Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[chicken pickin]

We have had first four, then six, then eight laying French copper black Maran hens and one rooster -- at the time we almost gave up. Wonderful and frequent eggs and we came to love the chickens. The three tries above resulted in increasingly sturdier cages and runs - we thought we finally had it predator proof.
For almost a year now, however, we have had no chickens -- but there is undoubtedly a fat bobcat with perhaps glowing offspring in the neighborhood.
With our last set of chickens we found two dead inside the wire with the remains of their heads and necks outside. Bobcat did not get in, but rather than scaring the chickens away it had somehow enticed them to come close enough to the fencing to be grabbed - but their bodies were two large to be pulled through.
We didn't actually see a bobcat -- but beefed up the wire all around the runs anyway A few weeks later, in broad daylight, we saw how it was done. We saw a bobcat on top of the wired-in roof of the run reaching through as far as she could. She was actually "chumming" the chickens toward her -- with one paw down through the gaps in the roof she kept making a "come-hither" kind of motion with her claws - some of our hens seemed interested at the time we noticed all this and scared the cat away..
We even caught the **** bobcat later in a live trap while there were still five chickens and the rooster left! Fish & Game said that the only two choices were to let it go - or to kill it! We let it go - inside the run she had penetrated. Watching her race to freedom - she showed us the weak spot in our fencing on her way out.
We are going to try again - perhaps with an armed guard this time!

We have found no French Marans on Craigslist or on line and our local source has dried up. Had hoped to put a wanted thread on BYC -- but need seventeen more posts to be eligible.

This note is to point out the predator hazard to others. The fence needs to be fine mesh enough, at least to the height of a chicken, so that a bobcat cannot reach through. The roof fencing can be wider mesh but far enough off the ground so that a chicken could not be enticed near enough to be pulled up through. It is obvious that there must not be any weak spots!

Good luck to all. We will be back in the game someday - with black copper standard Marans again!

Sounds like you have had a tough time with predators. Also as a side note, raccoons will also do as you described above, reaching through and grabbing what they can. And I hear some weasels can fit through the 1inch wire. Wire should be 1/2inch hardware cloth, not chicken wire. Chicken wire will keep the chickens in but will not keep predators out.

I hope you are able to reinforce your run and have better luck. Also I wish you luck sourcing out some new Marans.

 

[Gilmore768]

Eggs hatched over the weekend. 7 of the 12 hatched. Is there a way to determine why the other 5 did not ? I kept incubator at 99.5 the whole time. Some variations in humidity but not much. Tried to do everything by the book.

 

[One Chick Two]

Eggs hatched over the weekend. 7 of the 12 hatched. Is there a way to determine why the other 5 did not ? I kept incubator at 99.5 the whole time. Some variations in humidity but not much. Tried to do everything by the book.

What did you notice when you eggtopsied them? Noticably wet and sticky, or dry, with a dry membrane?

 

[Bejammie]

Sounds like you have had a tough time with predators. Also as a side note, raccoons will also do as you described above, reaching through and grabbing what they can. And I hear some weasels can fit through the 1inch wire. Wire should be 1/2inch hardware cloth, not chicken wire. Chicken wire will keep the chickens in but will not keep predators out.

I hope you are able to reinforce your run and have better luck. Also I wish you luck sourcing out some new Marans.

Where r u located? I just bought a marans in sc.

 

[chicken pickin]

Where r u located? I just bought a marans in sc.

I am in NH, if you were asking @solarjack the person I quoted then I apologize.

 

[Bejammie]

Got my first marans hen and I wasnt excited ab a black hen...wow is she pretty!! Lol I was an idiot, she is gorgeous!! huge huge hen lol. Largest in my flock and has laid 3 times in 5 days photos to come. She isnt friendly but wow is she pretty and those leg feathers are cute lol

 

[Bejammie]

I am in NH.

Well dang im no help lol sorry

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

We have had first four, then six, then eight laying French copper black Maran hens and one rooster -- at the time we almost gave up. Wonderful and frequent eggs and we came to love the chickens. The three tries above resulted in increasingly sturdier cages and runs - we thought we finally had it predator proof.
For almost a year now, however, we have had no chickens -- but there is undoubtedly a fat bobcat with perhaps glowing offspring in the neighborhood.
With our last set of chickens we found two dead inside the wire with the remains of their heads and necks outside. Bobcat did not get in, but rather than scaring the chickens away it had somehow enticed them to come close enough to the fencing to be grabbed - but their bodies were two large to be pulled through.
We didn't actually see a bobcat -- but beefed up the wire all around the runs anyway A few weeks later, in broad daylight, we saw how it was done. We saw a bobcat on top of the wired-in roof of the run reaching through as far as she could. She was actually "chumming" the chickens toward her -- with one paw down through the gaps in the roof she kept making a "come-hither" kind of motion with her claws - some of our hens seemed interested at the time we noticed all this and scared the cat away..
We even caught the **** bobcat later in a live trap while there were still five chickens and the rooster left! Fish & Game said that the only two choices were to let it go - or to kill it! We let it go - inside the run she had penetrated. Watching her race to freedom - she showed us the weak spot in our fencing on her way out.
We are going to try again - perhaps with an armed guard this time!

We have found no French Marans on Craigslist or on line and our local source has dried up. Had hoped to put a wanted thread on BYC -- but need seventeen more posts to be eligible.

This note is to point out the predator hazard to others. The fence needs to be fine mesh enough, at least to the height of a chicken, so that a bobcat cannot reach through. The roof fencing can be wider mesh but far enough off the ground so that a chicken could not be enticed near enough to be pulled up through. It is obvious that there must not be any weak spots!

Good luck to all. We will be back in the game someday - with black copper standard Marans again!

Where are you located?

 

[Gilmore768]

Seventh chick didn't survive. So ended up with 6. After opening the eggs i found out 3 weren't fertilized. Just regular looking eggs. One other looked ok I guess. It pecked a tiny hole in shell but that was it. The last one I looked at Just didn't look developed fully. Both were wet but didn't seem excessive. The one that died was very sticky. It never did loose the stickyness and died shortly. And to top it all off I tried my hand at wing sexing chicks per Youtube video. Looks like 4 roosters 2 hens. Bummer.

 

[Alaskan]

I would love more roosters to pick from..... The rooster is such a giant part of your flock.. 1/2 of every single chick is from the rooster... You really want a fabulous rooster.