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

[roostercruiser]

If people would breed for both it would help the breed out alot. I know serious breeders wouldn't sale anyone birds that were not of really good quality. If they do then they are just making the breed worse as these people will breed them and make more bad quality birds. Quality should always be before quantity. As much money that is put into these someone should put forth the money to get a breeder in France to get everything together to legally ship birds to the US. That in itself would help the lines in the US by years of breeding.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I agree, that would be ideal. But that will never happen. We can only do the best we can, and allow others to make their own decisions.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I don't think I received an answer to this question and as we are talking about improving the breed...

What should we be breeding for first in the Roos. Is it first--body type?

Then what goes next? Comb or eye color or feather color,

Feathering on feet are last right because that is fairly easy to obtain?

I am just trying to narrow the 4 Roos down and each one has good points and bad points.

Oh and one more

They should have pumpkin colored eyes, but is it ok for the iris to be black? Or is that supposed to be pumpkin too?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

The biggest problem with the Marans has been the fact that they are so popular. IMHO. People wanted to make money off the dark eggs so just about everybody bred for just that. There were only a few and very few that bred for conformation and shell color. Then came the big push for APA acceptance and so many of the birds don't even come close to the proposed standard and I think that was a big shock for some people. In breeding for shell color people mixed and matched lines trying to get darker eggs to the point that almost none of the original lines are left pure and that is very sad that they are lost forever. I pet project I have been working on is talking to the "original" breeders, tracing history of the lines and how they were before they got so popular. It's been a time consuming project but also very interesting. The "old" lines of Marans did breed true to form and had great conformation, they are cookie cutter the same from generation to generation, no sports, no strange colors popping up etc etc. We have about 3 generations of Cuckoo's now at home and if wasn't for the leg bands you can't tell one generation from the next. The only thing that has saved the Cuckoo's to this point is they aren't the most popular. The Copper Blacks are a flat out mess for the most part from what I have seen. I haven't had much experience with the other colors but I would think they have the same problems.

Steve in NC

 

[60ACRES]

Ok, back to the titled name of this thread...

Friday the 13th.... a "Lucky" day

I had a hen go broody, so what choice did I have... I let her sit on 2 eggs, and when I came home on Friday, I found:

Lucky

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Lucky has beautiful leg feathering..

 

[60ACRES]

I just grabbed my cell phone and snapped it. I will get some pics with my good camera soon.. and the parents.

I was just so excited to see it in there. I haven't had good luck with my cheap-O LG bator, maybe this is the way to go!

 

[Wynette]

AWE! Sweet, Darris! Congrats on your Lucky chick!!

 

[keithallen1965]

In spite of being new to the breed, I have seen a lot of people on this forum and others and folks not on any forums who have put endless hours working on breed improvement and meeting the standard not just egg color. However if you look at the other breeds there are not as many variables when it comes to breed type and kind. I think Egg color is just one of the outstanding traits of the marans. I have three Blues that just started laying and yes I too want DARK brown eggs however I dont want dark brown eggs from a bird that does not meet the APA standard right now mine dont however they are Marans and I will continue to work with them untill they do. The race is not won by the swiftess but to him who endures to the end. (APA reconigition) We can do it the best way I believe to do so is to keep the bickering to a minimum and keep the eggs hatching and show entries up and keep working hard and cull severly.

 

[amazondoc]

I am studiously avoiding real work today, so here's a pic of the Marans eggs I'm getting right now:

The eggs in the middle are my Cottage Hill wheatens. The ones on the left are my new wheatens, and the ones on the right are my new BCs. I think it's very interesting that they are all so similar in color. And I can't wait to see what they produce in the spring!