Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[jeremy]

huckleberryfarm, hen #4 is gorgeous!

 

[TwoByTwo]

Im going to pick up some wheaten and black copper marans tomorrow. What should I look for as far as quality? Im only getting them for the chocolate eggs. My kids love gathering different colored eggs. Should I be worried about coloring of feathers or not?

 

[berkeleysprings]

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[snowbird]

Randy, I have had the same white in my wheaten and have culled all I had with it that I could find. I sure do not know where it is coming from though. I believe the only way to fix it is to cull real close. Don

 

[berkeleysprings]

well it shows up on the part of the feather called fluff or under color but the web or surface is corect color . my main rooster showing white fluffy stuff in the primary feathers produced the clean feathered roo. mabe the hen has something to do with it as much as the roo
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[Debbi]

Hey, welcome back Don! Did you go to Newnan??

As for the white in the wing, why would it just show up now? Are we supposed to keep roos for 3 years to see if white shows up? Is it just on one wing Randy?

Randy ~ Have you checked his hackle feathers at the base for white as the feather grows in? This all just gets weirder by the day!

 

[berkeleysprings]

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[Debbi]

You may be right about the hormones. I have an 8+ month old BCM cockerel that started out as a youngster with a LOT of white in the chick plumage. When he went through his juvie molt, all the white disappeared; wing primaries, and fluff at the tail base. When he was 5 months old, the onset of his hormonal beginnings, he started to get the white feathers, at the base only, in his hackles. By the time he was 6+ months, these feathers had colored in normally. Now, at 8+ months, and right before his adult molt is about to take place, he has a huge amount of white at the base of the hackle feathers again! I will be very curious to see how they appear after he has his first adult molt. Will the white still be there, or will it fill in normally again?? Let me say, that this particular bird will NOT be in the breeding program as he has quite a few other problems as well, but a soft spot in my heart, so he will be a bug eater. But he may just end up being a case study for white feathers and hormone flucuations as well. This bird in question is a cross of Davis and Jeane lines. Guess I'll have to wait and see...

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I have no answers but just wanted to add...

This is what I find so interesting about chickens. They are really a mystery if you care enough to be smart about it. Never boring, always interesting and a work in progress. I start explaining colors, genetics, combs, saddles, hackles to my husband and he just looks confused. "They're just chickens, right?" Yes, sweetie, they are just chickens but it's so much more than that. I love these forums for embracing it and figuring it out and bringing a whole new world to light for me!

Thanks, y'all!

 

[Debbi]

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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??