Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[pinkchick]

I know.....Randy can send me his lovely Wheaten girls and Charlie can send me that pretty Splash roo and I will be all set!

 

[nicalandia]

Looks a lot like a red Pyle. I fail to see any kind of Splash here.

Splash wheaten birds look like Red Pyle. when you breed two blue wheatens you will end up with many splash wheaten birds.. if you breed a splash wheaten bird to a normal wheaten bird you will produce 100% blue wheatens..

Blue wheaten genotype is eWh/eWh Bl/bl+(only one copy of the blue gene)
Splash wheaten genotype is eWh/eWh Bl/Bl(two copies of the blue gene)
wheaten genotype is eWh/eWh bl+/bl+(no copies of the blue gene)

 

[VillageChicken]

Here in Europe at least, both BC and Wheaten Marans have gone broody on me. They do set well. But allowed to free range with the chicks they don't make the most aware and protective mothers from what I have experienced. If they are caged, I think they will do fine to show the chicks food and water, and keep them warm.

 

[Lotsapaints]

the birds have a nice profile not real large wide all the way through nice leg feathering combs are okay good eye color etc they look like jean/wade birds of all my birds any that are wade/jean those have the best egg color as I like the rich reddish hue I have won with their eggs so you should get nice eggs. I wish they didn't have the under fluff the wrong color but I'm hatching from them this year and will choose the better under color and it will help with the white in the wing at least the girls do not have black ticking even if they are a little dark. SOP is my goal also Wheaten is not an easy color but I know that it can be improved as I have New Hampshires same thing nice birds but the color needed work 3 generations later my color is much improved my size is better but the birds I started with were nice just not quite SOP and I still don't think they can beat the German ones but they are improving that's all I care about as I work with what I have and I haven't found a magic wand LOL

 

[newmanmichael]

. correction. both the Han in the rooster have to have one copy of yellow. and when they breed together you could get some yellow and some white. in the white ones could have a hidden copy of yellow legs

You just got to love recessive genes! It's a pain in the butt for the recessive white feather gene in the Welsummers.

 

[Runawaylobster]

Pullet or Cockerel? About 3 months old. Also- wheaten maran or mixed bag?

This girl looks like she has caramel leg feathering, this is interesting to me because i purchased a batch of 10 wheatens and 10 black tailed buffs that got mixed up at chickhood, and i had to use the leg feather coloring to separate them when they grew older... the caramel leg feathers were the black tailed buffs and the white leg feathers were the wheatens. The wheaten girls left over after the separation looked like Randy's, and the black tailed buffs were more uniform and much darker in color than the girl in the pic. There were some inbetweens that were eventually classified as black tailed buff sports and got sent off the the layer pen where they are laying some lovely eggs.

BTW the boys were easy to tell apart.. it was the girls that caused difficulty.


This girl looks like a light colored black tailed buff to me.. Gee i never realized how confusing this can get

maybe she is a palomino LOL!!! Either way she is very pretty!!!

 

[snowbird]

Hi all. I have a 6-week old Wheaten pullet that I hatched. The eggs came from show quality stock, I was hoping to show locally. She was the only that hatched out of 8 eggs. I have done some more research, and I noticed the leg color on many of the Wheatens I see is pinkish-white. My pullet has a slate/gray leg color. Is that bad? She is one of the smallest, too - I hatched some Blue Coppers at the same time. If I can't show her I may sell her. Any advice is appreciated.

From the picture you appear to have the wrong color legs. The wheaten should have white legs.

 

[pinkchick]

Oh, another question if I can. My Wheaton rooster is 6 months as well. Can he successfully fertilize at that age? He's sure trying.

He sure can be successful at this age.

 

[sharron]

Why are you wanting to cross the wheatens anyway? There are good lines out there in the wheaten color already that just need some good ol fashion culling and breeding. I think it would do more harm to the color than good IMO. The black coppers have more breeders actively breeding them than the wheatens so it makes sense that they would be bit better in terms of egg color etc.... but the wheatens just need that time and dedication put into them that they deserve. If you want a black copper go with that color, but if you want a wheaten then step up to the challenges of breeding wheaten. Solid breeding programs take time, money, hatching and culling. That's what will move the wheatens along best.

 

[rexy]

I'm still plunging away with pure wheaten.I crosses Davis with budy henery lines many many years back. My flock has been closed since I started. Hens are nice looking but roos still have a white feather in wing visible only when open . And some cotton fluff in tail base but all in all I'm happy with them

And so you should be, they are beautiful hens. And the roosters I have seen are great too. I aspire to your hens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!