Arizona Chickens

[ejcrist]

Anyone have any Ameraucana's or Black Copper Marans? I'm just wondering how well the'd do in the summer heat here in Phoenix. I ordered a couple of each from Whitmore Farms to play around with until I can locate a breeder of birds bred to the SOP. I've never owned a bird that laid blue/green eggs or chocolate eggs but some of my Barred Rocks lay some pretty dark eggs in the beginning of the season. I read Marans don't lay much volume but that just gives me an excuse to get more of them to meet my weekly egg quota. Anyway I'm still learning about them so I'd love to hear any comments/opinions.

 

[BackyardMarana]

Anyone have any Ameraucana's or Black Copper Marans? I'm just wondering how well the'd do in the summer heat here in Phoenix. I ordered a couple of each from Whitmore Farms to play around with until I can locate a breeder of birds bred to the SOP. I've never owned a bird that laid blue/green eggs or chocolate eggs but some of my Barred Rocks lay some pretty dark eggs in the beginning of the season. I read Marans don't lay much volume but that just gives me an excuse to get more of them to meet my weekly egg quota. Anyway I'm still learning about them so I'd love to hear any comments/opinions.  

I have Wheaton ameraucas and splash marans both breeds do very well in all climates ,I just wouldn't really recommend getting any polish chickens ,my buff laced hen almost died last year due to the heat in the summer .

 

[ejcrist]

I have Wheaton ameraucas and splash marans both breeds do very well in all climates ,I just wouldn't really recommend getting any polish chickens ,my buff laced hen almost died last year due to the heat in the summer .

Roger that, and thanks for the info. I'm not into Polishes, yet anyway, so I'm good there. I say "yet" because when I started this adventure I had visions of a couple of hens for eggs and fertilizer and now I'm sitting here talking shop when I should be in bed, I have 82 birds, a cabinet incubator, a cabinet hatcher, two coops (one very large just finished), and I'm starting on building 10 breeding pens this weekend. So who the blazes knows where this hobby will take me next. Chicken math is a very real phenomenon.

 

[DesertChic]

Anyone have any Ameraucana's or Black Copper Marans? I'm just wondering how well the'd do in the summer heat here in Phoenix. I ordered a couple of each from Whitmore Farms to play around with until I can locate a breeder of birds bred to the SOP. I've never owned a bird that laid blue/green eggs or chocolate eggs but some of my Barred Rocks lay some pretty dark eggs in the beginning of the season. I read Marans don't lay much volume but that just gives me an excuse to get more of them to meet my weekly egg quota. Anyway I'm still learning about them so I'd love to hear any comments/opinions.

@desertmarcy breeds both Ameraucanas and Marans, I believe.

If she doesn't have any available, then this breeder has come highly recommended to me by someone I trust: http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/

I don't have any personal experience with Marans, but I've noticed that Ameraucana's struggle a bit with the heat. They've got a fair amount of down.

 

[deserteggs22]

Anyone have any Ameraucana's or Black Copper Marans? I'm just wondering how well the'd do in the summer heat here in Phoenix. I ordered a couple of each from Whitmore Farms to play around with until I can locate a breeder of birds bred to the SOP. I've never owned a bird that laid blue/green eggs or chocolate eggs but some of my Barred Rocks lay some pretty dark eggs in the beginning of the season. I read Marans don't lay much volume but that just gives me an excuse to get more of them to meet my weekly egg quota. Anyway I'm still learning about them so I'd love to hear any comments/opinions.  

I own both breeds, but don't breed them. The Marans are great! They may quit for a month or so at the beginning of winter, but now both my hens are laying beautiful dark colored eggs.

My Ameraucana on the other hand have layer well in the past, but no blue/green eggs coming in right now.

 

[BlueBaby]

I was wondering if anyone here in Arizona is breeding any of those Self-Blue Orpingtons?

 

[Banaynaychicken]

Quote: You have a Polish TOOO!?!?!?!?

 

[twinsmom6]

I have an EE and she lays beautiful green eggs- I also have orpis and in the summer it can get up to 120 here ..
last year about 117 was what we had. I say it seems hardest on the orpis - they are kind of chubby...
but with a mister and some fans they do OK.... make sure lots of fresh cool water and we do frozen veggies or melon snacks in the hottest part of the day.. I am in tucson

 

[twinsmom6]

this little girl has a mowhawk like a polish or an appen - we shall see.. will be sure to keep her cool

 

[desertmarcy]

Anyone have any Ameraucana's or Black Copper Marans? I'm just wondering how well the'd do in the summer heat here in Phoenix. I ordered a couple of each from Whitmore Farms to play around with until I can locate a breeder of birds bred to the SOP. I've never owned a bird that laid blue/green eggs or chocolate eggs but some of my Barred Rocks lay some pretty dark eggs in the beginning of the season. I read Marans don't lay much volume but that just gives me an excuse to get more of them to meet my weekly egg quota. Anyway I'm still learning about them so I'd love to hear any comments/opinions.

My suggestion is get them from someone who lives in a hot climate and has been breeding for enough seasons so that the ones that don't take the heat are weeded out. My Black Copper Marans and Blue Copper Marans have handled the heat well but I got some chicks a couple years ago from a NW breeder and 3 of those hens died from the awful heat we had last year whereas I did not lose any from my original bloodlines. I thought I would have trouble with the Ameraucanas in the heat, but they did fine. The Marans seem to be quite variable in how well they lay. The ones that lay the darkest eggs tend to lay less often, supposedly it is because it takes more time for the pigment to be put on the egg before they are laid. I have some that lay pretty well but they don't lay as dark an egg as I'd like. It is also very difficult to get Marans that meant the SOP AND lay super dark eggs. No breeder I know would part with such a bird. You'd have to raise up a lot of chicks to get one like that. The breed is still fairly new to the U.S. and there is a lot of 'junk' out there, as far as SOP goes.