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

[greathorse]

You are right if and when egg color is secondary to this breed we will no longer have a breed in this country. I can find no good reason to keep such a poor performer in so many other attributes if egg color is not one of the top breed characteristics.

There was one other thread on which egg color discussion became so heated that the thread was closed. Breed em as dark as you can get and dont sell eggs from every single hen you happen to have around makes sense to me. Egg color is not very subjective and selection for it should not be a big deal

 

[hcammack]

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Ya I am confused by why egg colors importance was ever question well I said my 2 cents and I am done don't want to get this great thread shut down!

 

[greathorse]

I have considered Wellsummers and I only had a couple of hatchery birds but all of the eggs I got were very Mottled looking with "freckles" I did not find that as attractive is that what most even breeder Wellsummers lay?

 

[hcammack]

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Mine lay some speckled eggs and some very dark eggs to. I girls from Will Marrow they are fantastic layers of dark eggs this spring my girls were going at 5,6, or 7 dark eggs a week! Here is Will Marrows Wellsummer page http://www.whitmorefarm.com/welsummer.html I have seen his Wellie and Marans eggs next to each other and cannot tell them apart. His have the best egg color I have ever seen He selects for that and production to.

 

[roostercruiser]

I wasn't trying to get something started. I just don't understand why so many people put so much money into these birds but they don't breed the birds for type mainly just egg color. A judge who lives near me went to the APA national show and said the type on the birds there was so all over the board on type. If no one breeds for type the breed will never get into the standard. Why not breed for type first then egg color? The APA standard is what matters not the French standard. There's so many different varieties of the Marans but none in the standard.

 

[Krys109uk]

In an age where dual purpose birds have fallen out of favor a bird that is as heavy, slow maturing, and consumptive as the Marans without having a high lay rate would be considered usless.

Have I misunderstood this statement? Marans are renown for being fast maturing.​

 

[hcammack]

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Have I misunderstood this statement? Marans are renown for being fast maturing.

Sorry I mis spoke my cockerals matured very quickly and became huge my pullets didn't lay untill at least 30 weeks of age. I was just thinking about how fast my birds reached POL.

 

[Krys109uk]

If no one breeds for type the breed will never get into the standard. Why not breed for type first then egg color?

A lot of people starting out breeding Marans have been attracted to the breed by the dark egg colour. Very often, new breeders are not very familiar with correct type for Marans. However dark egg colour is more difficult than plumage colour & if one were to breed for type ignoring egg colour the egg colour would easily be lost, being difficult to regain. Imo, both general type & egg colour need to bred for simultaneously.​

 

[roostercruiser]

One would think if egg color is so important then they would only breed the best of both type and egg color? Just breeding egg color and not type gets nowhere just like in any other breed. I read some place where someone asked what the leg color was suposed to be as they had birds with 2 different colors and know one knew. I think everyone breeding these should study on what the birds are to look like. I see people asking to see pictures of what the eggs look like but not the birds.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

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Those people are the ones to stay away from. Unfortunetly not everyone is in it to improve the breed, just to make a fast buck.

Some just don't understand and some are learning. You are right, we should always look at the bird and the eggs and make a judgement call if we would like to have their stock.