I think what I'm trying to impart here is to stop introducing new stock. Work with a closed flock until your closed flock has the best possible egg colour.
This would be true for tinted egg layers as well as dark egg producing breeds. If one is selecting for tail length this would also be the rule- breed for that very specific trait
that distinguishes that subrace from all others. Post catalog hatchery generations of Americans are going to have a real problem with this and this is unfortunate because it leads to that
-the grass is always greener on the other side mentality. Yes, to answer the question regarding exhibition, the French do exhibit their birds and these are competed against one another but the majority of birds exhibited in Marans itself at an agricultural fair I have visited five times now, would not fit any definition of a standard of perfection. They simply produced or were hatched from the very darkest eggs. It is the egg that is in the competition in Marans France- now when one visits Lyon or Brittany, the whole bird is in the competition but the egg shell colour and shape has already been fixed and for generations before superficial characteristics are selected for or against. The trick to enhancing egg colour is to limit genetic diversity not increase it. Small clutches- generally only the first are hatched, and again only of the darkest eggs. One phenotypic trait that consistently bred for in Marans and Poutiou France amongst the true experts of this race of fowl-not incidentally, each colour being considered its own distinct breed- reddish legs or vivid portions of the leg in salmon or pink are consistently chosen over all else because it is from individuals that carry these demes that produce the darkest roundest eggs. The birds with the most reddish legs may not be the actual producer of the most russet egg but it is from two birds with pink or red pigmented portions of the legs that the best shaped eggs will be produced and the more spherical the egg, the more even the distribution of the pigment. So on par, it is from that stock that the best eggs will be produced overall. Strangely, we also saw birds with the slightest crests, especially in the Bordeaux region (where my sister lives). These birds wander about in the vineyards and rural estates and produce the deepest chickory hued eggs- not the darkest but the most vivid and deep in pigment but by and large these birds had the slightest hint of a crest. Most Marans have longer feathers on their heads than other large dual purpose fowl and it may be that some Marans post WWII were infused with the blood of some other (at the time) exceedingly rare French breed that was crested? At any rate, and in any case, the close selection from limited founders is absolutely key to defining and refining your own heirloom strain. We have so much working against us in the USA because the different colour types, again considered their own distinct breeds in France, have been interbred into one composite or another. Disciplined selection picks up from there. As evidenced by any number of eggs photographed on this site, there are a number of poultiers well ahead in the go forth by day mode. The rest are truly at the beginning phases and if one compares this to the creation of Bonsai one has a very long road to follow and there are no short cuts.
A green egg laying Ameraucana is not a cull. The Americauna how do you spell that anyway? is a North American Quechua and they tend to lay a greenish or greyish egg when compared to some other South American breeds.
