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

[drom]

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Typically, they lay their darkest eggs at the beginning of lay season and they slowly lighten toward the end of the season. When they take a break from laying, such as in the fall/winter, or for any reason, when they start up laying again the eggs will usually darken up again. It is also said that as hens get older, the eggs tend to lighten in general.

Age of the hen, time of season, heat (they lay lighter in hot weather), and illness too; all those are factors which effect egg color

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I personally have dealt with Mr Kermit Blackwood,,and I must say this man knows more about the genetics and the expected progeny outcomes of crossing them in poultry,than anyone I have ever spoken with. The Marans breed of chicken is a mess. I doubt seriously if a pure strain of any variety of Marans poultry can even be found in France.Let's face it,eons ago whatever genetics was present in these founding birds,was mixed with other birds for whatever reason the flock owner decided. I doubt many even had seperated the varieties,or knew there was a diffrence,they probably all realized these chickens just laid an exceptionally dark egg. And by breeding stock that laid this dark egg,to a nice looking rooster the neighbor had across the pond,because the hen owner lost his roo to a wild animal,,I'm sure happened many times.
There is not one "named" bloodline here in the USA now,that I have not seen or heard stories about. I know one breeder who has a "named" FBC marans line,and is getting solid white Marans from this line,and no,they do not have pink eyes,,they have pumpkin orange eyes. I have seen "top secret"e-mails from "named" breeders wanting to cross other breeds into marans to try and correct a problem.
This breed is desired for a few reasons,1) the egg color is unmatched by any other breed 2) it was a few years ago,very cash rewarding to have these unique eggs to sell,everyone wanted on the bandwagon. Now that the bandwagon is overflowing,and everyone has them,,breeders now think this should be a recognized breed with the APA. Political of a subject as that is,,I'll not warrant my opinions here,,but the fact remains years ago,people was doing anything they could to aquire this breed of chicken,,,breeding 10 years ago,was not as a precise "book" as it is now.People are now wanting to breed to a written "standard" for this breed and more considerations are now being seen about correct everything,,
If every so called variety,or imported line was not pure in the beginning,,how can anyone expect now to get a pure flock?Better yet, how many flock owners here in the USA actually band and keep their lines seperated,or know exactly what line of birds they have? How many care? How many can tell a Wheaton from a Black Copper roo? I have been to swap meets before and a seller wanted to sell me Black Langshans with yellow legs before,,he said they came from show winning stock,,he was quite the salesman,,but not to me,but before the day was over they were sold and someone has them some show winning black langshans at home,until they realize they got taken for a quick $75 a pair ride.
I'm sure this has happened to people buying Marans as well.But many people that own the breed do not try to cull for certain traits,they are still after those egg $$$,,,while others take sides within the breed not driving towards an objective at all,,how can we without a breed standard?
I have known Kermit for awhile now,and have spoken with him and e-mailed him on several occasions,,not only does his intellect about breeding and genetics far surpass many that I've spoken with,he is not to blame for the Marans mess within the USA.I think many can see this began many decades ago,by owners that had no clue how to breed for specific traits. Now,we have inherited this huge gene pool from breedings 150 years previous.and most breeders here think within 2-3 generations they will have a perfect species marans,and that is not going to happen.Main reason goes back to egg color and $$$,,,,forget what faults the hens and roos have,as long as the incubator is full all the time,so more money can be made from selling stock that lays dark eggs.
Mr Blackwood did not create the breed problems in the marans.Frustrated,uneducated non selective breeding practices geared towards profit is what has caused the genetic quagmire within the breed. If you believe your strain of a variety is "pure",then breed that line closed for 8 generations,back to back,cull hard and make notes,,and at the end of the 8th generation when the roos and hens are then producing ferttile eggs,,hatch as many out as possible,and see how many bad traits you have.This may take 5-6 years to accomplish,,and I seriously doubt if many here that jumped on the bandwagon,has bred that many generations,of their own closed line before selling fertile eggs..Yet it is so easy to point the finger at someone else,ANYONE ELSE,,that helped bring this breed here because they do not know how to correct a poor trait themselves,rather pass the blame on to someone else.If those pointing the blame are so dubious in their breeding practices,why would they not make a trip to Europe,and import the birds they liked on their own?? Then they would have noone to blame but themselves,,or would they? Nope,they would pass the buck back to the people they bought the birds from in Europe,,not themselves.And by the time it as realized the poor breed traits were showing up,hundreds of eggs would have been sold already for high $$$,,,so the genetics would be more widepsread,,all over the USA. And the circle continues.

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
off topic but Martha Stewart has Marans? ohhh she lives so close to me. I heard she had chickens but did not realize. Guess it makes sense...

I would love to hear more, I realize that I am just butting in here but I would love to hear more.

 

[Resolution]

I see that you live in Westchester so are you close to Martha in Katonah and Cabbage Hill in Mt Kisco...
Martha Stewart requested that the Cabbage Hill Farm Foundation and her personal friend, Carolyn Schafer, the driving force behind the first American Marans organization/movement, travel to Marans France. A grant was created that split the costs for the mission that sent the two of us to learn all that could be gleaned from Marans poultiers there.
A second, third and fourth initiative were followed through subsequent to the first, funded by a private trust focused on the conservation and stewardship of cultural heritage breeds.


I have no idea exactly what happened or when, but marans fanciers at the inception were a kind and happy lot at first- then someone turned on this wonderful lady named Katherine "Bones" a forensic scientist who was the clubs brains and editor of the excellent journal.

I, as in, Kermit Blackwood, am not a Marans fancier nor have I ever been. I am however, fully engaged with learning about the origins and conservation of these important breeds.
My focus has tended to be on genetic based facts. I am not particularly concerned with the trends of poultry shows and competitions, though fully appreciate and respect those parties that are.


There are wonderful heirloom lineages of this enigmatic breed in the United States and Canada. Ron Presley, Caroyn Schafer, Beverly Davis, Dillon S. Ripley are a few of the most credible and significant stewards of these heirloom lineages. There are more, but again, I am not a Marans fancier. I trust the genuine stewards of the breed and have come to distrust the parties that perceive their role in the maintenance and dispersal of this breed as a competition and heartily dislike the money grubbing opportunists.

This afternoon, if time permits, I will begin a new thread on the origins of the dark brown egg breeds. This is where I can actually utilize my brain.

 

[evonne]

don't make them get out the bold letters again you guys!!!!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I have some questions about the chicks I recently hatched out. Out of the nine there is quite a variety of color. There are the typical BCM's with black and white on their faces and chests.
Then I have a few with no white on the face and very little white on the chest. These also have feathers on the shanks but not on the toes.
I would appreciate advise on who to cull and who is fine to keep.

There is the one with the reddish brown head and body and now I can see that the small Maran has the same coloring.

The small one is very behind and has no feathering on the feet or shanks.

Here is one with feathered shanks but not toes

And here is the one with the fused toes that i seperated notice the 4 toes on the left foot

 

[drom]

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Hi-If people are actually legally importing the birds right now, they aren't sharing the process with others to the best of my knowledge. That seems to be a very elusive topic.

 

[drom]

Quote:
I am actually very curious about the genetics of Marans egg color. There doesn't seem to be much said or written about it. The French site, which is a wonderful source for breed information, doesn't even really have much of anything on the topic.

 

[onthespot]

rustyswoman,
are any of those chicks from my eggs? If they are, I will refund every penny you paid, plus shipping.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

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No Patty, and that was the only answer I needed, thanks

Your's are beautiful and I love looking at them blossom.