Birchen Marans Thread

[Broad St Farm]

I'm in my second year of BCMs. Seeing consistent results with the older male I have. He produces really good males more than females. I have a huge male I'm testing right now. I have 11 Birchens that are 4 weeks. 50/50 male/females. These are from Rod Reeves. He's the Southern Regional Director of the Marans Chicken club.

 

[Papillonlady]

It was a young rooster I sold him last week. Hes a male I talked to the guy I sold him to just a day or two ago. He says hes getting really nice, and hes gunna use him for his breeding stock.

 

[GaryDean26]

...I just need to buy a farm so I can have more birds (DH emphatically disagrees with me). 20 weeks is really a deadline here also. I know there is still a lot that can change, but I can't keep ten crowing roosters that long in the middle of the city. My property is grandfathered so I can have roosters, but I don't want to push my luck.

I want to buy a farm in/near SLC too. I grew up in Bountiful and after looking around don't think I will find anywhere I can farm chickens there. Would like to have some land waiting for me to move back too some day.

 

[Lilwanis]

I want to buy a farm in/near SLC too.   I grew up in Bountiful and after looking around don't think I will find anywhere I can farm chickens there.  Would like to have some land waiting for me to move back too some day.    

There is farm property just north of where I am (Rose Park), but it is so expensive! Draper and Herriman still have acreage but five is the most you find. When I lived in Texas, I looked at some houses that were around 30k. The attitude there was that 100k was a very expensive house. When I moved back to Utah, I was shocked to find the same house that I was looking at in TX with a smaller lot was 145k here. This was twelve years ago and prices have gone up a lot since then. Granted, I lived in San Angelo TX which is a small town, but still!

Larger acreage is available south and north of salt lake county and in tooele/grantsville area, but that would be a hard drive for me. My goal is to develop an off the grid homestead. I hope to provide all of my own food short of staples. It's a long term goal,

 

[Tncowgirl1903]

I am looking for a good cochin hen or 2 that likes to lay on her eggs all the time. One that's not to old but old enough to be laying and likes to lay on eggs. I know this int the breed on this thread but I thought you guys might have some?

 

[GaryDean26]

There is farm property just north of where I am (Rose Park), but it is so expensive! Draper and Herriman still have acreage but five is the most you find. When I lived in Texas, I looked at some houses that were around 30k. The attitude there was that 100k was a very expensive house. When I moved back to Utah, I was shocked to find the same house that I was looking at in TX with a smaller lot was 145k here. This was twelve years ago and prices have gone up a lot since then. Granted, I lived in San Angelo TX which is a small town, but still!

Larger acreage is available south and north of salt lake county and in tooele/grantsville area, but that would be a hard drive for me. My goal is to develop an off the grid homestead. I hope to provide all of my own food short of staples. It's a long term goal,

I have a few chicken friends in San Angelo. Okay...a those prices I am now thinking that retiring in Texas is a better idea.

 

[Lilwanis]

OK, some pics of my boys from yesterday (I finally figured out how to download pictures from the camera to the computer

)

Blue boy:

OK, I am not the best photographer, but this is a side body shot that shows the color that is coming in also.



Another side shot. The all black boy and the silver in hackles but not saddle boy are in this shot too. Blue boy's comb goes off to the side in the back and his eyes are black.


Really, I chased him all over the yard and I managed to get the same side in each one

 

[Lilwanis]

Color in saddle and hackles boy:

He's pretty beefy. Not entirely sure where white should be coming in, but he has the most coming in. Very sparse leg feathering.



He's doing his "Ostrich" impersonation


Natural movement. They are trying to get away from the evil clicky thing that keeps following them around the yard. This is a natural tail carriage for him, although when he is still he does raise it a touch.


backside as he is running from me.


"Ma! No more pictures!"

 

[Lilwanis]

Color in hackles, no shank feathering (the one female I have, about seven weeks, has heavy shank feathering):








This guy is beefy and his hackle feathering in real life is really pretty. His tail angle, using a protractor, is 45*, or about as close as you can get. So far, blue boy has too high of a tail, color everywhere has too low of a tail, and this guy's tail seems like what it should be. Now, I could be looking at everything wrong, and I am brand new to chickens and one or two of the ten marans boys that I currently have will end up being my foundation stock. I would like to use one of these boys as the others all come from GFF, including the female. This guy and the color everywhere are the chunkiest so far, but this is really a primary eval. I think next month will give me a better idea. They have until mid- late September before final cull. Onto the next guy!

 

[Lilwanis]

OK, the all black boy:
That's him on the left (I swear sometimes, if I did not know that he is 12 weeks and got comb and wattles first out of all these guys, I would think he was a hen). That's all four of them together.



Behind Blue boy here.


There he is walking away (his tail set seems a bit high?)


Taking a bow.


This is him as a chick. The flash makes it look like there might be white there, but there was not. He was the biggest chick, but I think he has been passed in size now buy the two black guys with color. I will have to make a project of weighing them all, I am curious now.




Oh!!! do you think maybe he was just an early developing she? That would be a pleasant surprise. (No, I am not serious. I don't know how you get a three week old chick with bright red comb and wattles if "he" were a "she")