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

[onthespot]

Nice roo! He has just the exact amount of copper on his breast I think is best, which none of mine have. I have one that has it clear down the front of his legs, one with zero, and one with just a few copper feathers clear up under his wattles. Are most of your hens laying right now?

 

[hcammack]

Little peddler those are beautiful. I guess the new owner will have to worry about the coppering on these roosters. My Pullets are not going to be used for breeding so I am not sure if that will be a problem. The chicks are only about 6-8 weeks old so I don't know when they should show coppering several had copper colored down but do not have the feathers in those areas yet.

Henry

 

[mothergoose1963]

What a nice egg! Mine just started laying yesterday and they arent that darlk. I had another in the nest today. They were all little pullet eggs, perfect for a sandwich! I have nineteen hens, hopefully I will get eggs that look like yours!

 

[littlepeddler]

My Hulk is 5 months old today. The pullets starting laying at 4 1/2 months. I get one or two eggs then skip and one or two or three again.

I have pictures on my web site from different ages. Also on my Harvest Moon Blog. I tried to get as many pictures as I could as they grew from babies.


Hulk has just a tad too much copper on his chest for me. I like the more solid black breast. I know the copper comes from the line he is, but the pullets have the perfect color to balance out all that copper.

The egg came from a pullet of 4.5 months old.

I have Jess who doesn't have much copper that I will breed to a pullet with to much hackle color as well. I have those pics if you would like to see them.

Thanks Guys.

 

[drom]

Quote:
Now, this is one of the things about them that I have found the most interesting really. The distribution of copper and black; what is actually correct according to the French standard, how the trait for breast color on the roos and hackle color on the hens is passed, how to tell early on how much copper they will keep or lose.

All three of my cockerels were red breasted when they were younger. Now, at 19 weeks, I have one that is mainly black breasted, one that is red spotted and one that is very red-breasted (enameled).
A lot of people say (breeders actually) that the roos need to be completely black-breasted. I hate to sound like an annoying little upstart, but that is not how I interpret what the French site says under the variety information. I have had to read it several times because the translation can be confusing, but I think it is very clear on a couple items.

The upper breast can be plain black or slightly red spotted according to the standard, but the ideal is to maintain a balance through selection because too much of either is not a good thing in your breeding program.

The red markings on the rooster's breast help to maintain the copper colored hackles on the female offspring.

Here is what I have so far at 19 weeks:

This is my black-breasted one. He was red-breasted and the black has filled in from the center and slowly moved out until he now just has some copper left on the outside edges and thighs; all of which I think he will lose:

Red Spotted-this boy also has black slowly filling in and red spotting on the outside edges and down to the thighs. I think he is going to lose some but probably not all of the red spotting.

This picture is kind of small so you can't seem him well, but the one in the center is red-enameled and I expect he always will be:

 

[drom]

Quote:
Wow, 4 1/2 months that's early. Nice dark egg!

Onthespot, how old were your pullets when they started?

 

[drom]

Quote:
I think they are off to a good start. Those are very pretty eggs!

 

[drom]

I have a question for the roo specialists here-I know many of you have lots of experience with roos.
I raised my birds like pets and they have been really tame, well behaved and docile. They come when I call them, they follow me around, etc... But in the last 2 weeks, my alpha cockerel seems like he is challenging me a bit. He runs up to me sideways and kind of stands in front of me. He doesn't peck at me or anything like that, he just runs up to me sideways and looks up at me like "I'm the big man here"

But the other day when he ran up to me he kind of jumped up a little bit so I thought, ok you're not the boss of me pal, and I reached down to pick him up and he actually reached around like he was going to peck me!

He didn't though and I picked him up and walked around with him all over the property away from his friends.
So, I have done that a few times now, but it doesn't seem to be discouraging his behavior. In fact I am kind of wondering if he likes the attention.
Anyone have any thoughts on how I should handle this little man?

 

[onthespot]

My first pullet started laying around 26 weeks i think. As far as the rooster, Lightning i got from a BYC member and she raised him as a pet. When she gave him to me he was a total "lap roo" and loved attention. As he matured and his hormones kicked in, he tried to be alpha over me and still tries from time to time. When I was kneeling down in the run trying to fix something, he tried to breed my tennis shoe! I sent him flying for that one. Then he started to half heartedly flog me as I was leaving the run. Then some times he started to flat out do it when I was going about normal chores in the run. I tried carrying him around, holding his comb, doing everything I could read on here to do. Hope I don't get jumped here, but what I finally ended up having to do is pick him up and spike him like a football on the ground, sometimes more than once. Sometimes if he is on the roost and gives me the "evil wing" I barely acknowledge him but covertly send him flying and try to make sure he lands badly. That usually works for a week or two. Knowing what I know now, I would not try ot make a pet out of a roo.

 

[drom]

Quote:
OK, well, I figured eventually I would have to deal with these things and maybe have to separate the roos as well. They are still getting along I guess because they have established their order. I hope that doesn't become a problem. It's really just the alpha boy. The other two are fine. Too bad they can't stay like little pets forever.

They are looking like they are all going to be big. I don't know if they will be as big as Donna's, but if they are, I don't want any of them running at me.
My horses don't dare step out of line because they relate to me as if I am the alpha member in their herd. (of course they are mares, not stallions) I don't know how to teach a rooster that-hee. They understand their pecking order so they should be smart enough to relate to me as the top of the pecking order.