Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[hobbychicken]

Have you looked at the soles of his feet?  What color are the soles of his feet?  That is the question really what color is his skin not if his legs are dark.

Have you looked at the soles of his feet?  What color are the soles of his feet?  That is the question really what color is his skin not if his legs are dark.

I never thought I would be looking at the soles of chickens feet.....ok they do have a yellow tint on the bottom of his feet between his toes on the bottom. So what do I do now? Do I not use him? I have 3 younger males but out of the three one has way to much copper and one has none at 12 weeks old . Only one is somewhat decent and they came from davis/jean lines. Are his wattles too big? Any other faults that you see?

 

[laughingclown]

A few words to share. I am fairly new to chickens and absolutely love it. I love my Marans. I joined this community to gain more knowledge and to meet others with the same passion as me. Before I go further into the reason of my post let me tell you a little more about myself. Take it or leave it. I have spent 5 yrs In the Military as a Sniper and also have spent over 10 yrs In Law Enforcement. I have been in some nasty and real negative environments. I have accomplished a great many things, seen a lot, done a lot and have been to the lowest of lows.

So why am I bringing this up in a chicken thread? Lets go back to the word community. When I first started to post in this thread I was apprehensive because of some negative posts. I wanted honest opinions, and I wasnt afraid of negative comments and shouldn't have to. Though I have personally met fantastic people, and a great person from here, that has taken out of their time (thank you Wynette). I have read through this thread in the short time here, with utter disappointment with the shear lack of respect to fellow posters. Especially new people. I can see the clicks and attitudes directed at outsiders. New people who post a few times and get run out to never come back. This is unacceptable behavior.

Certain individuals, though being really knowledgeable, try to assert themselves as the be all of poultry. Why are you placing yourself into a position of a teacher while you disrespect and run off your students? Lead by example in your statements and behavior. If you want to remain being a grump, keep it to yourself. In order to be a leader you also have to strive to learn new things. If you think you know it all, I got news for you, you don't. Also karma is a Bi***! You will have it come back to you. So with this said, Im not up for the drama. I have had enough in my life.

If this is what all of you want BYC to be than feel free. Its sad certain individuals spoil the fun, community, friendship, knowledge, and love we all have for our birds into something bad. For those really great and helpful people, thank you. For those that seek to ruin it for others? I hope you eventually get kicked out of here or you realize what you are doing. Take care. I will not be back unless things change.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: You shouldn't use him... sorry. That is a DQ. My guess is your whole flock is carrying recessive yellow. It will pop up from time to time and you will have to cull those with yellow legs. Make sure your hens don't have yellow feet either. EVEN it you don't find anymore with yellow legs if they came from the same parents, they ALL probably carry it. It takes 2 copies of the yellow skin genes to express.

I don't like to critique chickens. At first glance he is really nice, but the yellow feet are a deal breaker at my house. You need to check all you other roos too and go from there.

I know that is not what you wanted to hear... sorry.

 

[math ace]

I never thought I would be looking at the soles of chickens feet.....ok they do have a yellow tint on the bottom of his feet between his toes on the bottom. So what do I do now? Do I not use him? I have 3 younger males but out of the three one has way to much copper and one has none at 12 weeks old . Only one is somewhat decent and they came from davis/jean lines. Are his wattles too big? Any other faults that you see?

Yellow legs are the bigger issue. They are a DQ. They are also RECESSIVE, which means the genes can hide and be passed on. Then they suddenly appear when two birds carring the recessive gene are mated.

Any other birds you have that came from they same parents need to be test mated. Simply mate them to a bird that has yellow legs. In my case, I test mated using my yellow legged delawares. If you produce ONE or more chicks with yellow legs, then your BCM is a carrier. The SLATE color BCM leg color should hide the yellow gene in your test matings IF the slate color is pure. You will need to hatch about 15 chicks from each bird to clear it of the recessive yellow leg gene.

 

[math ace]

I can see the clicks and attitudes directed at outsiders. New people who post a few times and get run out to never come back. This is unacceptable behavior.

Certain individuals, though being really knowledgeable, try to assert themselves as the be all of poultry. Why are you placing yourself into a position of a teacher while you disrespect and run off your students? Lead by example in your statements and behavior. If you want to remain being a grump, keep it to yourself. In order to be a leader you also have to strive to learn new things. If you think you know it all, I got news for you, you don't. Also karma is a Bi***! You will have it come back to you. So with this said, Im not up for the drama. I have had enough in my life.

I find there are clicks on most of the threads on BYC. It just goes with the territory.
People instinctively form relationships with others that share common schools of thought.
I think we should be able to disagree with each other without insulting each others.

I, also, believe we have to accept that other people will communicate in a different style than we would personally.
Some are BLUNT and some like to take the time to dress up what they say.

I like to keep the conversations centered firmly on marans and leave the personality issues out of it. There are few breeders out there that are truly knowledgable. Those that do know something are rarely willing to share it with the public at large. If you find a resource, a valuable resource, accept it in any package it comes in. . . . An educational book with a nasty ripped cover is still a valuable resource that you do not toss aside simply because it offends your sense of beauty. What is inside that book is what counts....

We are all grown ups here. We should be capable of ignoring those that offend us and responding to the ones we get along with. However, we should ask or expect others to suddenly change and become something they have never been.....

 

[math ace]

If this is what all of you want BYC to be than feel free. Its sad certain individuals spoil the fun, community, friendship, knowledge, and love we all have for our birds into something bad. For those really great and helpful people, thank you. For those that seek to ruin it for others? I hope you eventually get kicked out of here or you realize what you are doing. Take care. I will not be back unless things change.

laughingcow,

No One can spoil your fun unless you allow them to. Hoping that people get kicked out is just wrong...
Of course, I hope you do not run off. Each of us has something to contribute to the community.

This thread could use a Greeter... Someone to help newbies realize that it is a LARGE community.
It is like living in an apartment complex. You won't like everyone in the complex, but that doesn't make it a bad place to live!

We all have our birds in common, but we are still individuals with different personalities. Some folks have horses, some have dogs, some have children, some are young, some are old, some are female and some are male. These things make us all communicate in a different manner.

OMG, does anyone remember the large debates about which is more important - Egg Color or Body type? Is it a marans because of the egg color OR is it a marans because of the body type ? ? People were on both sides of the debate AND passionately on both sides! So, I have my own belief of which is important and cull my birds accordingly. Of course there are others on the other side of the debate and cull differently because of it. I still respect those people and their right to think differently. Opinions were voiced loudly and sometimes not nicely during that debate.

Sometimes the only way we step outside of our comfort zone and start thinking outside of the box is if somebody PUSHES our buttons and pushes us outside of our comfort zone. Nothing said here should be directed at a person PERSONALLY, nor should we take anything personally. Life is too short to forget that this is just a internet web site... Not Life, Not Death, Not Family, Not work.... It is just a place where we can share our crazy ideas about chickens and talk to folks who share our interest in chickens.

 

[hobbychicken]

You shouldn't use him... sorry.  That is a DQ.  My guess is your whole flock is carrying recessive yellow.  It will pop up from time to time and you will have to cull those with yellow legs.  Make sure your hens don't have yellow feet either.  EVEN it you don't find anymore with yellow legs if they came from the same parents, they ALL probably carry it.  It takes 2 copies of the yellow skin genes to express. 

I don't like to critique chickens.  At first glance he is really nice, but the yellow feet are a deal breaker at my house. You need to check all you other roos too and go from there. 

I know that is not what you wanted to hear... sorry.

Thank you for being honest. He is a half brother to the hens. They all have very dark legs( I looked at them when I checked his soles) so should I not use any of them ? Back to the drawing board....lol

 

[hobbychicken]

Yellow legs are the bigger issue.    They are a DQ.  They are also RECESSIVE, which means the genes can hide and be passed on.  Then they suddenly appear when two birds carring the recessive gene are mated. 

Any other birds you have that came from they same parents need to be test mated.  Simply mate them to a bird that has yellow legs.  In my case,  I test mated using my yellow legged delawares.  If you produce ONE or more chicks with yellow legs,  then your BCM is a carrier.  The SLATE color BCM leg color should hide the yellow gene in your test matings IF the slate color is pure.  You will need to hatch about 15 chicks from each bird to clear it of the recessive yellow leg gene.

I did have a production red hide and hatch out 9 from this roo in question and all the legs are dark.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: Look at the soles of their feet not the dark leg. The color of the SKIN is what you are looking for and that is on the FEET. Are these crosses with the Prod Red or pure Marans? If they Prod Red crosses all the feet will be yellow from that roo.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: Do the test mating like MathAce said. Cross the hens with a yellow legged chicken. BUT only do ONE at at time so you know how laid what eggs and keep good notes. ANY chicks with yellow legs from the hens, she is then unsuitable for breeding. Once you do the test mating then you will know what you are working with, if anything. You will have to wait a few weeks on the chicks to check skin color. The yolk will make chicks have YELLOW skin at hatch and for a few weeks even.