Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Ha! The sportsman has been turned off for over a month now....LOL! Anyway I hope she is laying for you, I think....I think..... that one of my Blue Copper girls that is just a week or so older than yours has also started laying and if it is her then she also started out with big eggs. I will have more time coming in the next week to watch them all more closely as it is annual Sisterfest week at my house starting Friday.

All of my sisters and their families come for one week every summer and we all chill-lax for the week.....wish my brothers would come for Sisterfest, but they are just a couple scaredy chickens.

 

[Debbi]

Hey, hope you have a great Sisterfest! Sounds like lots of fun. Who needs the boys? Just roosters cluttering up the hen house!

Wish my sis lived closer, I haven't seen her since 1994

Haven't seen my brother since 1974!!

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
The day I found the 1st really dark egg, I kept looking at it, like, am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing? I could hardly believe my eyes.

Then, I got to expecting them to be all dark, that didn't happen...

I still have a couple of pullets that laid very dark eggs this spring, that I haven't identified yet, but hopefully by fall I will.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
The day I found the 1st really dark egg, I kept looking at it, like, am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing? I could hardly believe my eyes.

Then, I got to expecting them to be all dark, that didn't happen...

I still have a couple of pullets that laid very dark eggs this spring, that I haven't identified yet, but hopefully by fall I will.

Your plans for your dark egg layers sounds great. I'm not that far along in the process. I get some pretty dark eggs and quite a few that are lighter.

What lines are your marans from? I'm assuming these are black coppers. How long has it taken for you to get to this point with your eggs? Do you get blood spots in your eggs?

I guess that is my biggest problem with my marans. Seems like all the eggs have blood spots. I sell eggs, but I can't sell the marans eggs because of that, which seriously limits the number of marans hens I can keep. I use the eggs with the blood spots myself. They don't bother me. I'm afraid with the people I sell eggs to if they found blood spots in their eggs they would never buy eggs from me again. People are really funny about their eggs. I've heard so many comments like... I don't like brown eggs...... I ONLY eat brown eggs.... OH, I saw a green egg! Sick! I almost threw up!....etc.

Right now my refrigerator is getting too full. I can only eat so many eggs. It looks lilke I'm going to have to scramble some up and feed them back to the chickens and some for the dogs. They sure don't mind the blood spots!

 

[rottnjen]

Quote:
Thanks Debbi, that gives me an excuse to buy a nice camera!

 

[Debbi]

Atta girl!!

 

[Debbi]

Funny how minds work. I was just wondering this morning what this cross would look like!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=539330

 

[marquisella]

I started 4 years ago with Bev Davis black & blue copper eggs. Then last year I made myself set only 5 or better eggs, and then this year I tried to set just 6 or better, and it worked.

Keeping in mind, that I was also working on breeding for the standard as well. Sometimes I would look at my kitchen sink full of 4 & 5 eggs and think what a waste, but I forced myself to do it. Needless to say, I didn't hatch out as many chicks as I use to. That hurt in the pocketbook.

Of course, Now that the chicks are growing up, I'm seeing some that look good, and some, that I try to look the other way...hopinng they will blossom out at a later date! LOL

I haven't really found though, that the darkest egg layers are not up to the standard. The hens that laid those 6s & 7s have very good conformation, and I only used roosters that also were goodin the conformation area...So, I will see what I get by fall when they are more mature.

Yes, blood spots are a problem.

I don't usually sell eggs for eating, so not so much a problem for me. Seems the summer months its worse.



Quote:
The day I found the 1st really dark egg, I kept looking at it, like, am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing? I could hardly believe my eyes.

Then, I got to expecting them to be all dark, that didn't happen...

I still have a couple of pullets that laid very dark eggs this spring, that I haven't identified yet, but hopefully by fall I will.

Your plans for your dark egg layers sounds great. I'm not that far along in the process. I get some pretty dark eggs and quite a few that are lighter.

What lines are your marans from? I'm assuming these are black coppers. How long has it taken for you to get to this point with your eggs? Do you get blood spots in your eggs?

I guess that is my biggest problem with my marans. Seems like all the eggs have blood spots. I sell eggs, but I can't sell the marans eggs because of that, which seriously limits the number of marans hens I can keep. I use the eggs with the blood spots myself. They don't bother me. I'm afraid with the people I sell eggs to if they found blood spots in their eggs they would never buy eggs from me again. People are really funny about their eggs. I've heard so many comments like... I don't like brown eggs...... I ONLY eat brown eggs.... OH, I saw a green egg! Sick! I almost threw up!....etc.

Right now my refrigerator is getting too full. I can only eat so many eggs. It looks lilke I'm going to have to scramble some up and feed them back to the chickens and some for the dogs. They sure don't mind the blood spots!

 

[kowgurl62]

Here are a pictures of a couple of roos from the first set of marans I got. The one roo is really dark, but I like him because he is really chunky. They are both about 4.5 months old.
I don't really know how to get pictures on here, so it may take a couple of tries.

(yikes, that was almost too easy lol)

 

[kowgurl62]

Here are some of the younger ones I got from a breeder. They are 3 months old.