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

[Lotsapaints]

I have pictures of my surprises from a hatch of Braden/Cratty Cuckoo Marans

I don't know if you can tell but the little girl is very tannish brown on her head not grayish black I already have one Golden Cuckoo pullet but these came out of eggs I saw and they were nice and dark. The breeder said they haven't hatched out any before...and were very apologetic I am happy because I really like the Golden one I have and want more I don't know what to think of the 2 roos will they be golden or white they do have feathers all the way to the toe on the outside. I had a good hatch 10 from 13 eggs that made it to lock down mostly pullets too.

 

[berkeleysprings]

random wheaten pics , i have a broody silkee hen raising a few

 

[flgardengirl]

lotsapaints: I had a really light golden cuckoo hatch out earlier this year. He is still light in color. He has light yellow gold coloring on his chest and hackles. He has the darker gold coloring on his back and wings as well as the black barring. I think he is pretty that way. I know others have hatched out light roos as well. I have noticed that there seems to be a variety of colors of golden cuckoos, they don't all seem to be breeding out to be a certain uniform color especially with the males.
Here is how mine looked when he was a few days old.

Here he (on the left) is next to a wheaten marans (right)

Here he is a little older

Here he is now (he should have more tail feathers but I had him in with a split blk/lav orp girl who was hatched out at the same time as him who decided she is going to pick the other birds' feathers grrrr-they are separted now) His scant tail feathers he has are black barrred so far.
Cuckoo Baby:

 

[Lotsapaints]

He's beautiful even missing his tail feathers mine is very gold all over just a little smuttiness where your had more so I'll post pics as they feather out I'm thinking they should be looking good at Christmas time.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Speaking of Golden Cuckoo Marans, can I have the experts here chime in and tell me what I have. I ordered eggs from a breeder who was working on this breed. He also included eggs which are a Golden cuckoo/ feather legged BCM cross, as he was working on darkening egg color and trying to get the feather legged trait into his Golden Cuckoo's. So I had one pure Golden Cuckoo Maran egg hatch, but it appears to be a standard black and white cuckoo chick, which I hear can happen. Then I had two of the mixed eggs hatch, and one appears to be solid black, which I read should be a pullet. But I'm stumped on the second mix, it is brown in color, and a very dark brown at that, and I can't really tell if it's really showing any cuckoo striping yet. These are two weeks old, and so far named Cuckoo (the black and white cuckoo), Black and Brown.

I am interested to know what sex you think they are and what the brown fellow will be, I'm hoping he does turn out to look more Golden Cuckoo, and be a roo. Hoping the other two are pullets. Anyway, please let me know what you think. And Thanks in advance!!!

Here's the threesome with Cuckoo on the left, Black in the middle and Brown on the right.

Here is Brown on the left and Black on the right (does the smaller white spot on Brown's head in comparison to the spot on Black's head mean anything?):

And here is Cuckoo (pullet?):

 

[Lotsapaints]

The brown one should end up a golden pullet all yellow is golden roo. My golden pullet wasn't that dark brown she was more smoky but still brown. I hope this helps I want to see pictures in a month or 2

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will be sure to post pic's as they progress.

OK, I've been searching for the email from my seller to share the exact mix pairing. He had added in some of the feather legged BCM hens into the pen with GCM Roo's.

I had read somewhere earlier on this thread, that if you pair GCM pullets with a BCM roo, that the barred/cuckoo females can only pass the barred gene to her mail offspring. So this means that only males would be cuckoo, females would be all black. Is this true? And does it work the other way around for the black hens under a barred roo? If not, are there any rules that would apply to that situation?

After looking at my pic's now that I've posted them here, it does seem as if the brown one is showing a bit of barring on his wing feathers.....I guess time will tell who's who and what's what, but more opinions would be appreciated!!!

 

[Lotsapaints]

Roos have bigger spots of yellow on the head so that's a pullet. The genetics for golden cuckoos is posted in this site if you search for golden cuckoos and go thru the threads. I have it here; Golden Salmon, Wheaton or even Black Copper roo bred to a Cuckoo hen gets you blk unbarred pullets and blk barred cocks you cross the cocks with a golden salmon, Wheaton or blk copper hen and you would get unbarred brown pullets which you would cull barred brown pullets and barred brown cocks and black or barred black whick you would cull also crossing the brown barred cocks and hens would get you unbarred brown pullets, barred brown pullets with leg bars impure barred brown cocks (culls) and pure barred brown cocks with leg bars...I think it easier to just start with Goldens because that is a lot of culling just for color and I think they show up because someplace they weren't culled and when you line breed you get them. I like the Cuckoos because you can sex them when they're born. I do love the Golden Salmon Marans too and they have some really dark eggs but I don't have enough pens to have that many.....maybe later

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Golden Salmon, Wheaton or even Black Copper roo bred to a Cuckoo hen gets you blk unbarred pullets and blk barred cocks you cross the cocks with a golden salmon, Wheaton or blk copper hen and you would get unbarred brown pullets which you would cull barred brown pullets and barred brown cocks and black or barred black whick you would cull also crossing the brown barred cocks and hens would get you unbarred brown pullets, barred brown pullets with leg bars impure barred brown cocks (culls) and pure barred brown cocks with leg bars

YIKES!!! That is a mouth full and a lot to wrap my brain around!!! LOL!!!

Yeah, I was trying for pure golden cuckoo's when I ordered the eggs. They are supposed to be Bill Braden lines, and the breeder was working the breed trying to improve them. Unfortunately, it looks like I don't have a single golden cuckoo to work with.

Thanks for all the insight!​

 

[nivtup]

So, I am no genetics expert so take for what it is worth.

It is my understanding that GCM are Barred/Cuckoo Gene on either a Golden Salmon, Wheaten, or BC Bird. Golden Salmon being the preferred.

If that is the case, then it is likely that the birds you have may still have the gens to make up a golden cuckoo, even if they are not displaying the golden cuckoo pheonotype.

For example, both the Wheaten and Golden Salmon are recessive genes that require two copies to display.

Not knowing for sure what your birds are made up of, if you keep them all, regardless of coloration, and cross them, there is a chance that you will get the two copies you are looking for on about 25% of the chicks. Barring is another gene and will require a bit of work to get it like it needs to be, although it is dominant, so it it easier to work with. Roos should have two copies, hens one.

On a positive note, the head spot usually signifies that there is at least one copy of the barring gene on board. To do so the breeder would have had to have a GCM Roo over BCM hens. If this is the case, all chicks would have one copy of the barring gene. None of the cockerels would have the two copies you want, although a cross will give you percentages of single barred cockerels, double barred cockerels, single barred pullets, and non barred pullets.

If all of the stars line up, and if you hold your mouth just right, you will get both the barring you are looking for, and the salmon/wheaten/birchen(black copper) genes you are looking for in some of the chicks from the cross. You might need to hatch a lot to get enough birds to work with.

Yes you can cross back to a parent, although it is not required in order to get there.

Then again, I may be wrong