The hatchery my local feed store gets chicks from only vaccinates the parent birds, not the chicks. I was told that this gives the chicks a few weeks of immunity but not complete immunity. I bought chicks from them last February and lost one of them in December (possibly Marek's) and have one...
I lost a hen in early December whose only symptoms were depression and emaciation and now I have a second hen who has been sick for nearly 2 weeks. Her symptoms are generally consistent with what you described in your rooster. She is slowly recovering but still doesn't have good use of her...
I'm in Sacramento and have a friend here who may be interested. She isn't on BYC, though. Can you PM me with an e-mail address or phone number where she can reach you? Thanks!
Well, it ended up being a cockerel (99% sure) and I re-homed him with someone who has about 40 hens and only 1 rooster so he will be happy to help service all of those hens. I wonder eggs from white-egg-layers bred with a Maran will look like?
At any rate, out of 4 straight run chicks, I ended...
I know...the Maran is a puzzle to me. The hackle feathers seem blunt and the saddle feathers, too. The tail feathers worry me, though. I probably could take the BO anyway and wait awhile longer to be sure on the Maran...what's one more chicken, right?
Thanks for confirmation on the blue...
I don't have any other Marans to compare it with anymore. I got 2 as day-olds and the first was definitely a roo and re-homed at 8 weeks. This one looked very pullet-ish until I re-homed the roo and then it began changing in looks and behavior. Now it looks the way it does and crows...
Do I need to post different pics? If so, please let me know what areas to highlight. I tried to show heads, tail shape, hackle, and saddle areas. Both have little spur buds but it sounds like that is not a reliable indicator of anything. Thanks!
Please help if you can. I don't mean to be impatient but the sex of this Maran will dictate whether or not I can adopt a BO hen in need of a home. I have a friend who will be happy to take this Maran if it is indeed a roo... Thanks!
Here are some new pics of my Cuckoo Maran (I'm afraid is a cockerel) and my blue Jersey Giant. Both were hatched 3/12 and are just over 11 weeks old. I'd like confirmation of sex from some more experienced chicken keepers. I can't keep roosters so I need to re-home the Maran if it is indeed a...
Look it up on You Tube and you'll find a clip from Dirty Jobs (TV show with Mike Rowe) demonstrating this being done at the McMurray Hatchery. I don't think it's something that is easily learned...the "experts" at the hatcheries are only about 85-90% accurate.
I have two Australorps, about 21 months old and laying well, and added two 11-week-old pullets to the coop about a week ago. The youngsters seem to be kicking all of the straw out of the nest boxes every day so the hens have to lay on bare wood. Any suggestions on this?
The pullets also seem...
Aren't eggs are out of the question for a 6-weeker of any breed?
Jersey Giants are slow to mature so it will be quite awhile before egg-laying will help determine sex. I have an 11-week Jersey Giant (blue) and have read that Jersey's often don't lay until 6 months.
I'm only 10 weeks into chicken keeping and so far I agree with the 2 prior posts. I feed commercial layer pellets to my layers and a commercial start/grow crumble to the youngsters (10 weeks).
They also get some scratch every day, just a few small handfuls...I just read that a good rule of...
My two Austalorps had been laying almost daily until we had a 98 degree day on Friday and a 102 degree day on Saturday and I added 2 pullets to the coop. Oh, and 1 seems to be trying to go broody as of Sunday so I blocked the nest box they usually use to keep her broodiness out. They skipped...
I had 2 Marans hatched on 3/12, so about 9.5 weeks now. One (Penny, shown below) feathered out much more quickly than the other (we'll just call him Bo) and Bo developed a comb at about 3-4 weeks and wattles at about 5 weeks, then he began crowing at about 6-7 weeks. Well, Bo went to a new...
That's what I'm afraid of...I was sure the Maran was a pullet until I found another home for the other Maran I had (same hatch) which was definitely a cockerel. The next day, this one started making crowing-like sounds in the morning and the comb and wattles have grown a bit more. The other...
I'd love to hear an experienced person's opinion of the sex of my 9-week-old Blue Jersey Giant and Cuckoo Maran (mostly the Maran...I'm pretty sure the Jersey is a pullet). Thanks!