Lemon Cuckoo Maran?

[RichmondHens]

I think one of my "rescue" boys may be a lemon cuckoo maran, or if he isn't then he jolly well looks like one. Can anyone who can find their way around t'internet better than me get a pic of one on here so I can compare? I did find something v similar on another forum. OH is not here so I cannot post my own pic.

Thanks.

Nicos .......you're good at this sort of thing ........

[Nicos]

Gee thanks!!

Not an easy task- this is all that I have come up with so far- but will hunt on some of the FRench sites too...

Practical Poultry Forum - Do lemon cuckoo marans exisit ?

[RichmondHens]

Thanks Nicos. That's the one I've seen - he caught my eye as he is similar to mine, but mine is lemon cuckoo all over (a little paler than the gold colour shown on that pic) except the tail which is grey cuckoo. My guess is he's not a pure breed but anyway he has sired two chicks so far - one with a Welsummer who is turning into a pretty little cock, and one with my old cuckoo maran, chick as yet unsexed as it is only 2 weeks old.

It will be interesting to see if the French sites show up anything.

[Nicos]

I did pull up the official French Marans site- and there was no mention of that colour at all- mind you it's not to say it doesn't exist ( yet) theFrench are sticklers for forms and registering and anything takes yeaars to formalise.

Will keep looking- but 3/4 hr research didn't pull anything else up....fingers crossed!

Can you post a piccie???

[julesapple]

Found this

Don't know if it's what you're after?

Jules


Photo courtesy of The Chicken Keeper site.

[RichmondHens]

Yes - he's that colour on the body, with collar and hackle feathers like on the pic Nicos posted. But he has a grey cuckoo tail, like Nicos' pic.

Am going to try and get a pic on here later.

[RichmondHens]

OK - Here he is (he's called Carrot). And also pics of the other two rescue boys (Sprout and Parsnip). Anyone fancy having a go at guessing the breed?

[julesapple]

I've driven myself potty with genetics already today trying to understand the Coronation Sussex (no wiser) so I'm not going to guess.

The first pic looks like the Golden Cuckoo Marans in Nicos' link. The other two look more like the lemon cuckoo colouring....I've no idea, but they are all three very handsome chaps!

Jules

[RichmondHens]

The think is, we don't know what they are. Carrot (the one on the left) shows the most lemon cuckoo colouration (photo taken in full evening sun) - he's full size by the way. Sprout (middle) is a bantam and Parsnip (right) is halfway between the two, cream legbar size. Sprout and Parsnip run a harem of Minorcas and Cream Legbars between them and for the most part get on very well. Carrot won't tolerate any other cock nearby so has six ladies all to himself.

Still can't believe someone wanted to "throw them away". Sprout in particular is very tame which leads me to believe he was hand raised or at least handled an awful lot.

Apparently there have been more cocks sighted in the woods (where I found these boys) recently, and some domestic rabbits, although I haven't seen them myself.

[julesapple]

The think is, we don't know what they are. Carrot (the one on the left) shows the most lemon cuckoo colouration (photo taken in full evening sun) - he's full size by the way. Sprout (middle) is a bantam and Parsnip (right) is halfway between the two, cream legbar size. Sprout and Parsnip run a harem of Minorcas and Cream Legbars between them and for the most part get on very well. Carrot won't tolerate any other cock nearby so has six ladies all to himself.

Still can't believe someone wanted to "throw them away". Sprout in particular is very tame which leads me to believe he was hand raised or at least handled an awful lot.

Apparently there have been more cocks sighted in the woods (where I found these boys) recently, and some domestic rabbits, although I haven't seen them myself.

Hang on - someone just left them to fend for themselves in the wild? Oh my goodness. I expect that was the preferable alternative to doing the deed so I can see why on that point, but it's hard to fathom otherwise. Lucky for you though.

If I get into that situation, I shall be on your doorstep......... We think our Silver Sussex and Lavender Araucana are boys.

Jules

[RichmondHens]

Hang on - someone just left them to fend for themselves in the wild? Oh my goodness. I expect that was the preferable alternative to doing the deed so I can see why on that point, but it's hard to fathom otherwise. Lucky for you though.

If I get into that situation, I shall be on your doorstep......... We think our Silver Sussex and Lavender Araucana are boys.

Jules

There were about six originally, (probably) put out of a car late October last year. When the snow came at Xmas we went for a walk and found these three starving to death. They were so weak we just picked up Sprout and Parsnip, Carrot took a bit of chasing but he gave in fairly quickly. The others had disappeared, presumably dead, over the preceding weeks.

Turning out domestic chickens into the wild is not a preferable alternative to doing the deed. They do not have wild survival skills like game birds, and are just easy pickings for foxes etc, or else they get run over. This very incident was what prompted my thread Think Before You Hatch.

[CoraxAurata]

They all have the look of varying degrees of Golden cuckoo marans, 3rd one looks very much like my pure marans that is salmon cross cuckoo, Carrot is close to what I have seen on the web on American breeder sites as golden cuckoo (apart from the tail) here are pics one of the boy I bought as Golden cuckoo (hes borderline as a light cuckoo instead) and the golden cuckoo boy I hatched from an ebay egg....

so am guessing they could be cross coloured marans... eg wheaten cross cuckoo...

[julesapple]

There were about six originally, (probably) put out of a car late October last year. When the snow came at Xmas we went for a walk and found these three starving to death. They were so weak we just picked up Sprout and Parsnip, Carrot took a bit of chasing but he gave in fairly quickly. The others had disappeared, presumably dead, over the preceding weeks.

Turning out domestic chickens into the wild is not a preferable alternative to doing the deed. They do not have wild survival skills like game birds, and are just easy pickings for foxes etc, or else they get run over. This very incident was what prompted my thread Think Before You Hatch.

I do see exactly where you're coming from, but probably the owners thought they were doing the right thing. Pity they didn't think on.

If necessary the Deed will be done here, but we will try and find suitable homes first. We have homes for 10 out the 15 we have so far, regardless of what sex they are.

Jules

[its hilly]

Trouble is a lot of breeds seem to look alike in pics. Nos 2 & 3 look rather like my cream legbars around the head, with those long wattles. And the colour on them looks more crele than cuckoo. Will root out a pici so you can see what I mean. But boy they are gorgeous boys indeed. Its lovely to see them after reading your thread earlier in the year. A real credit to you.
Hows about DNA testing Richmond

[its hilly]

Had a look and here they are, not the best shots as Hoppy (the darker one) is camera shy