Black Copper Maran Eggs

[L&Schickens]

Quote:
I was watching some on eBay and they ended up going for $101 for 6 eggs!!!! Crazy!!!

 

[the simple life]

Okay, has anyone hatched any of these black copper eggs out themselves? I have some in the bator, and day 21 is tomorrow. I paid alot of money for these and I am a nervous wreck. I have kept the temp and humidity right on mark the whole time and stopped the turner on day 18 right to the minute. But, still hovering over the bator like an idiot. I don't see any pips yet, which I know is still considered okay. What has been the experience with hatching these out? Do they come right around day 21 , a little later? Are they ususally hard to hatch?
I am keeping my fingers crossed, I have always had high percentage hatch rates before and I really like the genesis hobabator that I am using.
So if anyone has any tips I would appreciate it.

 

[tfpets]

Lots of us have! Hang in there, they're still just eggs. Same risk as with any others. Same hatching times, I have heard maybe they like less humidity because of something to do with shell (Hey - I only heard that somewhere else, not my idea)

*I used a Genesis 1588
*Started with 12 eggs, 10 developed, 8 hatched. 2 were dead in shell.
*1 that hatched is not okay - was too large for the shell and is "Bent" but we like him. (He will be a pet only)
*I picked my eggs up, they were NOT shipped.
* I was evacuated by fire for a week during incubation - the humidity was not consistent and almost ran dry a couple of times, but at least the power stayed on!
* If you've had good hatches before, you should get a good hatch now unless theres some other problem!
* I paid $45 for one dozen eggs - not sure if that is alot - but I am familiar with the breeder/seller and the breed lines.

If I may ask - how much is alot of money - that you paid for your eggs? Can you share where you got them? Just interested, a lot of sources out there, and it helps to decide where you want to get your future lines from?

 

[Arklady]

I don't know how much you paid but I paid 55$ a doz for my cuckoo Marans. And though he sent extras I ended up with 26 lives and over the winter, I ended up with 11 come the next spring. It was not particularly a harsh winter and I chalked it up to being weak birds. I still have those Eleven though and I am working on them as I speak. They are three this year and I am getting fair egg color though the egg color is not as dark as I had hoped.

Hatching Marans are quite risky for some reason they don't take shipping well... But then again. I wonder if the birds in America are having fertility issues. Many of my eggs that I got from my source were clears. I do try to let my birds strive to survive I believe it strengthens the breed but we often times breed for egg color letting other aspects of the breed slide.

Great Egg color can be had by any conscientious breeder. I too work for egg color but the industry standard for egg color in any Marans is still 4-7 If you get that range you are doing well. Sometimes if we keep working for that deep color we lose something in our flocks.

It is a delicate balancing act. I don't blame anyone for trying to get Marans especially the BC's but the breeders need to understand that we still need to have fresh blood added from time to time and that always delutes the egg color.

So while your getting these great birds that lay great dark almost black colored eggs be aware that your birds hatched from those eggs may not lay eggs that dark. It may take you some breeding to get them that way. Because that is what happened to me. I am fighting right now with highly inbred birds and the bird size has been reduced more than I find acceptable. However when you have extremely inbred birds you also get the explosions of colors that people desire such as the coveted Black Copper or as the French call them Brown Reds.

We still need fresh blood from France but that is near impossible for most of us due to restrictions in the importing of eggs and poultry imposed by the government.

This may not answer any of your posted questions but it may help you should your eggs not be as you hoped when they start laying. Be warned that your birds probably come from Bev Davis and be sure to ask HER where the best suitable fresh blood for your flock can be had so that you can keep the egg color as dark as you like. Signs of too highly inbred birds are.... smaller than normal bird size. Inability to meet the industry standard is a failing we need to be very careful from.

If you have Marans you need to tell others who you bought your birds from so that we might make the best selection from among our choices to keep the gene pool flexible.

We owe it to ourselves to be honest with our birds histories so that the breed continues giving us the great looking eggs we so desire.

Arklady

 

[ladywolfe]

Hi, i'm new to the Marans breed of B/C and was wondering what to feed or not to feed. Was told no lettuce or fruit and was curios as to why?

 

[drom]

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Hello Simple Life-seems to me that not too long ago someone was discussing this same thing with Marans eggs and I want to say maybe it was Katy who had some advice on hatching marans eggs. Someone was saying they believed they require a little less humidity early on. I can't find the sting, but if I do, I will post it.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[the simple life]

Thank you to everyone for the information and support.
I don't mind sharing the information about my eggs.
I got the black copper and wheaton eggs from Bayhorsebonne.
I paid $90.00 for 6 eggs for the black copper, but she sent 2 extra and $70.00 for the wheatons 6 eggs and 2 extra.
All of them arrived intact. They are too dark for me to candle, it could be my inexperience with this breed, but I have always been able to candle the other eggs I have hatched.
I saw on e-bay that someone was selling black coppers that she said were imported. I am not sure about exactly what she meant by that, alot of sellers say things in a roundabout way.
The eggs I have are so big I had trouble fitting some into the egg turner. They are a great dark color, not sure where in the laying cycle these birds were at. I realize the ones I hatch may or may not lay such dark eggs.
I am really hoping to have this be a successful hatch.

 

[onthespot]

I live a few minutes away from bayhorsebonne and stop in short notice from time to time to visit, and her eggs are always dark and huge. There may be some lighter ones with darker speckles and some darker ones with light speckles, and some deep deep reddish brown ones with darker speckles, some just very evenly pigmented, but overall the color of her eggs has been incredibly dark all year long. I have known her since February and they had been laying all winter already... hope that helps.

edit to add: mine hatched over a three day period because I had them under a silkie and it was cold at night in March and it was my first time. I didn't have the nest bedded deeply enough and the eggs kept slipping out from under her and getting chilled. Even so, I got five out of six to hatch. Mine could possibly start laying next month or so, and I will be sure to share photos of my eggs whenever they start coming. Good luck with yours. Don't give up if they don't all hatch simultaneously. I'd give them a couple days at least.

 

[maymiegirl]

Hi. I am just getting started here and I'm a newbie. I hope there's no great initiation but I was hoping to meet Bev or someone with a good CBM line. As many of you may have been, I have been run around the ring quite a few times and ended up with one little ADORABLE hen after hundreds of dollars of investment. All I really want is a little family for my landscape. I saw one only once on my way to Maryland. It was professionally created right in the center of a small farmette. There was a little, white pickett fence, surrounded by tiny shrubs and flowers and inside was a small, green tastefully built chicken house and 5 happy, little barred rocks frolicking in the sun with a stone walkway from the farmhouse. It was the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen so I want to recreate it here with Copper Black Marans. I also house a lot of other breeds separately but Can anyone tell me how to get in contact with people from the forum? I would like the feather-legged, french ones like Copper Black Maran King has. (I think that's his name) Nice to meet you all.

 

[drom]

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There is a great feeding category in the index here that has really good info on what to feed. I have mine on starter and grower and they say when they are growing you should not feed more than 10% of the diet in snacks because you want them to get all the protein and good stuff the commercial feed has.
My older pullets(they aren't marans) LOVE cooked corn cut off the cob and cooked oatmeal. OH, and they love plain yogurt.
My marans are little chicks so I haven't started them on any snacks yet.