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

[aalbury]

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there really are so many things to work on aren't there? I like his short tail and compact shape though he's stretching his neck up. He's got the right beetle sheen in the right spots too. One thing that bothers me is all the long tails and that longhorn look. But admittedly, the dark egg is what counts most. Color of the bird only counts if you are showing the bird, or breeding the bird, yet a WHOLE lot of people here are VERY serious about feather color. And everyone seems to be a breeder now. You can really tell based on comments what people are currently focusing on.

PS - If anyone comes across bantam marans, let me know. Geebs has me hooked.

 

[kathyinmo]

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I wonder the same thing myself! WHAT is sparsely?

To me sparsely is like your picture, but I am sure no expert!

 

[halo]

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lol he looks fine. . . He's just in his teenages.

Nice rooster, he looks just like mine. LOL Is he a high stepper too, my rooster looks like he is marching all the time.

He truthfully moves like an ostrich. Im afraid he's going to be as big as one, too.

 

[lildinkem]

Quote:
there really are so many things to work on aren't there? I like his short tail and compact shape though he's stretching his neck up. He's got the right beetle sheen in the right spots too. One thing that bothers me is all the long tails and that longhorn look. But admittedly, the dark egg is what counts most. Color of the bird only counts if you are showing the bird, or breeding the bird, yet a WHOLE lot of people here are VERY serious about feather color. And everyone seems to be a breeder now. You can really tell based on comments what people are currently focusing on.

PS - If anyone comes across bantam marans, let me know.

I hate to admit, I base my whole breeding program on this female because of egg color. I have one other who lays close to the same color. Except, her eggs have no blotches and is a solid even Mahogany color. Where the Ray V girl lays that color with tons of huge blotches. So, not only I am basing my program on that hen for her size and type, both are better or my best girl, but I am using her mostly for her eggs she lays. EVERYONE goes straight to the bator. I am getting rid of most all of my other birds to allow the space to focus on these breedings. The only other BCM's I am keeping are my small number of different breeders males that are bigger. I have one male from Kevin Jeanne C-1 line. He is Reggie, again the pic here is from the same day I took the other cockerel. Both are about the same age.

Here is Reggie, I now know not to worry about his lack of feathers on the legs, since my female seemingly over rules that gene and puts out feathered leg babies. I like Reggie's type, not too thrilled about his lack of color. But he is another line that is different then Amy's. So, he gets to stay.

And the last of my non feathered leggers who just bought a new lease on life is my 2 year old Gorilla Monsoon. He is from a local lady who (Betty Jo Aldrich) who had the line for several years. So, I value the genetic diversity with her boy. plus, he is no runt either. So, these are my bigger boys, and I will work with for the year. The one feathered shank boy I have of breeding age is no where close to size, and his color is closer to Reggies.

Here is Gorilla

 

[aalbury]

My goodness I do like Reggie though he's starting to lose the red, quite nice. Gorilla is aptly named!

Egg color is what it's really all about though...everything else is pointless unless it lays a good dark egg.

Now I'm going to weigh my 6 month old cockreal. He is too big for the girls, they buckle under him, so he will have to wait for them to get bigger. I didn't realize big was a problem other than I thought mine was too big. He's twice the size of my BR Cockreal that's the same age. I think I still prefer to buy what you all create, but I do have some of his group's egg in the bator. Maybe if I get good, I'll buy eggs instead of chicks and pullets.

 

[berkeleysprings]

how are your wheatens feathering out kathy ?
mine are looking good so far , i have been hatching many . im must have 40 chicks
Quote:
I wonder the same thing myself! WHAT is sparsely?

To me sparsely is like your picture, but I am sure no expert!

 

[kathyinmo]

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I took pictures of them today, but then had to come to work. I will try to post pictures tomorrow.

 

[flowerchicks]

Can somebody please post pics of their marans, preferably black coppper, at approx. 4 weeks old. I have a black copper and a cuckoo chick. I got the cuckoo from the feed store as a day old on 3/18 and the black copper from a local breeder on 3/26. She said the chick (unsexed) was about 2 weeks old, but when I got it home, it actually seem a tiny bit younger than the cuckoo (about 9 days at that point). I just figured them the same age, but the black copper has a larger comb and is starting to get waddles, it's also the most mellow, curious and friendly of all 5 of my chicks. The breeder and I went through the whole lot looking for a "girlish" chick, but since they weren't sexed, it was just guess work. I will try to post pics tomorrow, but I would like to compare my chick to pictures of chicks the same age that are all grown up now and the sex has been determined. thanks

 

[Tala]

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Mine are a month old, uh, the 10th so these pix from a couple of days ago should be about what you were looking for: BCM cockerel in first pic, pullet in second, https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3966890#p3966890

ETA: this is my similar aged Cuckoo Marans pullet, for comparison http://lh3.ggpht.com/_eVTlu3ivenA/S7qIcMdcJVI/AAAAAAAAAiM/-X7UR07M0Rg/s720/SANY0958.JPG

 

[Illia]

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Current 4 week old Black Copper:

One of my Black Copper pullets at almost 5 weeks:

Sexing black coppers at a young age is easy and hard depending on bloodlines, as some have pullets with very large combs.

Mine usually are easy though.