Marans Thread for Posting Pics of Your Eggs, Chicks and Chickens

[hcammack]

Quote:
Ok I will have to buy and incubator so give me fair warning I probably couldn't take any eggs till fall anyway.

blue- cockeral
green-pullet
orange- pullet
white- cockeral
red- pullet
yellow-pullet

hope I am close

 

[hippichick]

my guess:

blue-roo
green-pullet
orange-pullet
white-roo
red-pullet
yellow-roo

thanks!

Paula

 

[cruzinTbird]

My guestimation-
Blue- pullet
Green-pullet
Orange-pullet
White-Cockerel
Red-Cockerel
Yellow-pullet

 

[ninjapoodles]

Some more early culls:

I have a couple of real BLONDIES.

They're not going to waste--I've put them out with the Buff Orp and Easter Egger laying flock, and hopefully they'll help produce a darn decent dual-purpose bird for us. We find the straight Orpingtons and straight Marans to be great meat birds for our purposes, so mixes should be just dandy.

This guy was the FIRST one to be exiled from the Marans flock--he's almost totally ORANGE! (his butt got chewed off by a dog, hence the absence of a tail)

And this is the pullet I was describing earlier in the thread; the one with what appear to be cuckoo markings showing through her feathers. Her base color is also not quite black, but a dilute of black. In addition, compared to the other pullets, she's just kinda...ugly. Definitely something odd going on here.

I actually DO have some very attractive birds, I swear!

Sheesh, most people post pics of the birds they're proud of, and I post the ones I'm voting off the island.

 

[4kidZ]

Quote:
WOW-those colors are very interesting. The blondies look like they have some recessive Birchen in there somewhere.
The white in the tips of the lacing is actually quite common in early breeding programs and has to be bred out. That is a lot, though. You may be right...CUCKOO IN THE PEN? They are very nice, hardy, attractive birds, thought

~4kidZ

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I know, right? And these are the very same birds that a whooooole lot of people here have, so I don't want to keep anything secret. No breeding program ever benefited from that. (This is also to say that I do not one bit mind my birds or anything I post here being discussed elsewhere.)

I do have more than enough very nice-looking ones to go forward with, and I've been on a couple of waiting lists since last year for other lines. I'm having a lot of fun with it.

I'm not totally writing off the birds I've pulled from the pen (except for Mr. Orange and Ms. Cuckoo-feathers), because they've changed so dramatically as they've matured...who knows what they'll ultimately look like?

 

[4kidZ]

Yeah, well, the first one you culled (that was almost totally orange) was a good choice as they will not have that much copper on the breast, turn to black as they mature. Usually the opposite.
However, that pullet could still lose the white. I didn't read that she was a pullet. How old is she? That's why I say the white on tips is normal and they usually grow out of it, but it's usually JUST the wing tips. And, while it's a "defect", it will not disqualify a bird from show. I only know this because one of Bev's birds just placed in the Lake City show and they wrote "wwt" on the judging card. But, the bird was not DQ'd.
I've seen a few birds grow out of the white, but haven't seen one with that much white, yet. I wouldn't write her off yet, either

Now, is it just me, or are her legs REALLY dark black?
When you say diluted, do you mean towards the blue side or something else?

Thanks,
4kidZ

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Well, I'm not eating her or anything--I'm putting her in with an Ameraucana rooster.

And yes, I mean dilute as in not black. Closer to blue. (I breed and show silver miniature poodles, and the genetics are identical to BBS chickens, with silver being the equivalent of "splash"). The color bothered me before the white markings even appeared.

If you could see her feathers in person, it doesn't quite look just like white feather tips. It looks like she has semi-transparent blue feathers, and underneath the blue tint is the cuckoo marking. Weird, huh?

And yes--her legs ARE darker! Although, most of my pullets' legs are darker than the roos', hers are significantly darker.

ETA: These birds are just a bit over 6 months old.

 

[tgcole]

NinjaPoodles,

That is the most vivid red I've ever seen on a BC Roo!

Beautiful Birds!

Greg

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I need to get a good shot of my favorite roo--his "copper" is all the same color, and a gorgeous, deep color. I like it much better than the "yellow-heads."