Hi, Marans friends! For those of you who haven't seen the proposed standard (we're hoping that it will be approved this fall), here is part of it:
ShapeMale
COMB: Single, moderately large, straight, upright, evenly serrated with five points.
BEAK: Long, stout and well curved.
FACE: Smooth, skin fine and soft in texture.
EYES: Large and prominent.
WATTLES: Medium in size, oval.
HEAD: Moderately large in size, slightly flattened on top.
NECK: Of medium length, broad and deep, well balanced. Hackle well developed, moderately flowing over shoulders.
TAIL: Full, rather short, moderately well spread, carried at an angle of 45 degrees above horizontal.
WINGS: Short, held close to the body, carriage nearly horizontal.
BREAST: Strong, broad, and full, well rounded when viewed from both the front and side.
BACK: Wide at the shoulders, long, flat, slightly tilted to the rear. Slightly more inclined then that of the female.
BODY AND FLUFF: Body deep, long and broad, especially through the shoulders and carried high. Overall rectangular in shape. Fluff medium in length.
LEGS and TOES: Legs set well apart, straight when viewed from the front. Shanks-moderately long and smooth. Toes-four, well spread and straight and of medium length.
PLUMAGE: Moderately tight and smooth textured.
Note - combs should have FIVE points. Another thing that's not discussed much is size...size matters in Marans! They've seemed to be getting smaller consistently - we all need to work hard to keep them good-sized birds!
Those are some great pics of birds...I just love scrolling through what I've missed since I was here last to see all the neat new pics!