Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[Debbi]

Randy,

Cute pics, love the Silkie mom and pretty girls! Do the darker caped hens usually have more wheat coloring in the breast area? And if yes, does it go true the other way; lighter cape, lighter breast? Any correlation with dark capes and shank feathering? Thanks!

 

[berkeleysprings]

iv been saying for a long time dark capes or backs = spotted brest some of spotting on tthe dark caped hen will fade were the cream is and neather of the 2 pictured are to dark for breeding but i will know for sure after they are full grown , i have 6 new 3rd and 4th generation hens to ad to my flock and the 8 chicks pictured and i hope theres one or two hens in that bunch of chicks

Quote:

 

[berkeleysprings]

i have not noticed
correlation with dark capes and shank feathering, one thing i will say islast year 2nd year of breeding wheatens my origonal 6 wheaten hens and roo produced around 2 or 3 with no feathering (clean shank) out of 100 or so chicks .i dont know if it came form just one hen orif the roo had the part in the clean legs ,

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Randy, I sure do not believe we can breed the Marans where they will all have feathered legs. this year I have culled all the males that do not have feathers all the way to end of toe, don't know if it will help but thought it was worth a try.

 

[berkeleysprings]

thanks , i have not produced another one since .and with only working with a small gene pool , i started out with only 4 birds , a pure davis roo,,,, a ebay davis hen and 2 buddy henery hens so my lines are crossed . so i have 3 origonal hens and 3 hens form there offspring just 6 hens to get eggs from , the closest offspring to increse my flock is 4 months away from laying ive had them 3 months. i have around 10 hens to ad so far . and yes i cull or rehome any clean shanks . i am counting the days to see egg color i am getting from the "good looking breeder roo " it takes so long to get from egg to egg ........for my birds , over 7 months to start to lay some very nice people came and got 4 roosters from me saturday , i have noo need for more than 2 so im culling them all one way or another,,,,, i am keeping it small. , 12 hens and 2 roo , tops ,,,, 6 hens was to small

 

[bargain]

Quote:
Randy, I sure do not believe we can breed the Marans where they will all have feathered legs. this year I have culled all the males that do not have feathers all the way to end of toe, don't know if it will help but thought it was worth a try.

Snowbird, I've hatched maybe 50 wheatens this year and about 50 last year and then sent off dozens and dozens of eggs, None of the offspring is missing feathered legs. I have been told by Marans Experts - I'm still learning although we have three kinds of marans that if you have one featherless rooster or hen in the heritage of your flock you can never be assured it won't recurr....I'm just paraphrasing....

Do you all also believe that? Thanks Nancy

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Randy, I sure do not believe we can breed the Marans where they will all have feathered legs. this year I have culled all the males that do not have feathers all the way to end of toe, don't know if it will help but thought it was worth a try.

Snowbird, I've hatched maybe 50 wheatens this year and about 50 last year and then sent off dozens and dozens of eggs, None of the offspring is missing feathered legs. I have been told by Marans Experts - I'm still learning although we have three kinds of marans that if you have one featherless rooster or hen in the heritage of your flock you can never be assured it won't recurr....I'm just paraphrasing....

Do you all also believe that? Thanks Nancy

I have advanced past the feathered leg and mine must have feathered toe for the males. I believe you will get a few with very light feathering or no feathering regardless of where they come from. The trouble in the USA is there are really no Marans experts.

 

[berkeleysprings]

i am sure some people are sick of reading this but i post it from time to time for people who havent
recessive 'feather shank inhibitor gene' can when mated together produce chicks with clean shanks. As a result of the combined action of two opposing genes you can get a big variation in the degree of shank feathering

 

[harmona1]

Anyone near west-central IN have any pullets or hens they'd like to sell? I really want to add the dark eggs to my basket!

 

[rsquared]

Quote:
Good Morning harmona1, am located in the Warsaw area, if you feel so inclined. Am getting ready to move to the Pacific Northwest and am having to downsize my varied, non hatchery, flock have several b/b/s marans I'm selling among others. Sorry have already sold my Wheatens, cept for a few juvies as I'm starting over w/ the variety. PM me if you are interested and will give you more info. Like to see my girls going to good homes.