Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[slick4591]

VC, sorry to hear about the bad luck. Wished I could help.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Go with the Shantytown until Spring.... This will give you time to plan the New coop to be the NEW and IMPROVED coop!

I've got one more coop left to build myself. .. . . Each one I build, I make an improvement over the last. .. . . .

I've got some temp brooders outside that we insulate with cardboard on the really cold nights. If your winters are dry, cardboard can be a cheap and fast insulator.
In Florida, we will get 30's for a week and then it will warm up to the 60's. So, I use cardboard a lot because I can take it down during hot spells and put it back up for cold ones.
I just staple it up when I need it. I even use it on my pig stalls as a wind break

 

[VillageChicken]

Quote:
Go with the Shantytown until Spring.... This will give you time to plan the New coop to be the NEW and IMPROVED coop!

I've got one more coop left to build myself. .. . . Each one I build, I make an improvement over the last. .. . . .

I've got some temp brooders outside that we insulate with cardboard on the really cold nights. If your winters are dry, cardboard can be a cheap and fast insulator.
In Florida, we will get 30's for a week and then it will warm up to the 60's. So, I use cardboard a lot because I can take it down during hot spells and put it back up for cold ones.
I just staple it up when I need it. I even use it on my pig stalls as a wind break

Great idea with the cardboard - when you mentioned it, I remembered.... my staple gun was in the barn. Drat. Got another one, just gotta dig it out.
I'm thankful it's not colder yet, it's a little damp though, no rain, just heavy fog and mist. Birds seem to be weathering it well. Each night I go out and sort of hunt them down as they've looked for new places to roost and hide out, and I try to put them all under a couple makeshift shelters. Sometimes they stay, sometimes they wander off into the darkness. But they're all fine in the morning.

My biggest problem is what to do with the 4 and 5 week olds in the basement when they get too big to stay down there. I've got to build something fairly solid and insulated to overwinter them in. A month from now they'll be bursting out of the basement.

 

[math ace]

My husband and I put a QUICK lean too together for our grow outs. It was a giant "A" frame. I used 1 full sheet of plywood on each of the long sides.
We screwed 3 or 4 2 x 2 x 6's about a foot off the the ground for perches. They were spaced a couple of feet apart.

At the top we used a 2 x 4 x 8 to screw the two pieces of plywood together at the peak.

We left the front and back open because we built ours during the summer. HOWEVER, you could easily close in the back and most of the front to winterize yours.
We raised ours off the ground because it was summer, BUT if you left yours setting on the ground, you wouldn't have to worry about a floor.

The "A" frame was QUICK and because we left the sheets of plywood whole, we are now re-using in the building of our LAST Real Coop.
In you build a frame work out of 2 x 2's and screw your plywood to it, then the plywood will stay in good shape ( not warped). Then you can re-use it in the spring.
I think we completed our A frame in one day and then painted it the second day....

 

[math ace]

Here are some pics of the temp coop / housing that we built for our grow outs in one weekend.
If I had built it in the winter... I would of lowered it to the ground and closed in the front and back....

In my case BECAUSE it was raised off the ground, I didn't lose any ground space for the little ones to run around in during the day time

It looks like we used a sheet of plywood across the top as rain protection because it was during our wet and hot summer....
We had originally planned on using a 2 x 4 x 8 across the top for the two sides to hook up with, but we went with the sheet of plywood on top so that we could get the spread that we wanted in the space that we had to work with.... Yep, it is all starting to come back now!

Oh and please forgive the mess.... It has been a work in progress year.
We, DH and I have made 3 brooders, 1 A frame and 2 full size coops. One more coop to go and 1 month to do it in!
PLUS, we have constructed 3 full time runs and 3 temporary runs..... NO MORE BUILDING NEXT YEAR!

 

[geebs]

Pallets... they can be filled with materials to cut the wind.. They are wood and virtually free here in the US... I don't know what they cost or availability there... If you aren't to worried about style... they may work for you.. they are wood and easy to work with and will have enough substance to deal with wind... Nails etc... Can fill with any kind of insulation from plastick bags etc... Just a thought.... Good luck VC...

Charlie is gone.... He sired one of the top 5 in Newnan last year... sad....

 

[bigshawn]

For convo sake who would you say are the top 10 Black Copper Marans breeders in the US today??? Looking for Quality not Quantity...........

 

[Roosterfry]

Quote:
This is an interesting question. I'm looking to see what people say. I own BCM's but i am very confused about this question myself. Seems like it just depends on who you ask. I hope you get several answers on this one!

 

[bigshawn]

Quote:
This is an interesting question. I'm looking to see what people say. I own BCM's but i am very confused about this question myself. Seems like it just depends on who you ask. I hope you get several answers on this one!

Me to, I'm in the hunt for some for this spring but there are soooo many who have them selling them its hard to no where to go I want the best start I can get (noing Marans are a work in progress)........

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
This is an interesting question. I'm looking to see what people say. I own BCM's but i am very confused about this question myself. Seems like it just depends on who you ask. I hope you get several answers on this one!

Me to, I'm in the hunt for some for this spring but there are soooo many who have them selling them its hard to no where to go I want the best start I can get (noing Marans are a work in progress)........

Wouldn't the Marans Club be a better place to go to ask this question? Aren't they the ones actually breeding and promoting SOP Marans? Or am I misunderstanding the intent of the original question?