Sport Marans?

[EweSheep]

Ray Valentine thought he had some Wheaton Marans until someone corrected him and told him that they were Sport Marans.....so from then on, he changed it to Sport Marans. At least he was trying to be honest!

 

[hcammack]

Oh is that the auction on EBAY? or is this a diffrent guy?

henry

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Looking at the pics on the auction, the roos look like they are a bad cuckoo maran, the hens are not marans, there are some welsummers, and some birds that look like barnvelders. If you look at the birds, none really even look like marans, they are too closely feathered.

 

[Crunchie]

I would assume that the guy on eBay is not Ray Valentine. Ray is considered to be a trustworthy breeder of quality birds, from what I have heard, anyway.

MaransGuy's definition of a sport is correct--a sport is basically a genetic "whoopsie" that occasionally happens when breeding purebred birds. For example, one breeder I know hatched a pure white bird from his Cuckoos (a very nice pure line of Cuckoos). Funny things just happen sometimes! A sport is not a breed/variety.

Sounds like this guy on eBay should just say he's got mixed colors.

I don't understand why some people feel the need to be dishonest to sell their stuff.

 

[Cara]

Ray Valentine is awesome. This guy has nothing to do with him. I bought 3 Cuckoo Marans from Ray, and he is very pleasant and helpful. The birds are gorgeous too!

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

ok a little off topic but what about french marans? I saw them on ebay and I am thinking of getting some in the summer

 

[Crunchie]

Marans are a breed that originated in France. Too keep the breed going here in the U.S., as importing birds became difficult, Marans here were crossed with other breeds (I think probably Doms and/or barred rocks?) and then were bred back to the original standard, to get the darker egg color back, etc. This is why there are Marans with both clean and feathered legs. The feathered legs are a requirement of the true French standard in that country. Some people breed to the French standard and some people breed to what has become the U.S. standard (unofficial; the Marans are not yet APA recognized). Someone saying that they have "French" Marans is telling you that they are breeding to the French standard, and their birds will have feathered legs. But it has nothing to do with the variety of Marans...Marans colors/varieties include Cuckoo, Black Copper, Birchen, Wheaten, White and Blue...there are a few breeders working on other colors, too. The Cuckoo is the most prevalent and has the most consistent egg color, though I believe the well-bred Black Coppers out there are producing a darker egg than the Cuckoos.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Thanks crunchie. He has 18+ on ebay. In the info he says they are friendly and the roos are mellow. is that true in marans?

 

[Kristina]

Well I can't tell you about the hens but...I have a marans roo! He is great! He was going to be culled cause we didn't want a standard sized roo but after seeing him fill out and take care of the girls we couldn't let him go! Seriousley he is awesome...sits outside the coop while the girls go lay.

 

[Crunchie]

My Marans roo is a really good rooster--but a pet he is not, that's for sure! I wouldn't say that he's aggressive, but it's not always a good idea to turn your back on him. He's mostly all "talk" and posturing, but I don't trust him. That said, he definitely takes care of his girls. A few days ago I was inside and I heard him making a fuss all the way out by the barn. I looked out and saw a hawk sitting on a fence post--next thing I see is the roo practically running through the air straight at the hawk! He beat up the hawk pretty good.

I didn't see any of my hens and got a little worried, so I went out to check on everyone. The roo had rounded up all of the hens (including my two laying hens that he is not particularly fond of and usually doesn't let near his girls) and put them in a corner of the barn, then went back out and took care of business with the hawk.

Yep. Good roo!! He's a keeper. Good looking guy, too: