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

[CHICKEN little 1]

drom wrote:[Yes, exactly. Look at what line breeding did to this guy. He sleeps 18 hours a day, steals food off the dinner table and constantly steps in front of the computer screen as soon as I try to type something.
AND-he doesn't even lay brown eggs

.

Beautiful cat though!​

 

[drom]

Quote:
Thanks for posting your picture, now I will have something to go by in 2 weeks! LOL

It looks like your little roo also started to show copper on it's wings, did your pullets? They shouldn't right? Because they should be black with some copper around the neck, yes?

Thanks

Yes, that's correct. This particular cockerel had some glints on his wings when he was very tiny and then by around 3 or 4 weeks they were not visible. He has a very correct black wing triangle now. He has too much red on his breast to be show quality, but he is a very nice boy for breeding to my pullets. Although I am more of a fancier than a breeder, I will probably hatch some of the eggs out because my pullets ended up laying very nice dark eggs-nicer than I had hoped for so I will want a few babies.

 

[lickskillet]

If these babies (given I have at least 1 roo and 1 hen) lay anything like what they hatched out of, well, I just couldn't ask for anything more, except maybe some more of their own babies! LOL I'll keep posting at 2 week intervals to see what you guys think they might be as I just can't tell yet. They will make up a very colorful basket...now just need some araucana eggs. LOL BTW-Thanks drom for answering all of my questions!

CHICKEN little 1 wrote:

Congrads lickskillet

THANKS!! I'm in love with these buggers!​

 

[drom]

Quote:
I read your post. I think you are fine with that and it is very fair. And ethical that you are even requesting comments on it. Look at all the people out there selling their first eggs on ebay.

You know, not everyone who will buy eggs from you is breeding or keeping Marans to have top show quality birds-some people will just want good dark egg laying stock. I think it's great that you want to breed for correct show quality as well as egg color. I suppose that should be everyone's goal. I have kind settled in to that fact that I am probably not going to want to show the birds, but am really interested in egg shows and egg color. Someone recently asked if I would sell some eggs and I said that I would send some for free if they would hatch out a couple of pullets for me-I would actually rather have that than the money because I need more pullets for my roos! I don't want any straight run chicks. But before I suggested that I told her everything I thought was good and bad about my birds.
I just disclosed everything I believe about them based on the phenotype. While they are capable of producing show quality, I could only say that I am pretty darn sure their offspring should be very good dark egg layers. That is the one thing I feel confident about because all of my girls lay almost identical egg color and lay the exact same number of eggs each week. They all just lay exactly the same.

But, anyway, I think you are being fair and ethical. Maybe just try to make sure people who buy your eggs have the same goals and thoughts on the birds as you do.

and...don't sell eggs to any whiners-ehehehehhehe

I edited this to clarify the beginning of the second paragraph. (I am a little tired tonight

. A lot of people will just want to buy the eggs to have nice dark egg laying Black Copper Marans and do not necessarily have unrealistic expectations of what kind of possible show stock they get. Anyone who has bred animals knows that regardless of your standards for breeding, you are not going to produce all top show quality, perfect examples of the standard.

 

[ginasmarans]

Iagree, you have to do what is best for you. When I stared selling my cuckoo marans,I started a $15/doz-including shipping. Gradually,as I improved my flockand prices went up, I felt comfortable in raising my prices. Also, as you improve your flock,you will seek out establshed breeders and invest in eggs from their stock,so you will eventually need to re-coup on your investment. I just paid $60 + shipping for a dozen of eggs from breeder,so if I need to raise my price in the future,I will feel o.k. with that.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Right now, I'm mostly looking at eggs, too. Egg shows are something I could conceivably DO, whereas it seems that all the APA shows are so far away (though there are a couple in TN that might be do-able) that I'll never get a chance to go.

The way it happened for me with horses, and then again with my dogs, well, it wasn't that I got them with the intent of showing. It was more that I had a really nice horse, and decided to show it. I had a dog that I adored, who was a beautiful puppy, and someone said, "Hey, you should show him." That spurred my interest in really NICE dogs, so that the next time I added a dog to the household, I made an effort to get a really good one, and that became my first champion. I love them all the same, but why not start with quality--it costs as much to feed and house a mutt as a champion.

My goals for phenotype thus far are fairly modest--I just want the ones I'm selecting to reproduce to be free of disqualifying faults, and as close to the proposed standard as possible. I'll keep taking lots of pictures, and posting them, and listening to feedback, because that may be as close as I get to poultry shows for a while.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Hey, that's more than some folks seem to be aiming for.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Hey, that's more than some folks seem to be aiming for.

I think that I was fortunate in that my initial investment in chicks provided me with a decent selection...so where some people might have only had one rooster, for example, and had to go with him if they wanted another generation, I had many to choose from.

I'm kind of trusting that the phenotype as described in the French standard is the way it is because those traits are linked to the production of dark eggs. That would make sense, anyway, so I'm going with it!

 

[tfpets]

Quote:
I read your post. I think you are fine with that and it is very fair. And ethical that you are even requesting comments on it. Look at all the people out there selling their first eggs on ebay.

You know, not everyone who will buy eggs from you is breeding or keeping Marans to have top show quality birds-some people will just want good dark egg laying stock. I think it's great that you want to breed for correct show quality as well as egg color. I suppose that should be everyone's goal. I have kind settled in to that fact that I am probably not going to want to show the birds, but am really interested in egg shows and egg color. Someone recently asked if I would sell some eggs and I said that I would send some for free if they would hatch out a couple of pullets for me-I would actually rather have that than the money because I need more pullets for my roos! I don't want any straight run chicks. But before I suggested that I told her everything I thought was good and bad about my birds.
I just disclosed everything I believe about them based on the phenotype. While they are capable of producing show quality, I could only say that I am pretty darn sure their offspring should be very good dark egg layers. That is the one thing I feel confident about because all of my girls lay almost identical egg color and lay the exact same number of eggs each week. They all just lay exactly the same.

But, anyway, I think you are being fair and ethical. Maybe just try to make sure people who buy your eggs have the same goals and thoughts on the birds as you do.

and...don't sell eggs to any whiners-ehehehehhehe

I edited this to clarify the beginning of the second paragraph. (I am a little tired tonight

. A lot of people will just want to buy the eggs to have nice dark egg laying Black Copper Marans and do not necessarily have unrealistic expectations of what kind of possible show stock they get. Anyone who has bred animals knows that regardless of your standards for breeding, you are not going to produce all top show quality, perfect examples of the standard.

I just wanna hug you! Thats why your thread keeps rocking too! There are so many angles to having and loving this breed arent there? I jump up and down from my soap box on their behalf so often, I get exhausted!! I sprain and broke my ankle and teeny bit so I'm jumpin down a little slower this past couple of weeks, but what the heck!

Oh yeah, my Will Morrow Whitmore Farms Eggs hatched. Out of 16 eggs, several quit way early. They spent over 5 days in the mail, remember? So I had 10 make it to the hatcher, but lost one during hatch, and one looks really bad. Three have mushy bellys, so I think my hygrometer is bad, cause it was reading 45% but I could tell it was too wet...they were staying too wet and not fluffing up?? Lucky they didnt drown, but I still have 5 very healthy fluffy chicks, 3 I'll watch closer that are wetter and I have concerns about...(I'm at work and cant help, I had to put them in a plastic brooder to dry).....One chick is very Blue, the others are all blacker. I hope I get time to post pics tonight!

Finally, I may have some Feather Legged Black and Blue Marans! (Except two of these are clean legged!)
Tina

 

[ninjapoodles]

I posted to the MCC list, but thought I'd ask here, too:

I have a BC Marans hen who just started laying about a week ago. Her egg color is BAD. Like, RIR color. All of the others have been laying so dark, this caught me off guard. How long should I give her to see if the color improves before moving her to the laying flock?

You know, now that I think of it, I believe that what I have is just the base eggshell--no paint. Her eggs have a very matte look and feel, not glossy or shiny like the others. It's probably what all their eggs look like before they go through the "paint" process.

Anyone had experience with this?