The world of marans

The World of Marans Presented by the Marans of America Club-Marans Club of France All materials copyright by MOAC-MCF Clubs 2014

The World of Marans is a simple publication for many of us to get a better understanding of what to look for in this wonderful French breed of poultry.

We will do our best to give your prime examples of the breed without trying to explain all the mathematics of the breed. I (Brenda Little) am not an expert in the genetics of the breed and won’t try to explain something I can’t. I humbly apologize for this handicap, but with all earnestly give you my best shot with what I do know.

Many request the APA SOP to use a guideline within their breeding program. I won’t provide those, but I can tell you that if you use them in your program that I’m sure you will receive many rewards and they’re not that much different from the MCF Standards.

Genetic are wonderful, but personally I prefer to define with the eye. Someone could tell me what my bird is genetically and it would go though one ear and out the other. But they can show me physically and that I can heed and understand. It’s the layman’s way.

So let’s get down to business in what we are looking for in a Marans and go from there.

Two things we look for from a Marans are body breed type and egg color.

Pretty simple right?

Without enclosing in a too specific schema, the silhouette of the Marans is simple but feature: Back, slightly sloping, not short, participates in the implementation of the particular type of Marans.

The body, when in a rectangle, reveals what minimum length coveted for a good perception of the standard type.

By its tarsi particular, still rather average size throughout the animal fits together, meanwhile, in an almost perfect square.

The inclination of the tail forms an angle of 45 ° to 60 ° maximum relative to the horizontal Beyond 60 °, the tails too straightened, said vertical tails , are often too long so wrong but

more importantly, the tails "squirrel" (more than 90 째), are a very serious fault.

Figure 1

i

Standards of breed type for all Marans

1 - Abdomen well developed and broad.

2 - Wings: Quite short, tight body and horizontal ranges.

3 - Wattles: Red, medium, fine texture.

4 – Beak: color according to variety, strong enough, slightly convex.

5 - Body: strong, rectangular, fairly long and wide.

6 - Neck: Long, strong enough, abundant cape covering the shoulders.

7 – Comb: red, simple, straight, fairly thick, medium size, slightly coarse texture. Lobe does not touch the neck.

8 - Thighs: Strong, no fluff or headlines.

9 – Toes 4, sometimes slightly feathered outer toe, white soles in all varieties.

10 - Back: long, flat, slightly tilted backwards.

11- Shoulders are board.

12 - Face: red, with light down.

13 – Ears Lobes: red lying flat 14 - Plumage: tight to the body.

15 - Chest: Strong, broad, deep.

16 - Tail: Strong at the base, full, rather short, slightly raised without exceeding 45 ° from the horizontal.

17 - Saddle: wide, without a cushion, covered with abundant lancets.

18 - Shanks: color according to variety, medium, slightly feathered.

19 - Head: rather strong, and slightly elongated.

20 - Eyes: orange-red iris.

So first a breeder starts with the overall basics of the breed type and then the variety standards are applied.

The cock should be: black"... except black hackle, saddle, shoulders, and copper lancets.

Chest slightly enameled red ... ".

No more than 10 % enameled in the breast.

The hen must be black except cape is said: "... the golden feathers piped" and may have "red reflections especially on the chest

..."!

Notice “reflections” on the hens Breast.

The fine turning of the Black Copper Marans Bird According to the Marans Club Of France DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOSTER BLACK-COPPER Background black plumage, head and hackle, saddle and lancets must be copper colored. In terms of defining the copper color variations are quite accepted but still must remain on all, ie copper-copper-red means.

We must reject the colors too bright, yellowish, also known as strawy at the cape.

Shades reminiscent tan or gold colors are incorrect. What is copper is not tan but still enough support for any ambiguity is avoided about these different tones.

Some birds, especially in the lower and hackle lancets may be more or less black flamed.

Shoulders (small wing-coverts) are crimson red.

This color appears quite velvety appearance and may tend toward the mahogany especially when the overall tone of the copper is copper-red guy. This red shoulders must be sufficiently extended to all small wing-coverts, forming a uniform mass, if possible not mixed with black.

Such black marks when they appear mixed in the red shoulders and the saddle and lancets are indicative of an imbalance of colors (too much dominance of black compared to copper).

In this case, it is always too black cocks to remove the selection. Their chest is then black while the ideal is a chest and throat and bib well marked tasks without too much excess copper.

Another index is indicative of an imbalance between black and copper: the color of the down ear called the "ear Bouquet". Circular, it is colored more or less tawny-brown to copper roosters correctly while for black cock too, she rather closer to blackish tone as hens when it is not completely black.

For good roosters, tawny color "ear tuffs" should more or less confused with the overall color of the copper head. The shoulders should always show good copper. Even if they have a black breast without russet spots, such cocks give excellent results for livestock and exhibitions.

The copper-colored shoulder and ear tuffs sign a very positive influence in the genetic balance of copper at the expense of black.

Roosters tuffs blackish ears and shoulders stained black, so insufficiently copper, and any black chest, will generate a very high proportion of all black pullets with low copper hackles too. They are rejected.

Roosters that, unlike too colorful chest with strong tan or red marks to the thighs are much worse, and in turn, to reject unless it is to test to find if they do not have certain alleles of the other colors of Marans (wheat, Fawn with black tail, Partridge, Goldensalmon ..).

In fact, they tend to give birth to some pullets to incorrect color drawings by the presence of staining the chest, and the rest of the body and with stems clear feathers. These chicks must be rejected without hesitation if it is to focus on the only selection of the NC variety.

On the other hand, green reflections in the black plumage are not required previously in the Marans Black-red. The absence of bright reflections (also known as "green beetle") is a quality that is considered to be correlative to the presence of a gray down instead of black, red-orange rather than black or brown or eyes tarsi pinkish-white ie a relatively mild amount of melanin in the skin and throughout the body to promote the maintenance of quality standard.

This balance of colors Black-red should be understood to be characterized in the following way in breeding cocks: coppery enough support without excessive black with red shoulders. a chest slightly marked coppery-red. black chest provided the shoulders and ear Bouquet are pure. orangey red eyes and tarsi rather clear.

Moreover, when a strain very coppery red is selected, it seems more difficult to contain an excess of black on the whole body. The black tone is often deeper and shiny. Looking for a beautiful copper supported, but no more, thus appears highly recommended when you want to stabilize the color better.

In contrast, copper light strains facilitate more widely dominance golden tones depends incorrect to black.

On this point, it should remain cautious because this dominance should be considered deviant to a defective tone tan instead of coppery red color desired.

It should be added that the color of hackle roosters often has a two-tone shade lighter because the fringe is more intense color than the rest, it is thus similar to that of lancets. This character is of course correct and this contrast is of variable intensity (though less marked in red copper supported).

DESCRIPTION OF BLACK COPPER HEN For hens, the basic rule of color is the same as for roosters:

Black, copper hackles and nothing else!

The head and cape are more or less supported copper color, ranging from medium copper coppery-red. Again it seems much more color about to undergo predominantly black.

Therefore, it is a little harder to master the perfect balance with coppery-red with golden-copper incorrect tone hackles sometimes encountered.

These hackles too bright, yellowish or straw-, are again avoided. Hackle feathers are black flamed, the "ear tuffs" is usually darker than the cock blackish fawn. The rest of the body, including the chest must be black without white feather or other tawny shade and without green reflection required.

For against the copper color of hackle can also mark the front of the neck or throat and spread to the limit to plastron. Hens and copper properly give a sizeable proportion of the cockerels marked ideal color of red on the chest.

The USA America Poultry Association disqualifies for the following:

Yellow shanks or toes. Black or pearl eyes and non-feather shanks.

You do lose points for white feathers which is a disqualification in the French Standards.

APA and MCF Standards are pretty much the same. Remember to apply the breed type standards to your variety type.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOSTER WHEATEN Head, hackles and lancets red-gold to red-brown, uniform, without apparent flame required.

Lancets being a tone a little further argued that hackle. Back, saddle and rump red mahogany cover wings and red mahogany shoulders very strong.

Greater coverts form through the wing black armbands to reflect green .The secondary flight feathers are the wing mirror triangle "cinnamon-brown" with wing closed. Throat and chest are black Below, thighs, abdomen blackish with gray under color.

Black tail, but possibly with reddish shades on the edges and bright pink or purple or typical particularly for large sickles green hues.

Shanks and toe color of wheatens are a little different from Black Copper Marans. MCF Standards calls for Shanks: of average size, Slightly feathered and white with a pinkish tinge with whitish sole.

Description of the Wheaten Hen

Different anatomical parts of the golden wheat HEN, in detail:

1 - Abdomen well developed and broad.

2 - Wings: Fairly short, tight body and horizontal ranges.

The triangle of the wing mirror or closed (secondaries) is cinnamon brown.

3 - Wattles: Red, medium, fine texture.

4 - Beak: strong enough, slightly convex. Beak color: Light horn 5 - Body: strong, rectangular, fairly long and wide.

7 – Comb: red, simple, straight, fairly thick, medium size, slightly coarse texture.

8 - Thighs: Strong, no fluff or headlines.

9 - Toes: 4, sometimes slightly feathered outer toe, white soles.

10 - Back: long, flat, slightly tilted backwards.

11 - Small blankets called "Shoulder" wide.

Coat: shoulder or blankets, back and rump: wheat color (grain of wheat) 12 - Face: red, with light down.

13 - Mumps: red means lying.

14 - Plumage: tight to the body. Each feather coat to the shaft and the lighter border.

Sub-whitish 15 - Chest: Strong, broad, deep. Chest and below the body cream.

16 - Tail: Strong at the base, full, rather short, slightly raised without exceeding 45 째 from the horizontal. Tail has blackish feathers with peppery wild black edges.

17 - Saddle: wide without cushion.

18 - Tarsus: Average, slightly feathered.

19 - Head: rather strong, and slightly elongated.

Head and red cape gold brown red sometimes with slight black flames at the bottom of hackle.

Down the ear (or ear tuff) cream. wheaten, red-brown and cream A-Wheat is medium beige in sharp contrast with the lighter chest and rather dark reddish-brown hackle.

B - Select the "reddish-brown" (Warm color) and not brown (cold color).

C - The cream light colored chest and ear tuff cohabiting with dark cape coat and medium color.