Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Foster's Freehold]

@Chooks man What do you think of my roo?

 

[Minky]

@Bantambird those little chick are adorable. They looks like penguins!

What color feet can marans have?

 

[Bantambird]

@Bantambird those little chick are adorable. They looks like penguins!

What color feet can marans have?

Marans should have pink feet for light colored marans, or slate with pink footpads. You should never see any yellow on any color of Marans, if there is yellow, they have been crossed with something. Marans have white, not yellow, skin.

 

[Minky]

Thank you. so a black marans legs would be grey/blue and skin under neath should be pink or white? no other color??

 

[Bantambird]

Thank you. so a black marans legs would be grey/blue and skin under neath should be pink or white? no other color??

Yes.

These have some leg in them. The hens at the bottom pic don't have very good leg feathering so you can see the color of their scales. Slate with pink soles for black and other darker based Marans. They should not have any yellow.
You can tell at hatch if they have proper leg color, shown by the mix of splash, blue birchen, and birchen chicks in the middle.

 

[Minky]

So if there are a bunch of wee babies to chose from and I am looking for dark egg color- and therefore hoping to get maran/maran and not maran/orpington etc... I should look for the dark leg color. -- but those little chicks look like they have pink/white skin- but not the dark grey color-- does it darken later?

What type of rooster is the top photo. I think he is beautiful....Is that birchen?

 

[Minky]

Do you think this little guy is full maran?

 

[Bantambird]

It darkens on the birchen and the blacks, but not much on the splash I've got.
Yes! My marans are mostly of the birchen variety, so I've got lots of those. I've added blue birchen and splash come with adding blue genetics. So I've only had the blue birchen for about a year now.
Your little guy does seem to have a bit of yellow, but TBH I've had pics where lighting was such that my birds were mistaken for crosses when the sun was setting and tinting everything in the picture yellow, including feet! So if you see yellow on the feet and legs, then I'm sorry, but it isn't purebred marans, but if you see nice pink soles with slate along the leg, then you have a marans.
Light feathering on the leg and the outside toe is desirable, but I often have birds crop up with both not enough and too much leg feathering, so that's not a very good indicator of purity of stock.

 

[TashaFrancois]

So excited. I’ve posted before about this amazing breeder I found on Craigslist of all places. Not only did I get pretty FBCM from her but they lay great dark eggs. So I just bought 3 new pullets from her. I’ve forgotten what colors she called them, but they are different from what I have. One light creme with golden accents, one blue copper, and one black with extra copper throughout. I know she often has special project birds so maybe they are those. Do you have any guesses?Here they are along with the eggs from my adults.

 

[Bantambird]

So excited. I’ve posted before about this amazing breeder I found on Craigslist of all places. Not only did I get pretty FBCM from her but they lay great dark eggs. So I just bought 3 new pullets from her. I’ve forgotten what colors she called them, but they are different from what I have. One light creme with golden accents, one blue copper, and one black with extra copper throughout. Here they are along with the eggs from my adults.

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Craigslist is great! I advertise there myself, get more hits from there than anywhere. The buyers just have a lot of sifting to do to find the gold.