Black, Blue and Splash (BBS) Marans discussion thread

[Ray from PA]

look forward to seeing what you get for chickers lady. I've decided definitely no cranking up the incubators yet, its way too cold, almost -20 windchill last night.

Spring is only a month away,,,, nothing wrong with a few blue chicks somewhere in the house,,, crank 'em up ! Sure would give them a good jump in growing up over the warmer seasons, and didn't someone say early hatchlings tend to grow bigger over their first year.

Can't even imagine what you would wind up with with the width on your breeder girls !

I think you should get cooking !

 

[gilavina]

Spring is only a month away,,,, nothing wrong with a few blue chicks somewhere in the house,,, crank 'em up ! Sure would give them a good jump in growing up over the warmer seasons, and didn't someone say early hatchlings tend to grow bigger over their first year.

Can't even imagine what you would wind up with with the width on your breeder girls !

I think you should get cooking !

haha yeah, I wish I could think that way, but with the way we lose power here, I don't want to start out my season with a failure from the get go. I might be practical, rational and what some people see as tough, but when it comes to animals, I just hate when they don't make it, or etc. Gets me bummed out. I rebound quickly, but just try to avoid it when I can haha. My other problem is that I have had a breech in one of the pens, where a roo got into two pens he shouldn't have, so have to reclear them. Grrr

 

[pinkchick]

[COLOR=0000FF]Spring is only a month away,,,, nothing wrong with a few blue chicks somewhere in the house,,, crank 'em up !   Sure would give them a good jump in growing up over the warmer seasons, and didn't someone say early hatchlings tend to grow bigger over their first year.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]Can't even imagine what you would wind up with with the width on your breeder girls ![/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]I think you should get cooking !   [/COLOR]

No doubt her birds are HUGE!!!!!!! I love the size of her biddies! Very nice!

 

[gilavina]

No doubt her birds are HUGE!!!!!!! I love the size of her biddies! Very nice!

haha I'm blushing! I am pretty happy with how they are coming along, just need to get some more size improvements on the birchens, but am really excited about them this season as I have a breeding plan written out that will work on exactly that!

 

[Hens and Roos]

haha I'm blushing! I am pretty happy with how they are coming along, just need to get some more size improvements on the birchens, but am really excited about them this season as I have a breeding plan written out that will work on exactly that!

what is a good way to improve size in general- keep the birds that are closest in weight to the SOP recommendations provided they are DQ free?

 

[gilavina]

what is a good way to improve size in general- keep the birds that are closest in weight to the SOP recommendations provided they are DQ free?

That's a good place to start yes, I've always found that being very selective with the females in particular will make the biggest difference. The females will weigh heavy in the type of the offspring. I notice a lot of people focus on the males in different breeds and are more lenient with the females, and that might be because they are perceived as the easier of the two to work with, and in some ways they are. What you will want to do is select your widest and best built females onto your largest male you've held back and do some test matings. I always tag mine separately so can watch their development, this will be my third year working on the females intensively and last year had several females that were bigger from hatch, clear until about 2 months of age, then the boys finally started passing them. Those same pullets are now some of my best stock, including Luella, she was almost twice the size of some of the cockerels at hatch. In fact, everyone in my family and friends that saw her when she was little all said cockerel. After about 4 or 5 days tho, I knew I had a pullet on my hands when she was growing some crazy wing feathers and had a tail already.
There are other tips to working on size, particularly if you are limited in your options, but size and type on females is an area where I won't compromise as narrow or smaller females can slow down progress quite a bit.

 

[Hens and Roos]

That's a good place to start yes, I've always found that being very selective with the females in particular will make the biggest difference. The females will weigh heavy in the type of the offspring. I notice a lot of people focus on the males in different breeds and are more lenient with the females, and that might be because they are perceived as the easier of the two to work with, and in some ways they are. What you will want to do is select your widest and best built females onto your largest male you've held back and do some test matings. I always tag mine separately so can watch their development, this will be my third year working on the females intensively and last year had several females that were bigger from hatch, clear until about 2 months of age, then the boys finally started passing them. Those same pullets are now some of my best stock, including Luella, she was almost twice the size of some of the cockerels at hatch. In fact, everyone in my family and friends that saw her when she was little all said cockerel. After about 4 or 5 days tho, I knew I had a pullet on my hands when she was growing some crazy wing feathers and had a tail already.
There are other tips to working on size, particularly if you are limited in your options, but size and type on females is an area where I won't compromise as narrow or smaller females can slow down progress quite a bit.

thanks, this is good to know that we are heading in the correct direction in our thought process.

are you guys getting hit with the snow? How's the furance doing- did they get it going again?

 

[gilavina]

thanks, this is good to know that we are heading in the correct direction in our thought process.

are you guys getting hit with the snow? How's the furance doing- did they get it going again?

yeah, we're getting snow, but most will come overnight it sounds like and then we'll get hit again sunday or monday. The back up unit on the furnace is fixed, they are still looking for the part for the main unit, but we are warm at least.

 

[Ray from PA]

haha yeah, I wish I could think that way, but with the way we lose power here, I don't want to start out my season with a failure from the get go. I might be practical, rational and what some people see as tough, but when it comes to animals, I just hate when they don't make it, or etc. Gets me bummed out. I rebound quickly, but just try to avoid it when I can haha. My other problem is that I have had a breech in one of the pens, where a roo got into two pens he shouldn't have, so have to reclear them. Grrr

Can relate to the possible power outages,,,, have dealt with my share over the years.

I just like following your progress and look forward to some photos of what results you get this season. Just living vicariously through your efforts..... LOL.

Best of luck, especially with Luella's offspring ! Love that bird.

 

[pinkchick]

No chickers yet!!!!!!!!!!

But I peeked in them this morning and candled. Could see that they have pipped internally. Hopefully I see some pipping by the time I get home from work today.



Happy Friday Everyone!