Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome! - Page 3712

Yeah, that would be the first red flag for me.  Hey, did that bear in your avatar think he was deer hunting? I would've fainted dead away, bears are my worst nightmare!

I often have early hatches evening of day 18, or day 19, and have taken to locking down at day 17.  But this was a new early record for me.  I've often wondered about you guys hatching out to day 25.  If I go past day 20 the egg is usually dead.

Looks like we will have rain most of the week, we needed it.  But I am very glad to have nice June hay in my barn for the horses this winter!  First June we've had that was dry enough to make hay in years......

I often have early hatches evening of day 18, or day 19, and have taken to locking down at day 17.  But this was a new early record for me.  I've often wondered about you guys hatching out to day 25.  If I go past day 20 the egg is usually dead.

Looks like we will have rain most of the week, we needed it.  But I am very glad to have nice June hay in my barn for the horses this winter!  First June we've had that was dry enough to make hay in years......

Hi Everybody! 

Big Welcome to the new folks joining us here in the Marans thread!

Keara~ Jealous of the June hay you have in your barn. I bet it smells fantastic!!!!!!!!

Hens~ Congrats on your hatch!

Hi Lenette!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Vicki~ Ouch! Glad its feeling better.

Debbi~ Very sweet photo of Laz!

Barb~ Tons of great hatching vibes coming to you and your broody. Day 16 here for my Birchen eggs too....we are hatching buddies. WahOOOOOT!

Vicki~ Same old, same old here....the waiting game. Waiting on the eggs in the 'bator and waiting on those baby goaties. Loosey still has her ligaments, but she is certainly slackening up. She is still carrying her tail pretty high. She is running around like normal out on pasture today. The other goats know something is going on....they won't keep their noses to themselves if you know what I mean.

I often have early hatches evening of day 18, or day 19, and have taken to locking down at day 17.  But this was a new early record for me.  I've often wondered about you guys hatching out to day 25.  If I go past day 20 the egg is usually dead.

Looks like we will have rain most of the week, we needed it.  But I am very glad to have nice June hay in my barn for the horses this winter!  First June we've had that was dry enough to make hay in years......

All my hard work is finally paying off. I went through all my black copper Marans pullets and ended up with 17 nice ones. The main thing I was trying to improve in my stock was copper hackles on the hens, since I started with 4 solid black hens and 1 hen with only a small amount of copper. All the ones I am keeping (for now) have medium to good copper hackles, no mossy feathers, nice feathered feet, no bad combs. They are young yet, 2.5 to 3.5 months old, so I am still waiting for eye color to change, and of course I will have to see which are going to lay dark eggs. But I think I made a tremendous improvement over my starter flock! I will try to post pics later, but it is very hot out there right now. And the other good news, I have sold all the cull pullets except 3 I think I will need some help from this group on the cockerels, though. I still have 11 I am growing and watching. So hard to choose. I need to do another thin out soon. Anybody willing to weed through a bunch of cockerel pics to help with the process