Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[Debbi]

I guess what I'm saying is think of it more as banzai rather than kamikaze

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Since I am just starting my flock, I take all this under advisement. I was told when choosing what color to go with (wheaten or blue copper) to keep to one color. At least for quite some time. I like the numbers you mention. 10 hens seems like a nice amount.

 

[berkeleysprings]

Since I am just starting my flock, I take all this under advisement. I was told when choosing what color to go with (wheaten or blue copper) to keep to one color. At least for quite some time. I like the numbers you mention. 10 hens seems like a nice amount.

and you will still get 2 dozen eggs a week at least

 

[berkeleysprings]

Alrighty, thanks

Alrighty, thanks

I think you have a good start keep your best roosterbreed him to increse hens first year and then work on improving your rooster there's enough genetic diversity in yur stock
and variations for you to work with

 

[qball53]

this is just my opinion and I'm new at this but I think it would really helpthe beed out a lot if people didn't try to raise so many different colors of marans and kept there flock small .10 or so hens and a few roos and plan on it taking many generations for many years. and cull heavy 10 hens and change out 4 a year for better offspring always keep a few origonal if quality is there

I take a little exception to this post. I think the key is to refrain from mixing colors. And of course to cull agressively. I do think about 10-12 hens is plenty as that is all one rooster can effectively handle, I believe. I also take the approach to replace hens in the flock as better specimans crop up in your breeding. We have chosen to work with several colors of Marans. Based on the birds we have aquired from various folks I think the MIXING of colors has already been rampantly exercised. We purchased "Blue Birchen" eggs and several of the chicks were born with red heads. Of course the breeder told us that was impossible as they did not have copper anything in their flock. I could go on an on about the anomolies we have encountered but will refrain. I think sometimes poor decisions are made for the opposite reason "too few birds" and they decide to use what they have. We find ourselves enamored with numerous breeds and colors but with the exception of our "Olive Eggers" pledge ourselves not to contribute to the mixing of types and colors. Thanks for listening to my @ cents

 

[berkeleysprings]

I take a little exception to this post.  I think the key is to refrain from mixing colors.  And of course to cull agressively.  I do think about 10-12 hens is plenty as that is all one rooster can effectively handle, I believe.    I also take the approach to replace hens in the flock as better specimans crop up in your breeding.  We have chosen to work with several colors of Marans.  Based on the birds we have aquired from various folks I think the MIXING of colors has already been rampantly exercised.  We purchased "Blue Birchen" eggs and several of the chicks were born with red heads.  Of course the breeder told us that was impossible as they did not have copper anything in their flock.  I could go on an on about the anomolies we have encountered but will refrain.  I think sometimes poor decisions are made for the opposite reason "too few birds" and they decide to use what they have.  We find ourselves enamored with numerous breeds and colors but with the exception of our "Olive Eggers" pledge ourselves not to contribute to the mixing of types and colors.  Thanks for listening to my @ cents

i did not mean mix colors or say mix colors a i say its better to pick one color and get it right rather than blue,s wheaten ,and splas hopeing to get one sop but its all good

 

[snowbird]

Just a comment on how many breeds and colors a person can properly take care of in the beginning.

Will talk from experience as I have made most of the mistakes that are possible.

If anyone plans on breeding to the SOP with thoughts of showing some day , it is much easier to start with only 3-4 varietys or Breed. With the SOP type fowl you will only be looking at the top 10 % of the young fowl. A great number of the other fowl will be useable in a breeding program. I bred fowl for my own use not to sell. This can get real expensive fast if it all comes out of your pocket.

With all the mixing of breeds going on at the present would recommend anyone to buy your starter fowl and close your flock until absolutely necessary to bring in new blood, when bringing in new fowl try and bring in something related to the fowl you already have on hand.

Once you go out of breed with the Marans you no longer have Marans just crossbred fowl.

 

[snowbird]

qball53, I see nothing with mixing Marans colors as long as you do not breed the mixed colors back into the original color. You can mix the Black Copper with the Blue Copper but do not breed the Black Copper young back into the older Black Copper fowl. The pure Black Copper are much better bred type wise than the Blue Copper.

Now you can safely breed these offspring back into the Blue Copper as they will have better genetics coming from the Black Copper adults.

 

[berkeleysprings]

Hey all, I agree with Randy the Black in the Wheaten is a much needed trait to produce SOP type Marans. If anyone is interested we can go over what must be done to breed the Wheaten to the SOP Standard

thanks don it was just dumb luck on my part now you explaned why i shoyld like it more

 

[qball53]

qball53, I see nothing with mixing Marans colors as long as you do not breed the mixed colors back into the original color. You can mix the Black Copper with the Blue Copper but do not breed the Black Copper young back into the older Black Copper fowl. The pure Black Copper are much better bred type wise than the Blue Copper. Now you can safely breed these offspring back into the Blue Copper as they will have better genetics coming from the Black Copper adults.

I wasn't speaking about mixing blues and blacks ... I am comfortable with that issue. I mean the mixing of birchen and copper, I think is a mess already.