Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[ihvpower]

,

My friend Cathie and I have a question. Do Marans have a thicker membrane that covers them? I am referring to the hatching process, it seems that when my FBCM eggs are hatching, that they have a difficuklt time getting through the membrane..is it thicker than other breeds of chicks?I have had to help my FBCM get out of their shells on several occassions but never a different breed...


Nancy

 

[ihvpower]

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Sometimes, I cannot tell the difference until I see the tails getting longer! LOL Girls have Wattles too and that is a wonderful picture of your Marans baby...don't we see their dinosaur heritage in THAT picture??!! Pullets DO have a large comb as well

Look for a more aggressive bird, try putting your hand in the brooder, first one to come over and peck you is a boy... ;-)

 

[wannabchick]

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I think they do..infact I asked the same thing when mine were hatching..the last one..infact the one pictured..I completely hatched it all the way out, it was pipped for 30 some hours..just a little hole..and around that was rock hard membrane..so I thought what they heck, and did it myself

All my marans took longer from their pip to zip..then any of my other breeds..so I too asked the same thing

Xoxxo

 

[wannabchick]

Quote:
Sometimes, I cannot tell the difference until I see the tails getting longer! LOL Girls have Wattles too and that is a wonderful picture of your Marans baby...don't we see their dinosaur heritage in THAT picture??!! Pullets DO have a large comb as well

Look for a more aggressive bird, try putting your hand in the brooder, first one to come over and peck you is a boy... ;-)

Problem is I only have 3 other marans their wheatens..and none of them peck at me..or come up to me..and two are definitely Roos

Now my fav roo..comes a runnin to peck my hand..lol

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I think they do..infact I asked the same thing when mine were hatching..the last one..infact the one pictured..I completely hatched it all the way out, it was pipped for 30 some hours..just a little hole..and around that was rock hard membrane..so I thought what they heck, and did it myself

All my marans took longer from their pip to zip..then any of my other breeds..so I too asked the same thing

Xoxxo

I have speckled sussex and marans hatching together as we speak. . . . I'll report back in a day or two and tell you if I have noticed any differences.
The first chicks to pip were the speckled sussex, but they are not out yet! They pip today around 12. . . . Since then I am seeing some marans pipping to, but no one is out of the shells yet. LOTS and LOTS of peeping going on too.

The only observations I have made is that my Jumbo eggs take 24 hours more to hatch than normal size eggs. I just make sure they get thrown in a day earlier and it works out fine.

I have discovered that you can not, absolutely can not open the incubator. Any time I do, someone gets stuck in the shell and then I have to open it again and save them

I tend to stay busy now so that I don't watch them so much. . . . I cleaned my carpets today ( day 21) and tomorrow I am off on a little road trip to pick up a new roo. . . . . . It takes sooooooo long from pip to zip. Drives me crazy waiting

 

[wolftracks]

Is it Chookschick or daisychick that sands the shell down on BCM eggs? I think it is one of them.

The shells are very think. I've noticed a lot of difference if I have them in with another breed. I think they like a little more humidity, but not so much as you drown them in the shell.

 

[seabreeze]

We had a couple of accidental matings of Marans roo over white Leghorn hens and the results were white eggs of course but they pipped and zipped ultra fast in comparison to the pure Marans. the Leghorn eggs zip was almost as if done by laser level!!

 

[sewandgrow]

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Morning Kim,
Glad to see you (read you?...LOL) here. I just checked out your BYC page. I never realized you have such a variety. BTW cute picture of Makayla & the $1000 chick on the other thread. My husband & I spent our first few years together in Alameda & had our daughter while there.
How cute that you can see who your OEs are. I think my OEs presented as BCMs, but even if they looked like EEs I had both in that hatch so can't tell. This hatching & keeping track of who's who has been a challenge for me but I think I have it figured out now. Now I have metal coated cages for them to hatch in so I know which is which & that is how I have kept the newest hatches separate. My Harry Shaffer Lav Ams & ChickieLady's Blue Ams hatched the same day but I had her's in cages. It worked perfectly & I banded all hers as soon as I took them out of the incubator.
I am doing some test hatches on BCMs right now just for my own information. I put one cage in with older eggs & 1 fresh collected one & another cage with all freshly colleded darkest eggs from within a week. I will be happy to get some better BCMs but for now I keep working with what I've got.
I take it that Sportsman has been getting the job done. I am glad you were able to fix it. I would be so unhappy if something happened to my incubator. I even drug out the old Styro & ordered a hygrometer for it that hasn't come yet but I have it full of Olivia's Black Austrlorps & the Blue Andalusians just to see what happens. What they heck that's how I had to do everything before the Brinsea & I loved doing it. I do have much better luck now though. I am hoping adding the hygrometer will help that.
Have a good day
Karen in Turlock
About OEs ,..........I lost track of mine & now won't know who's who until it lays if it's a pullet that is............LOL.

Thanks Karen

Nope we didn't get it running. SIL had a ton of things to do. I might pull it out and try again, but have so much going on. I keep running on and off the forums though.

This wind is horrible! Everything shaking around here. Waiting for a call from my machanic. Makayla and I walked home from there last night and I thought the cold and wind was bad then. Yipes!

Had to let the BCMs out again. When the weather clears and my coops dry I need to finish them better. Found them leaking this morning. Now I know why I have floods. Two of the hens want to come inside. Gave them some scratch and sent them on their way.

I lost a quail today and also some of the chicks in the brooder. I think that cat did some damage I couldn't see before. Makes me so mad.

I have 30 eggs in the bator now and 16 are BCM. The girls are out singing that egg song, so hopefully more to set in a few days. I hope I get some good ones out of them. The Jeane cocerel I have in the brooder I think is going to be a cull. Darn! Just has a lot of color on his chest.

Yeah the Sportsman makes more sense. LOL

Just got my call. Time to take a long cold walk. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr LOL

I would have come & picked you up Kim. Call me if you need to.
I am sorry about that dang cat..................
My chickens are just about swimming too. I feel so bad for them. They do have covered pens but some of them choose to sit out in the rain. My husband says we are in for this weather until Sunday, but tomorrow is supposed to be alittle better.

 

[kathyinmo]

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I have hatched many Marans. I do not believe they are any different than any other chicken egg. I hatch them all in the same incubators, side by side, with the same temp and humidity, and I do not have any problems hatching them.

 

[Sparklee]

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Lots of people help their Marans chicks to get out of the shell.

I hope it's not that there are so many of us helping chicks out of the shell that we're breeding that weakness into the chickens so that in time all Marans will have to be helped out of their shell. At some point we need to make sure that we are breeding new chicks from hens and roosters that were able to get out of the eggs themselves. It's important for the breed long term.

Some people think that it's an issue of not keeping the humidity at the right level throughout the incubation period. I suppose that if we hatched under hens, then we'd know if it was something to do with our incubator's effectiveness and our ability to keep the conditions just right for Marans.