Birchen Marans Thread

lawatt · Aug 24, 2013

they look gorgeous! my two are now nearly 13 weeks old, and the cockerel is finally getting some silver but it's coming in *incredibly* slowly -- not sure what he'll end up looking like. and the pullet still has faint lacing on her feathers, which looks beautiful but i realize is not correct for birchens. planning to hatch some more eggs this fall, so perhaps i'll get better birchen representatives with that round...

Broad St Farm · Aug 24, 2013

Will you be hatching from the bird with the lacing? If you do you will be in for a hard run. I got rid of two pretty pullets because they were to small. I have a big female who has a little mossiness to her. She is big and pretty too, but if she doesn't molt the feathers out I won't attempt to use her. I have very little birds to choose from. I couldn't raise chicks in the winter. Tried it last year and I lost a lot to illness. Gets to cold and damp in Michigan. If I figure out a different way to do it I might consider it. Plus I'm really limited on space which sucks!

lawatt · Aug 24, 2013

Broad St Farm said:
Will you be hatching from the bird with the lacing? If you do you will be in for a hard run. I got rid of two pretty pullets because they were to small. I have a big female who has a little mossiness to her. She is big and pretty too, but if she doesn't molt the feathers out I won't attempt to use her. I have very little birds to choose from. I couldn't raise chicks in the winter. Tried it last year and I lost a lot to illness. Gets to cold and damp in Michigan. If I figure out a different way to do it I might consider it. Plus I'm really limited on space which sucks!

no, not planning on it -- both of my birchens are only 13 weeks old, so not reproducing yet anyway, and i'll just keep her as a pretty member of my layer flock. planning to hatch shipped eggs. undecided about keeping the cockerel or not... want to give him a bit more time to see what happens to his coloring.

jan12 · Aug 25, 2013

Broad St Farm said:
Here are my 3.5 month olds. Taking them forever to grow. I love my low rider pullet.

Where do you get your eggs/birds from? Just curious because I probably will need to get more eggs/chicks at some point in the near future. I only hatched two females and one is not great breeding stock.

jan12 · Aug 25, 2013

Here's my blue birchen cockerel at 11 weeks.

He may not be perfect but he's my favorite. He's got sparse feathering on his legs. I wish birchen marans were a well developed breed. There seems to be too much variation in the offspring as of today...

Broad St Farm · Aug 27, 2013

W

jan12 said:
Where do you get your eggs/birds from? Just curious because I probably will need to get more eggs/chicks at some point in the near future. I only hatched two females and one is not great breeding stock.

Well it will depend on when you ready. I can give the contact info for my guy I got my eggs from. He only sells eggs. If doesn't work I might have some eggs for you.

Eggsalad · Aug 28, 2013

I am so glad to find this thread. Wonderful info in here folks, it will take me a while to read through. Great info on shipping too. That worries me so I haven't even considered it yet. Could I please get some opinions on the two? Third generation from Greefire. I have several pullets starting to lay and had to put the black copper roo down...too aggressive but I miss him, he was beautiful. I am trying to decide if they are worth hanging on to and breeding. I can't afford the space or the feed to have so many roosters just cause I like them! Thanks for your input. I got 72 chicks 18 weeks ago so I'm learning quick there's just soooo much!!!!! Zen has gold on blue, VooDoo is gold on black. Guessing about 22 weeks old. If I'm in the wrong place altogether please let me know and my apologies.

Zen

VooDoo

Broad St Farm · Aug 28, 2013

I know that Birchens whether Blue Or Black are not suppose to have any red (copper) or yellow (gold) leakage. They should be silver (white) from head to saddle. Red on the shoulders is a black copper attribute and should be culled. If you get any serious gold coloring it should be culled as well.