not worry about how they were bred in the past as we sure can not change what was already done before us.

When culling we must decide on what we are looking for in the future. This does not mean culling out the entire flock. If you cull all and bring in new Marans you will be right back in the same position you were in to start. Just do not breed brother to sister and cull everything with a fault. There is no Barn Building here just raising some Marans. I have did this and know that it will work if everyone will cull. If you plan on acquiring new Marans check referrence before buying. Some that are selling eggs just will not tell you about the Faults and if they will not go to someone else for eggs or stock.

 

[snowbird]

Is this guy a black copper maran? He is a young guy 5-6 months.

Your picture is just too dark to get a good look.

 

[snowbird]

So Don - what kind of breeding do you suggest? I have been thinking of having one big pen for a flock of the marans and divide the current layer pen into three sections (This is why I sold most of my layer flock within the last month to prepare for next year's breeding). Keep the best roosters in the pens during breeding season and select the best hens and plan matings in the best ways possible. (improve this or that and so on) and use the rotational breeding. This I can prevent inbreeding so fast for x amount of years.

CFC, if you do the breeding in a big pens with one or more males and a lot of female all you will be doing is raising more mixed up Marans, Believe mwe there are too many bred this way already, But it is entirely your decision to make.

 

[PGRanch]

Better?

 

[snowbird]

Better?

The only thing I can see not to like is if he has white under the hackle. I like the heavy shank and toe feathering, this is what I breed for here, I would check the hock feathers as he might be trying for some vulture hocks. What color is his shanks and toes ?

 

[Wynette]

Wynette, The reason that people keep seeing the white feathers year after year is because they just pretend to cull. To eliminate any of the DQs and faults we must cull very heavy and deep. After the Juve molt any with white should and must be culled if anyone is serious about breeding to the SOP. We have to go forward and not worry about how they were bred in the past as we sure can not change what was already done before us.

100% agree. I've stated the bolded part for years now. While I DO believe it's helpful to know what the origins of our stock are, at this stage of the game, we've made our own cull decisions, especially those of us breeding them for 5+ years, enough that we cannot really say "they are this" or "they are that" - it's time to move on from that, cull heavily, and all work toward the SOP if that's what we're going to say we're doing.

Also - GET OUT THERE AND SHOW YOUR BIRDS! It makes no sense to hatch hundreds and cull heavily, to be getting some nice prospects, and then not get them out there. JMO!

 

[chicken pickin]

Hi I was just wondering is you all could help me. I bought Marans chicks a few weeks back They are 2weeks 5 days old now. My splash someone just pointed out to me doesnt look like a regular splash marans chick which are usually yellowish chicks and feathers in mostly white w splases of color. Mine is feathering in with a lot of black but also some blue and whitethat is under the black wing feathers. Is this what a splash Marans should look like?