Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[berkeleysprings]

The girls are a mess right know will get some better pictures of them when I let them out to play when it is not raining. They were in my big pen all winter and the boys really did a number on there backs even with some having there aprons on. The Roo is one I hatched out last year he is not even a year just yet. like him much better then the roo I was using before.

so nice to see people hete
great birds thanks so much for posting

 

[loprettaerin]

thanks randy I had 2 boys to choice from that I let grow out last year one had more white tail puff then the other so I went with this guy. He was my orginaly pick and has turned into a very nice boy for me. Right know I have my salmons also in with him to do a some test hatching. Trying to get a few traits added to them. Leg color being number one. They started off white and change leg color as they got older to a light blue's/ slate color. They are just for fun and to learn from so will see.

I like my wheatens the best dont have allot to work with them on which I guess is partly why I like them so much even though it takes them much longer to develope and lay then my other colors. But cant rush a good thing

 

[berkeleysprings]

thanks randy I had 2 boys to choice from that I let grow out last year one had more white tail puff then the otbyher so I went with this guy. He was my orginaly pick and has turned into a very nice boy for me. Right know I have my salmons also in with him to do a some test hatching. Trying to get a few traits added to them. Leg color being number one. They started off white and change leg color as they got older to a light blue's/ slate color. They are just for fun and to learn from so will see.

 I like my wheatens the best dont have allot to work with them on which I guess is partly why I like them so much even though it takes them much longer to develope and lay then my other colors. But cant rush a good thing

well that was a nice pic and yes wheatens take for ever to reach POL i have never had a mean roo except once i was carring one therw anothers coop he jumped up and spered me in the back lol
mine take over 7 and a half months to lay from hatching eggs to laying eggs. if u ever get a slow grower hold on to her they lay the darkest eggs , at least the one i have is

 

[loprettaerin]

well that was a nice pic and yes wheatens take for ever to reach POL i have never had a mean roo except once i was carring one therw anothers coop he jumped up and spered me in the back lol
mine take over 7 and a half months to lay from hatching eggs to laying eggs. if u ever get a slow grower hold on to her they lay the darkest eggs , at least the one i have is

Yeah mine take about 7-8 months before POL. Knock on wood have not had a mean ROO since I was a kid I remember having to take a wiffle ball bat to collect eggs. Last year was a bad year of hatching for me. So far this year it has been great. Going to be putting in allot of wheaten eggs this year, have several people wanting them but I want to keep allot for wheaten hens this year. Other people will just have to wait!

 

[berkeleysprings]

very nice
i only keep a few each year out of the 200+ ive harched in the 5 or so years. i dont want ti many 12 or 14 hens is fine .

 

[sjcshawna]

Hello

 

[berkeleysprings]

Hello

A

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

very nice
i only keep a few each year out of the 200+ ive harched in the 5 or so years. i dont want ti many 12 or 14 hens is fine .

I know you've mentioned you keep a closed flock, but do you keep a few separate breeding groups? I'm curious about what other breeders' strategies are as well. I subscribe to a poultry magazine and in it there are often articles outlining the benefits of flock matings v rolling matings v clan matings. The last one seemed to me to be the most complex in that the author had 3 different groups that he named based on colors (Blue group, Red group, Green group, etc.) and certain males were only ever allowed to mate with females of a specific color group.

 

[berkeleysprings]

i have only kept five hens in five years that are daughters of the origonal hens i yaed davis roo over budy henery hens i have two groups of birds . one group is origonal roo and hens with the five daughters and i have a a group with hens many generations down the line with roo thats the son of davis roo and in a few months therw off spring will be old enough for me to tell how good thay are
um not concerned on egg color of second group wven though they lay very dark eggs
im more concerned about recessive traits good and bad. i picked the best lookung hens for years not careing about the roo and now its time to improve the roosters if this second group turns out with a nice roo or to il keep them and a hen or two

 

[sjcshawna]

hello