Why do my Marans have different color feet?

[crystalchik]

Hi everybody,
I just have a curious question...I bought eggs and from them hatched 5 Cuckoo Marans, all pure bred. One male and one female have bright yellow legs and beaks, while the others have a grayish color. Why is this? I dont know if they have the same parents or not.
Thanks,
Crystalchik

 

[MissPrissy]

Barring and yellow legs sounds alot like a barred rock.

 

[crystalchik]

Oh no! I am pretty sure that these are Marans....would it help if I posted a picture???
Thank you,
Crystalchik

 

[jenjscott]

I think marans should have a pink base with slate coloring on the legs. Sometimes your marans will have one of the other barred breeds contaminating the stock, especially if it comes from a hatchery. The demand was high and the supply was low, so many were mixed to produce more chicks faster. First generation may have looked good, but the throwbacks show up for generations.

Yes, show us pics, hopefully with legs of both kinds.

 

[jenjscott]

wow, I just did a google image search for cuckoo marans, and its amazing the different pics out there. There are some with bright yellow legs, rose combs, at least one of the hatcheries even shows the chicks with bright yellow legs! I think I said pink legs, info says white, but with the amount of misinformation out there, I reserve any further comments without additional research. Now I will have to go take a look at my supposed to be marans and make sure mine are right!

 

[crystalchik]

Oh my,...I SO hope they are not mixed!! (watch them lay white eggs or something! Lol

Here are some pics: I will post better ones later, but right now it is pouring down rain and these are the only ones I have. You can see the different color legs through the grass and the beaks match the legs. The different colors do not have anything to do with whether they are male or female. Out of the five I have (3 males and 2 hens) 1 male and 1 female have yellow beaks/legs, the rest are the pinkish, grayish color.

Thank you for any help you can give me!
Crystalchik

 

[Sparkalator]

Those look just like the ones I got from Ideal. I have the same issue with the legs.

 

[Oblio13]

Marans don't have yellow legs.

There are a lot of people selling Barred Rocks as Cuckoo Marans.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

.

 

[Davaroo]

There was a great thread on this only yesterday.
TO sum up, Marans are French and so good breeding stock of true Marans are hard to come by.
So other breeds have been mixed in to "fortify" the breed. In the Cuckoo Maran line, "cuckoo" being only one of many sub types of Marans, the most common breed to mix with is the Barred Plymouth Rock. Hatcheries and their suppliers are most commonly the ones to do this, nowadays.
Original Marans have feathered shanks and the clean shanked ones are the tainted breeds.

If you have colored legs and no feathers on them, they are mixed and not pure Marans.

Heres the thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=70067