Wrath's Marans

[wrathsfarm]

Solo has a cute face, lovely low tail. That cockerel is certainly one to watch, his bulk at such a young age is a good sign of a strong healthy marans. And his tail is low too??

Thank you, my friend.
You've been a huge wealth of knowledge and help with my learning/selecting in my Marans journey as well as all my other friends here. Couldn't ask for a better group to be a part of here on BYC and the Marans thread.

I'll get some better pics of him today. Hopefully I can get all 3 together to really show his mass.
I make no qualms that these are hatchery OG Marans and not top quality breeder stock or championship lines. So it's been a hard road.
But I'm making progress and couldn't have done it without everyone's help.
This year I may bring in new blood and see where that takes me but for now, it's been a great learning experience taking hatchery quality and trying to improve them.

 

[2ndTink]

She's squatted for me the other day so I'm stalking the nest boxes more than usual.

Not necessarily.

Most of the boys I've sold had bad type (v shape body) or overly colored. The last few I just sold I should of kept a couple from Angel because at least one was looking good so far, but the heart attack threw me into a tailspin so I decided to let them go.
I've got 6 that are 14/15 weeks now I'll need to select thru in the next few weeks and looking to keep 2 or 3 back for breeders next year. I'm seeing wide leg stances and really nice low tails in a few, but not sure on type/mass yet. So hoping to keep a couple and let them grow out more.
These 3 little boys are looking promising also, nice wide leg stance in at least 2 of them and that little double red is massive.

Heart attacks are an excusable reason to sell chicks you otherwise would have kept.

I've found it interesting this year to watch my chicks grow out and then pick the best and identify faults and see how some of them blossom late or early, some never blossom... but maybe some simmering water and spices will help with that

 

[wrathsfarm]

Heart attacks are an excusable reason to sell chicks you otherwise would have kept.

I'm sorry I did not know this.
I'm new here, so please excuse some of my first time mistakes.
But I'll write this down in my notes for future heart failures...

I've found it interesting this year to watch my chicks grow out and then pick the best and identify faults and see how some of them blossom late or early, some never blossom...

My eyes are getting better at seeing more than just...."oooooh, he's pretty!!"

Still need lots of help, tho. I'm not picking up the different body shapes as well as I'd like. But I've been seeing the differences in tails and their angles.
One thing I really haven't had to encounter yet is coloring. Kong has got that Copper going on that's really nice. I've only noticed 1 or 2 males that had just a slight halo going but other than that I'm getting great copper and his over coloring in his chest is giving very nice full hackles.
Like said I've got a few with wide stances coming from Raven, Momma, and now Jessie (Joannie) and Gloria (Betty) so I just need to grow out a few of these and see what type they show.
Like @BlueTheBrahma stated that mass at an early age shows promise but I had one early on that had the Brown head spot for purity and he was stout also so I kept an eye on him and he ended up with a back/wing deformity. Just shows all we can do is wait and see.
All the good can turn ugly in a heartbeat.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Heart attacks are an excusable reason to sell chicks you otherwise would have kept.

I've found it interesting this year to watch my chicks grow out and then pick the best and identify faults and see how some of them blossom late or early, some never blossom... but maybe some simmering water and spices will help with that

I didn't notice it til I actually DID right it down that it read "excusable".
It would of been way more fun being "inexcusable"

 

[2ndTink]

I'm new here, so please excuse some of my first time mistakes.
But I'll write this down in my notes for future heart failures...

What you really need to write down is "no future heart issues allowed"

My eyes are getting better at seeing more than just...."oooooh, he's pretty!!"

Mine too... sometimes. I'm still a little color blinded at times on my Swedish Flower Hens, some of those boys have color that just pops! Then after awhile I'll notice faults I had a gorgeous cockerel this year, rarer color, crested, friendly, everything I was hoping for, then... bad wings...

Still need lots of help, tho. I'm not picking up the different body shapes as well as I'd like. But I've been seeing the differences in tails and their angles.

I'm working on this too, it doesn't help that I have a few different breeds and they aren't all the same shape. I'm starting to pick out better birds (my mentor will agree that yes, that is your best X breed bird) but I can't say why eh, it looks right... but to say because it's tail angle, back length...

 

[2ndTink]

I didn't notice it til I actually DID right it down that it read "excusable".
It would of been way more fun being "inexcusable" View attachment 4008584

Heart issues are inexcusable! I know if you could have avoided it in any way you would have, but someone's got to give you grief for it!

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Like @BlueTheBrahma stated that mass at an early age shows promise

Many take the SOP superficially, but something that goes unappreciated in marans and many other breeds is their dual purpose heritage. A marans should be, above all else, even above being a show bird, a dual purpose fowl. The SOP (of England at least, so I assume the US and France too) pays homage to this by placing so many judging points in type and size.

Early maturity shows this dual purpose potential immediately, and is a genetic factor as well as good care. This is why I’d favour a marans with good size early on over a late maturing one: it shows good genes, not just a fattened up bird. Such a bird is likely to be healthier and less vulnerable to disease and premature death, another key part of a well bred chicken.

I believe Chooks man said something similar on the BCM thread, and that rung true in his stock.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Many take the SOP superficially, but something that goes unappreciated in marans and many other breeds is their dual purpose heritage. A marans should be, above all else, even above being a show bird, a dual purpose fowl. The SOP (of England at least, so I assume the US and France too) pays homage to this by placing so many judging points in type and size.

Early maturity shows this dual purpose potential immediately, and is a genetic factor as well as good care. This is why I’d favour a marans with good size early on over a late maturing one: it shows good genes, not just a fattened up bird. Such a bird is likely to be healthier and less vulnerable to disease and premature death, another key part of a well bred chicken.

I believe Chooks man said something similar on the BCM thread, and that rung true in his stock.

To add to this, I’d say the biggest problem with hatchery birds is that they loose all value as meat birds. Not that you have to eat them, but they should have the type for it.

It’s logical why: birds that lay the most eggs in hatcheries are going you have the most offspring, so quickly most hatchery stock is full of these genes. It gets to a point where table quality must be compromised as laying ability increases (hence why leghorns aren’t a great meal!), so as this pattern continues, the type decreases. The same issue causes paler eggs in hatchery marans and welsummers.

Only with dedicated and rigorous selective breeding can quality bloodlines be maintained, and that is something that doesn’t happen in most hatcheries. They can ship them over from the heritage regions of France - they will still end up ‘hatchery quality’ if not bred well. The same way in which your hatchery birds are on the way to being great stock.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Thank you, my friend.
You've been a huge wealth of knowledge and help with my learning/selecting in my Marans journey as well as all my other friends here. Couldn't ask for a better group to be a part of here on BYC and the Marans thread.

The funny thing is, your Marans are making more progress than mine!!

 

[2ndTink]

Many take the SOP superficially, but something that goes unappreciated in marans and many other breeds is their dual purpose heritage. A marans should be, above all else, even above being a show bird, a dual purpose fowl. The SOP (of England at least, so I assume the US and France too) pays homage to this by placing so many judging points in type and size.

Early maturity shows this dual purpose potential immediately, and is a genetic factor as well as good care. This is why I’d favour a marans with good size early on over a late maturing one: it shows good genes, not just a fattened up bird. Such a bird is likely to be healthier and less vulnerable to disease and premature death, another key part of a well bred chicken.

I believe Chooks man said something similar on the BCM thread, and that rung true in his stock.

I like this, thanks for sharing. On my silkies, some of my earliest maturing boys have turned into hormonal mean heathens, but a reasonable early maturing cockerel seems to turn into my best bodied bird. On the large fowl, all the boys I've kept specifically for breeding have been reasonable early developers. I haven't kept any late developing cockerels for breeding.

Now you have me thinking more on this, and I'll pay more attention to it next year.

Since I process all my extra boys, I'm starting to put more importance on having birds with decent carcass size. This was my first year though, so I'm just starting this journey. I've started getting more people interested in home raised non-CX table birds, I don't want to completely go away from the breeds I've selected, but if I can shape them to fit both the SOP as well as having a decent table bird, that will make me happy. Not everyone who has tried them has come back for more, but I'm getting a few repeat customers now who are giving really good feedback on the flavor