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

[Germaine_11.20]

I need chocolate now, lots of chocolate...

 

[60ACRES]

Quote:
Wow, I'll bet they didn't advertise those features. That is a shame. I hope you have a "breakfast layer" pen...

but you never know what youre gonna get huh, best of luck.

-Darris

 

[60ACRES]

Quote:
if you indeed like chocolate... you have to try this... http://www.scharffenberger.com/

... dont say I never got you anything, this is a gift to the chocolate lover!

 

[onthespot]

why is it the crummiest eggs hatch out the best percentages? Not just marans, but seems like every breed, the absolute diametric OPPOSITE of cream of the crop hatches out like popcorn while the ones you really, REALLY want to hatch... not so much?

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
To teach me patience Patty, that is all I can think! LOL and 60 Acres I am so going to get something from that site! Thanks both of you!

 

[drom]

Quote:
if you indeed like chocolate... you have to try this... http://www.scharffenberger.com/

... dont say I never got you anything, this is a gift to the chocolate lover!

AH, so funny! I was going to suggest just that! I love Scharffenberger

The really dark 80+ % is my addiction.

 

[berkeleysprings]

i have presley line of wheaten marans and davis lines of wheaten marans, i kept the best looking few from boath .... my question is can i mix the lines or would people look down on it

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
They are your birds and you can mix the lines if you would like, but I wouldn't. I would keep each line pure. If you only have a few of each then just keep 2 pens and keep only the best of the best.
Sharon

 

[onthespot]

The only reason I would cross a wheaten on a CBM would be to test breed to see if the CBM carries wheaten, to get it out of the line. The trouble is, you produce mixes to get rid of mixes, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Somewhere, waaay back in this thread, we had an earlier discussion about mixing lines.

There are good points about keeping lines separate, and good points about mixing them. So, it kind of depends on what you want to do.

Mixing lines will increase genetic diversity. This can be a good thing, BUT it means that your offspring will have more variability. You may get some very good birds from the cross, but you may also get some very bad birds from it. You will have to do a lot of careful selection to create a new stable line of your own.

Keeping the lines separate, OTOH, may give you more uniform offspring. BUT, if your individual lines have faults, you may be stuck with those faults. There may not be enough genetic diversity left to let you select away from them.

So, there is no single best way to go. You have to decide for yourself -- do you want something more predictable, or do you want a challenge that might lead to something really interesting in the future?

It is my personal opinion that most of the "lines" of Marans around aren't really isolated enough to make all that much of a difference between keeping them isolated or crossing them, in any case. But those are the general considerations when you're trying to decide what to do!