Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[flgardengirl]

There are some pics of wheatens on the Marans thread that were at the Newnan show if anyone wants to see them. They aren't perfect pics but I did what I could at the time LOL! There is a pic of a male wheaten that got BV somewhere on there. There weren't that many wheatens, mostly BCM of course. There were a few blue wheatens though.

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Ha ha! Don't feel alone there! ALL of my family and friends just kind of roll their eyes back in their heads, and all facial expressions just glaze over when I start to talk "chickens"!

They all look for the nearest exit, and all of a sudden remember things they had to do! Even worse on the phone...all I hear is crickets and snoring!

Viva la differance!!

Maybe the clause; "Don't ask, don't tell" should be applied to chicken speak??

I guess most of us share this problem about our "non Chicken" friends. It is soooooooooooooooo nice to be able to talk chicken to someone you know is really interested & NOT just putting up with it.!!!!!! I have a chicken friend coming today. I am excited & I had another chicken friend come by yesterday to pick up some chickens I was giving her. I think we talked for a couple hours...........LOL

 

[rockyspringsfarm]

I would like to pose a question for thought in regard to Randy's pictures of the wing feathers on his Wheaten male that showed up white as a 3 year old bird and it not being evident as a younger bird....
.
Every animal alive as it reaches a particular age begins to gray.....horses, dogs, cats around the muzzle, etc. There's no reason a chicken would not do the same thing in some way. Perhaps this wing feather beginning to come white as a bird reaches an older age is related the same way that the gray muzzle is to a dog.....I have a BCM that has done the same thing. He had excellent color as a younger male and as he got older he began to have some mottled white show up in the lower wing and a tipped feather or two in the tail. He had NO white after his juvenile molt nor as a year old, etc. Something besides genetics is in play with this but I only have a theory....

There's just so much we don't know but I do enjoy this discussion thread as I work with my Wheaten breeding program. It really gives me some things to think on. I appreciate everyone sharing. So much work to do !!

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
Good point! I have Black Hamburg LF and some of the females turn completely white after 5 years or so. It starts out as a white feather here and there, but the birds end up all white with no black feathers. Only a few do it and the rest remain black until they die of old age. I could never figure that out. None of the males do it.

Walt

 

[flgardengirl]

Interesting on the age thing.
I also wonder how stress and feather folicille damage plays out in white feathering. I have two young hens that never had white feathers but both were in a pen with too many males and got all their neck feathers ripped out. Both of them had the new feathers grow in white right where they were tore out. One is a wheaten marans female and one is an all black orp girl. You can see on the orp girl that there is new growth starting under the white that is black.
I've had a few males grow back thier tail feathers white, like the whole tail feather turned white when it was previously black, after having them pulled out by another male too.

 

[berkeleysprings]

well as i age i notice the grey comes in but its at the ends and i think animals are the same ,,,, as they age they lighten up in appanance at the ends not closer to the body
yes i am totaly grey now

 

[snowbird]

Randy, look at the Marans thread at the pictures and you will see a wheaten male that is BV with a white wing feather. Myself I believe the white in the wheaten is something that has been added to them years ago and no one will ever know what it is or why it is there, I will close my wheaten flock and do some special matings to find some female that do not produce the white wing and tail. The only way I know is if you are breeding to any kind of SOP is cull all these and try to eliminate. The standard I breed the Marans to is more strick than most use. Don

 

[berkeleysprings]

..

 

[cherylcohen]

Need some help guys. They are 3 months old, These 3 pullets are from fitzfarm eggs. These are supposed to be the beginnings of my breeding pen, I know it's early to evaluate but I noticed the ear coverts were different colors so I thought I'd start to post pics. I thought what I should be keeping were the lighter birds, but gold band bird is darker than I had hoped, and pink band bird seems to have a bit of a female squirrel tail!! only at this point though Thanks so much for your time and help with this

WHITE BAND

PINK BAND

GOLD BAND

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
I can give you what I think and believe to be correct. Even though they are very young I believe #3 is much too dark to be able to even use as a breeder, notice the ear feathers are just as dark as her main feathers. These would have some tisdale wheaten blood I would think. The other two at this point are workable with #1 being the best, #2 is a little darker but we have to use some of these in our breeding program. What do the males out of this mating look like. Don