hatchery marans

[Buckhunter]

anyone have any experience marans from any of the major hatcheries ? ............. good, bad , or otherwise ........ any recommendations ............ I'm wanting good layers with dark as possible eggs

 

[Illia]

If you're wanting good layers with DARK eggs, hatcheries is your last resort you should ever go to.

Most hatchery Marans are Cuckoo Marans, known widely for their pale eggs.


I'd recommend getting hatching eggs or chicks from a good breeder of Black Copper Marans.

 

[SamuelMcF]

The difference is quality. In the hatchery they are going to be breeding as many as they possibly can. so that means no culling. They won't get rid of any inferior genetics. So egg color, plumage color, and just about everything else will suffer. A reputable breeder will cull out the birds that do not meet the standard, and will breed only the best stock.

 

[Buckhunter]

well I have considered a breeder BUT I dont want to deal with straight run chicks . I have considered hatching eggs as well ,but the same reason hurts that idea as well .

My wife just will not agree to butchering any for meat and I just dont know what to do with the cockerals .............. i guess I could try to give them away ???? ................ any ideas ?????

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

My friend has Cuckoo Marans from Ideal Poultry, they lay about 2 of these a week.

Compared to my Barred Rock from MPC (the dark egg):

 

[Balefire]

Hmmmmmmmmmm and how can I find a breeder, when I don't know anyone

The people around me, think I'm a little cucu

, because I want

, so no one around here will help me............

 

[jfishfam]

That would be my exact question...where do you find a breeder and do breeders only do straight run? My husband isn't so gung ho and I definitely need hens not roos.

 

[Illia]

I sex most of my chicks before I sell them, but, to each their own. Some breeders sell straight run, some sex them, some wait until they're fully mature.


As for your local area, try craigslist or something. Because otherwise I can't help you much. People don't want cockerels, sure, but they can be sexed at as young as 4 weeks old, and aren't too hard to get rid of. Especially if you have a Hispanic or Asian community around.

 

[spiritdance]

Actually, I wouldn't think a good quality Black Copper Marans roo would be that hard to place, since they are also needed to produce olive eggers and BCMs are not that easy to come by.

 

[Buckhunter]

OK ............ maybe it will be easier than I thought to get rid of the excess roos .


Any advice on an Incubator and where to buy quality hatching eggs ? or are there any maran breeders in central Illinois or I could drive to western indiana or eastern Missouri


also which variety ? .................. I have read about Black copper , wheaton , blue (something) ., cuckoo etc.

I have 5 cuckoo marans now that I got from Welp hatchery and I like them . The eggs are fairly dark but I would like to see a little more color.