Opinions on the black birchen marans from greenfire

[nunlef]

Hi,
As a mothers day present to myself, I have decided to buy a few fancy chickens. I currently have black copper marans, columbian rocks, buff orps, and will have some baby chicks soon that are all of those crossed with a blue birchen EE (ameraucana blue marans cross).

I have some lavender orp in the incubator right now also.

So, my goal is to have a small (12-15) flock of birds that will give me a good chance of producing some really cool looking chickens that lay an assortment of colored eggs. I would also like to "create" my own breed for our farm, though of course that is years away.

I have already decided to include the coronation Sussex in my flock, but the black birchen marans is (I think) awfully expensive (I don't show -yet ). but so darn pretty.

So, I guess what I am asking is, do you think the marans that greenfire is offering is a good investment for showing and breeding for a small timer like me that only has about a year of experience.

Thanks so much,
Heather

 

[NYREDS]

Birchen is not a recognized variety in Marans, Black Copper is the only variety currently recognized, so showing the Birchens is of little value at this time. The best they can do is Best of Variety & in all likelyhood yours would be the only birds at most shows.
As to your total plan, with a total flock of 12-15 including several varieties you aren't likely to have much luck breeding for showing purposes. Even the best breeding programs produce a limited number of birds worthy of showing. An often repeated rule of thumb is hatch 100 to get 10 keepers.

ETA: I don't know the price of these birds but I think all of Greenfire's prices are ridiculous.

 

[nunlef]

I agree that the greenfire price is high, but I thought they were sort of "the standard" when it came to the more rare chickens.

Of course, I show my dog, and he is a discount purchase from a little known breeder, and has beat dogs 4times his price. Maybe I should take a lesson from the dog world, and go with appearance and not breeder recognition

But those black birchen marans really are pretty, I like them much more than my bcm. Too bad there isn't a black birchen Sussex that lays a green egg, then I would have temperament and coloring all in one

Thanks

 

[galen]

I also think Greenfire is way overpriced. Nice but not that nice. I don't know, if you can recoup your investment for what you would pay to establish a breeding flock. Just wait a year or two and you will see the prices slowly come down. The Marans did. I do like their birds.

 

[josh44]

if you want some birchen Marans PM me.

Waaayyyyyy Cheaper than GreenFire Farms

 

[nunlef]

Super, I will.

 

[OHmamma]

Greenfire does not have SILVER Birchens which is the only real Birchen Marans that you can even show (even if they don't count).

Real silver birchens are hard to breed true, the roos are usually cream. Proper Egg color is hard to achcieve too a lot of good breeders that have them are having a hard time with the egg color.

 

[nunlef]

The picture on greenfire's website looks like the one on bevsmarans.com. Are they both incorrect, or is it just my untrained eye?

 

[NYREDS]

Greenfire does not have SILVER Birchens which is the only real Birchen Marans that you can even show (even if they don't count).

Real silver birchens are hard to breed true, the roos are usually cream. Proper Egg color is hard to achcieve too a lot of good breeders that have them are having a hard time with the egg color.

The only Marans variety accepted in the Standard is the Black Copper. Any other variety can be shown but can not go higher than Best of Variety.

 

[3riverschick]

Wheaten Marans were just accepted by APA.