Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[DMRippy]

So far

the white is not an issue at my farm in my Marans. NOT that they are great... just not an issue I have had to work around.

I don't know if anyone remembers or not, but a while back I posted an ad from CL for some Marans and Pinkchick emailed them.... well it seems someone post about the Marans directly on CL LOL BUT I saw those birds in person... WHITE ALL OVER THOSE BIRDS. on the head, wings, legs EVERYWHERE.... the guy that bought some of them thought they were NOT THAT BAD just OLD LOL.... he was having to sell them to because he lost the lease on his farm land. I TOLD HIM NOT TO BUY THEM

He did say they laid a very dark egg but still......

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, glad you brought up the Penguin look as chicks. If you ever get chicks going the other way with brown around the head and body , go ahead and cull as they will end up being males with too much brown or hens that are mossy.

I agree with the brown coloring for the most part, except that Luella that nice blue copper started out as a chick day old with one pure shiny copper dot on her head up above her eye, and has no white (only had 1 partially white toe feather, and has lost that now), lovely copper collar, and no mossiness. I do cull for ones that are just a straight dull brown however when it comes to copper chicks.

Here she is as a chick on the right



Here she is again a few weeks later



about 3 months old



and one of her about 6 or 7 months old

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: x2

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I, for one, got mine from the well known breeder directly. Not a soul in between me and them. Eggs weren't even shipped. It was hand to hand trade off.

(As far as I know, we are ALL having this problem. Like I said, I'd LOVE to hear from that breeder than can produce the older cock bird that doesn't have the white feather issue .... )

 

[Debbi]

Vicki and Don,

The copper headed chicks is something I have not had yet! In fact, I have only had two females here that had any sign of mossy, a mother and now a daughter (Kiwi), and the mossy was gone by 5+ months of age. Now I have the same two, and both have the dark gypsy face. Probably won't hatch any eggs from either as this is not a correct face type, although the daughter is lighter in the face, eyes, comb, and wattles than her mother. Then again, we have the tail problem with the daughter, sooooo...... Guess I should consider myself lucky to be chosen to have all of these problems pop up in the first 3 years?? Learning experiences??

 

[math ace]

.
Thanks but don't care. Only using him for egg color. None of my LF will ever be anything but layers for me. I have no interest in showing them or misrepresenting them or spreading them around. Ever. That clarify? lol
Just didn't want to be that "blunt" (as in I don't give a #@*$ about the SOP) in my initial post;-)

This is the kind of post that I just don't understand...
As a regular follower of this thread, I've seen posts like this time after time.
People ask for comments. They receive feedback, but don't seem to appreciate it.

This is why many folks in the know hesitate to respond honestly. SERIOUSLY, don't ask if you aren't open to the feedback. It doesn't mean you have to agree with it. However, shooting the messenger is just inappropriate.

I want to personally thank Wynette and Don for all the criteques they take time to do. Pink and Geebs use to do a lot of criteques. I learned so much from the four of you. I knew NOTHING when I showed up on BYC. I do mean NOTHING... HOWEVER, I learned so much through all the open debates we had in the beginning of this thread. Geebs, specifically, use to write reviews that were book like in detail. It was awesome! I tried to write a few criteques up and man is it a lot of work. I can never say Thank You enough for all the time you folks invested in this thread. The four of you were so open to sharing your knowledge. The four of you gave up your precious time to help MANY MANY MANY newbies get a honest start in Marans. THANK YOU...

 

[gilavina]

Vicki and Don,

The copper headed chicks is something I have not had yet! In fact, I have only had two females here that had any sign of mossy, a mother and now a daughter (Kiwi), and the mossy was gone by 5+ months of age. Now I have the same two, and both have the dark gypsy face. Probably won't hatch any eggs from either as this is not a correct face type, although the daughter is lighter in the face, eyes, comb, and wattles than her mother. Then again, we have the tail problem with the daughter, sooooo...... Guess I should consider myself lucky to be chosen to have all of these problems pop up in the first 3 years?? Learning experiences??

Luella is the only chick I've had that had the straight true copper from day one. I could see it even when she was still wet in the incubator. The only mossy birds I had were from two different sets of hatching eggs and ended up selling them off in their entirety to a friend that needed more layers and the males went to freezer camp. I never bred with them, and since I've been breeding with the stock I selected, I've not had any issues with mossiness.
I'm starting into my 4th year with the Marans and can say that it wasn't until this last spring that I really started to see the efforts of strict culling. Not that there aren't problems, but it is always encouraging to see things improve or to see good things come out.

 

[Debbi]

This is the kind of post that I just don't understand...
As a regular follower of this thread, I've seen posts like this time after time.
People ask for comments. They receive feedback, but don't seem to appreciate it.

This is why many folks in the know hesitate to respond honestly. SERIOUSLY, don't ask if you aren't open to the feedback. It doesn't mean you have to agree with it. However, shooting the messenger is just inappropriate.

I want to personally thank Wynette and Don for all the criteques they take time to do. Pink and Geebs use to do a lot of criteques. I learned so much from the four of you. I knew NOTHING when I showed up on BYC. I do mean NOTHING... HOWEVER, I learned so much through all the open debates we had in the beginning of this thread. Geebs, specifically, use to write reviews that were book like in detail. It was awesome! I tried to write a few criteques up and man is it a lot of work. I can never say Thank You enough for all the time you folks invested in this thread. The four of you were so open to sharing your knowledge. The four of you gave up your precious time to help MANY MANY MANY newbies get a honest start in Marans. THANK YOU...

Right on Lisa! I applaud them too!

 

[gilavina]

This is the kind of post that I just don't understand...
As a regular follower of this thread, I've seen posts like this time after time.
People ask for comments. They receive feedback, but don't seem to appreciate it.

This is why many folks in the know hesitate to respond honestly. SERIOUSLY, don't ask if you aren't open to the feedback. It doesn't mean you have to agree with it. However, shooting the messenger is just inappropriate.

I want to personally thank Wynette and Don for all the criteques they take time to do. Pink and Geebs use to do a lot of criteques. I learned so much from the four of you. I knew NOTHING when I showed up on BYC. I do mean NOTHING... HOWEVER, I learned so much through all the open debates we had in the beginning of this thread. Geebs, specifically, use to write reviews that were book like in detail. It was awesome! I tried to write a few criteques up and man is it a lot of work. I can never say Thank You enough for all the time you folks invested in this thread. The four of you were so open to sharing your knowledge. The four of you gave up your precious time to help MANY MANY MANY newbies get a honest start in Marans. THANK YOU...

good words Lisa,

I love when there can be constructive conversations that respect people's different points of view and can move forward without the snark because it is about improving the quality of the breed.

 

[Debbi]

Wish I had the money and set ups that you and Don have to be able to produce more at a whack. Slow going here with limited space, and money. So what takes you 4 years to accomplish, will probably take me ten years! Definately would've helped if I had started with better stock; that first 2 years was a total mess! In the mean time, I will just do what I can, learn what I can, and go from there..