Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[Daloorashens]

Congrats!!

 

[Bangarang64]

Here is the chick I hatched last week. It was born with black spines in the wing area under all the yellow fuzz. It is suppose to be a Wheaten Marans. Can you tell sex yet? I got the eggs from a man who had entered his eggs in the Poultry show in GA.

Let's see what they look like now, Two weeks later!
Show us some pictures- I bet they look great.

 

[berkeleysprings]

Ha for once in my chicken life good hatch 8 hens 1 roo.

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Way to go Randy! My roo isn't doing his job to well right now. Not the best fertility. I need to hatch out some new Roos and so far I have 1 roo 3 pullets! While I want to keep a closed flock, if I don't get more fertile eggs out of him I may have to ask you for some...

But it sounds like I might just get lots of pullets...

 

[Bangarang64]

Great going Randy!

I'm putting a batch in the incubator at the end of the month.
I have a few under a broody hen, but she's young and i doubt she'll stick with it. It's more of an experiment than anything else.

 

[newmanmichael]

Hello, I ordered some hatching eggs from Fitz Poutry farm and was wondering if anyone else here has wheaten marans from them?

 

[Lotsapaints]

I have some the males need to be culled hard for white in the wing and wrong under fluff color and the hens tend to be too dark but mine lay lovely eggs not as good of layers to the one strain of blue coppers I have these will go on strike over small changes but mine have laid well all this spring and the egg color has only lightened a little mine lay 6/7 although the lady who hatched them said they came from 8's....

 

[newmanmichael]

I have some the males need to be culled hard for white in the wing and wrong under fluff color and the hens tend to be too dark but mine lay lovely eggs not as good of layers to the one strain of blue coppers I have these will go on strike over small changes but mine have laid well all this spring and the egg color has only lightened a little mine lay 6/7 although the lady who hatched them said they came from 8's....

Your birds are from Fitz Farms? I'm mainly going after the egg color but hope to also breed for sop as well.

 

[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

 

[MNKris]

Several years, maybe even 5-6 years ago now, I ordered wheaten eggs from Fitz Farms. The eggs were not 8s on the true Marans French scale. They were nice colored eggs, but were more like 4s and 5s on the color scale. So many people say they have 8s and 9s in the Wheatens, but I don't think they are actually going by true color chart, and Fitz Farms actually shows their eggs against the non-french chart where it is pretty easy to get a 7 or 8. Most RIRs would qualify for Marans color on that scale.

Take a look at the real color chart: http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/Eggshowinfo.html The photos could be better, but 9s are the color of dark, dark chocolate. A "4" is the color of a dark terracotta pot. Even the eggs at the shows are mostly 5s and 6s of any variety. Occasionally you will see 7s, but not real often.

The chart many use that make it easier to say the color is dark:
http://fitzfarmandpoultry.net/marans-eggs.html

On top of that, I paid $120 for two dozen eggs that arrived a little dirty and out of 28 eggs, 2 hatched. Both roosters. It was the single worst hatch I have ever gotten from shipped eggs and they offered to do nothing about it. I have hatched thousands of chickens. I don't think it was me. When I gently asked about it, they were quite rude. I realize Fitz Farm doesn't control any of the post office actions, but I would be cautious about expectations. They are in it for $$. I have had many dozens of eggs sent directly from founding Marans breeders with a lot better success.

Edited to add better link to the color chart (the really dark one above the #6 is what the "9" should look like):
http://www.enloequarterhorses.com/enloeqh/images/GAdImages/10.jpg