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

[drom]

Here's the verbiage in that section from the MCF:

Another sign reveals an unbalance between black and coppery : it's the color of the ear down which is called the "ear-tufts", it has a circular form and it has a more or less brown-fawn color (for the correctly coppery cocks) whereas that for the too black cocks, the color would rather have a blackish tone, as for the hens, when it is not totally black.

For the good cocks, the fawn color of the "ear-tufts" must meet more or less whole coppery color of the head. The shoulders must always be well coppery-colored. Even thought such cocks have a black breast without reddish-brown spots, they give excellent results for the farming.

The coppery color of the shoulders and of the "ear-tufts" have a very positive influence on the cuckoo genetic balance at the expanse of black.

The cocks with blackish "ear-tufts" and black spoted shoulders, and so insufficiently coppery, and with totally black breast, will engender a very high proportion of completly black or with too slightly coppery hackle pullets. They must be rejected.

The cock, which conversly have a too much colored breast with strong fawn or red marks down to the thigh are again more bad. They are to be rejected unscrupulously.


They are just saying that balancing the color on the BCMs is a work of maintenance. You don't want to use roosters which are too black or too colorful.

 

[geebs]

Did I read it correctly and the last roo is younger than the rest? if so he will get more color as he matures. I believe you mentioned his ear tuft color in the first post which is part of the reason I found him acceptable. He should get more color that would make me like him more. He is very dark and that does tend to mask the coppering in the females so I would do a test hatch and see what I get. I would reserve the 2nd favorite (leg problems resolved of course) and do a test hatch from that.... The too dark roo (providing he doesn't get more color) would be useful on females with too much color. I was told this by Bev. She told me to use the dark ones to improve the light ones. I had heard she used the too much red ones to help improve the not enough copper. So yes this is a proven theory. Some breeders use one pen for drawing females from and another to draw males. So Millebantam I hope that answers your question about whether it is a tried process. It appears to be working.

And by the way... I agree... NICE PIX!!!

 

[pinkchick]

I just met another BYC'er! I love it! playswithfowl (AJ) and his mom were just here to pick up 2 BCM pullets that I had been saving for him until he could get here, he just wants them for the pretty eggs, can you blame him? Very nice young man and mom. .... a pleasure! I hope he has fun with his new gals......I think he was pleasantly surprised to see a nice dark egg in the crate when we opened it up to get the girls. I LOVE BYC peeps!

ETA- I know this is off topic but it does pertain to Marans....just wanted to share.....back to topic now!

 

[gvntofly05]

I have a question for all the Marans experts here. I just hatched 11 BCM and 10 of them look like perfect BCM with good feathered shanks. One of them is real black just a hint of yellow under the chin and on the belly. It also has clean legs, for this reason alone it will end up in my layer coop if it's a pullet. My question is could it be that this chick is not a Black Copper but just a Black Marans? Here are some pics.

And this is what all the others look like.

 

[drom]

Well, I believe your little bird there is blue. I don't have that gene in my stock so hopefully someone else here will chime in and confirm.

 

[AHappychick]

I think you have a blue too

 

[pinkchick]

Blue

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

Not sure if that one is blue or not. My blues look blue as soon as they hatch and dry.

 

[flgardengirl]

The blue marans I hatched a few wks ago are lighter blue than gvntofly05's pic too. Maybe his is dark blue or light black or maybe dark blue copper? What do blue copper chicks look like?

 

[Resolution]

Much has been discussed here regarding "ear tufts". Without intending to be pedantic,
it may be more constructive to adopt more appropriate terminology to avoid confusion.

Note: Ear Lobe placement directly below the ear. Ear Lobes in domestic roosters are generally covered in bare skin
whilst Ear Coverts are densely feathered in special microplumes designed to cover the ear while accentuating rather than muffling sound.
Ear coverts serve to block out background noise, wind or forest floor substrate crackling under foot; the whistling of raptor wings,
the hidden location of a chick in distress etc...

Wild Gallinaceous Bird species that inhabit exceedingly windy regions will often exhibit especially large and refined
ear coverts, like this Shagga bird or White Eared Pheasant as we know it in English speaking countries.

The same morphological trait is observed in domestic fowl that live in similar environs.

To recap:

Ear Tufts are something characteristic of the Quetero and certain South American races with Quetero founders.
Ear Coverts exist on all birds. They consist of tiny plumuelles that cover the ear openings.
Southern Hemisphere chicken breeds tend to have elongated ear coverts. Marans do not.
All the same, it would be more appropriate to call the Southern Hemisphere breeds' elongated ear coverts
as ear covert tufts and the Marans as ear coverts. [/i]

Ok getting back to Ear Coverts as opposed to Ear Tufts as they may or may not relate to selective breeding of Marans.

The ear coverts of the male Sri Lanka Junglefowl contrast with both the bare facial skin of its face and
the overall colouration of plumuelles ( tiny plumes) covering the crown (top of head); occiput ( where the top of the neck meets skull
and subaurical region ( where occiputal plumuelles meet the sides of the throat).

The ear coverts of the Burmese Red Junglefowl Gallus spadiceus and its domestic descendants with wild Indian Red Junglefowl, like this specimen,
do not contrast with either bare facial skin or head/throat plumuellels.

The ear coverts of the wild Indian Red Gallus murghi, not contaminated with domestic blood or an intergrade between the Burmese race
and that of the Indian, are discernible even from a distance. Though they do not contrast to the same degree that the Sri Lanka junglefowl
ear coverts do, it is nonetheless significant to this discussion.


Once again, we have breeders working diligently (a little too diligently in my opinion) to perfect phenotypic traits, characteristics that help us
map where and to what degree respective stocks have lost their conformity. As egg colour is of the most significance with regards to this cultural heritage breed,
this is where selective breeding must be focused. Phenotypic expression is something that is refined only after the egg colour is to the level appreciated
as being uniquely Marans.

In my opinion, there is a tendency to overproduce stock, that is, to hatch too many eggs and subsequently surplus too much haphazardly selected stock.
The disciplined poultier limits her or his selective breeding to only a tiny handful of pairs and only hatches a half dozen eggs from each.
Hens that do not produce the best possible expression of egg colour are not surplussed into the market, but rather put into the henhouse that produces
eggs for the table and market. These eggs should be pre-refrigerated to discourage embryo development if unscrupulous individuals decide to try and hatch
chicks from your unrefined stocks.

Phenotype for exhibition has greatly compromised the stewardship of the Barnesvelder and to the detriment of egg colour.

A rooster with yellow hackles or discernible ear coverts; a female with "mossy" plumage simply expresses more of the integral Marandaise genetics at the root of
the very best lineages of Marans. Throw the chicks out with the incubator and you end up working against the collective effort to refine the breed from the inside out.
That said, obviously there are serious stewards here and a bunch of dedicated poultiers that know the brass tacks of selective breeding. It sounds as if they are already content
with their egg colour and are now selecting for superficial characters. My missive is intended for the new poultry enthusiast that wants to begin at squares one through eight.