Question on Cuckoo Marans

[lilshadow]

I am not sure if this is in the right place, but here goes. I just hatched out some cuckoo marans this morning, two of the have white spots on there heads, and some don't. Are they the same as barred rock in that the males have white spots on there heads and females don't? Do cuckoo marans even have spots on their heads when hatched?

 

[newnanchic]

Yes they do have white spots on their heads when they are hatched out. I don't know about the male / female part of the question. I know my roos are a lighter colores as they get older .

 

[klf73]

all of my cuckoo marans had spots when they hatched. The smaller, more defined spots were the pullets and the bigger smudgey spots were cockerals. Not sure why you have some without spots

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
Yeah that. Post pics and we can tell you who is who. Is there a chance you got another kind of breed or variety of Marans in w/your Cuckoo eggs? In Cuckoos, the females wil be a dark, charcoal grey/black color (w/yellow or white underfluff) and the boys will be a silvery grey (with yellow or white underfluff). Sometimes you have a dark-ish roo or a lighter pullet that fools you for awhile, but you can generally tell sex pretty accurately.

 

[CityClucks]

Quote:
Barred Rocks all have spots on their heads as baby peeps - males and females. I think you mean Black Sex Links as the ones that can be sexed by whether or not they have the spot on their heads - the male BSL has the spot, the females are all black.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

The spot looks different if the chick has one versus two copies of the barring gene. Females can only have one; males usually have two, but can have only one, in which case their head spot will look like that of a female.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I had the same question a few weeks ago. I found a thread that really helped me sex my chicks. The posters were Speckled hen and Cottage garden. Their "rules" for sexing barred chicks were dead on. They really helped me. I was able to sex the day olds very accurate. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

[sandypaws]

thanks for the info... i just had a bunch of cuckoo marans hatch too...

 

[lilshadow]

Okay, going from what you guys have said it looks like I have two roo's because they are a silvery grey, and 5 pullets because they are charcoal grey/black. Here is the next question. I have read that cuckoo's have white lets, but some of them have all dark legs, and some have white, then some have a mixture of the two colors. So what gives with the leg coloring?

 

[lisahaschickens]

I am raising my first Cuckoo MArans as well. Leg color is supposed to be white, but some breeders desire a dark color mixed in with the white. So, white or white with some dark is acceptable, or so I've read. I have some of both. I have read the biggest fault with leg color is yellow legs, indicating a recent cross with Barred Rocks (which were used early in the development of the breed). I read a fantastic article on the breeding history of the breed, but now I can't find it. I'll post it if I come across it again.