Blue and Blue splash Marans!

[CuzChickens]

Hello guys!

I have been on a thread with Blue marans, but hey do not really want folks on it with hatchery stock and whatnot, so I thought I would create one where anybody with Blue and Blue splash marans can join. I hope my friend @Amy King Hanson will chime in here, she owns some nice Blue Copper Marans. I would love to see your pictures, hear your stories, and just anything related to them. I hope to get some next year from Amy, so I am learning all I can!

ALL BYC RULES APPLY.

 

[greenchicken22]

I'm new to byc as of 8 hours ago and I am just reading some discussions. I have two cuckoos and would love to see pics of the blue Karan's and hopefully get a few more Marans to add to my flock next year. Where can I get blues?

 

[CuzChickens]

Hello, and welcome to Backyard chickens! You should post over in this link to get a proper welcoming to BYC! https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/44/new-member-introductions. You can buy Blue marans at Meyer hatchery: http://meyerhatchery.com/. Amy will also be selling them next year. Meyer has 6 different Maran varieties.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

CuzChickens thanks for starting this thread. I would love to share in others journeys of growing their flock. To clarify, I really only sell locally.

Two things: 1) Breeders vs Hobbyist and 2) My story

1) Buying from a breeder, you are getting quality birds from someone with experience and knowledge. Breeders usually hatch hundreds of eggs, cull (doesn't always mean kill) the imperfections, and produce birds that are show quality. When buying from a breeder, you're investing into birds that already have the work done for you.

Hobbyist, love their chickens and will hopefully have some experience and knowledge. Usually hatching less and produce lovely birds that people love. Their birds are a little less expensive but may take some work if you want show quality.

2) My story starts with purchasing an incubator for my daughter for her as a Christmas present. We ordered her eggs online and threw in some barn yard mixes. It was a learning experience. We learned that shipped eggs were a lot of work with little reward and mixes can be hard to sell. So I began searching for how to buy chickens. Of course hatcheries are what appear when you Google. I picked the one that was close and seemed to have good reviews. Meyer. By daughter fell in love with the Blue Copper Marans rooster in the catalog, and thus started our journey. I googled a lot and found Backyard Chickens had all the answers. I would pick a thread, start from the first post, and read it all the way through. I would, and still do, take screen shots of things I need to know. I, however, will never be as awesome as some of these breeders who are on here. They know genetics like Neo from The Matrix.

Saying all that I'm happy to see your posts of your lovely birds and will try to direct you in the right direction when it comes to finding answers.

It's been a long day for me. 3 kids, I homeschool, and own 2 business. I'll leave you with one picture of our handsome guy Copper and will post more tomorrow.

 

[CuzChickens]

Thank you so much for your input Amy! Man, I wish somebody would give me an incubator for Christmas! lol. I just can not get over that rooster of yours!

 

[Amy King Hanson]

Copper from days old to now.
This is my 2 cochins on the left, Copper, and then his Black Copper Marans hen, Sandy, on the right. The bigger Cochin is my Blue Cochin King.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

I never intended to breed to sell. I was only going to have a fun flock. But after soooooo much interest in him and wanting to start a Sexlinked project, I will start a project in the spring.
Copper project:
* Sandy, current Black Copper Marans hen.
* We'll be purchasing breeder quality Black Copper Marans hen with better leg feathering.

Sexlinked project:
* Barred Rock for blue/Blank Sexlinks
* Cream Legbar hen for Sexlinked Olive Eggers.

My goal is to mostly provide fertile eggs to local chicken hobbyists. I'll also have green and blue sexable breeds. I also just invested in cochins and Bantams to sell for those who don't want to spend hundreds of dollars for an incubator.

When I first started I couldn't find any breeders. Then I was blessed to find a Facebook group that had been set up for chicken lovers. It's set up to buy, sell, trade, or to just post pictures that only people like us appreciate in our own local state. In joining the group I'm now connected to several breeders, hobbyists, and buyers. Flock Swaps are set up. Questions are asked.

Copper's current flock until another coop is built (thankfully I married a contractor!)

 

[Amy King Hanson]

I thought hatching season was over but apparently this is the time of year to get incubators on sale and who can resist an empty incubator? I have had 2 people contact me to purchase fertile eggs. I haven't separated my Marans coop yet and still have a Salmon Favorelle hen in there. I asked in the genetics thread to get a prediction of chicks if my customers were to hatch them. Turns out it'd be Sexlinked. Not at hatch but as the chicks feather out. Birtchen over Silver will produce hens that'll feather out black/blue and gold. The roosters will feather out blue/Black and white. Cool!

 

[CuzChickens]

That's really neat! Where are you finding incubators on sale? I'm trying to find some right now, I just won a $50 amazon gift card, so I have been looking for incubators there, but anywhere I look, even if its not amazon, I don't see any on sale. I know you can't buy a good quality incubator for $50, but it'll take a nice chunk off one! So are you going to try to hatch some sexlinked chickens?

 

[Amy King Hanson]

That's really neat! Where are you finding incubators on sale? I'm trying to find some right now, I just won a $50 amazon gift card, so I have been looking for incubators there, but anywhere I look, even if its not amazon, I don't see any on sale. I know you can't buy a good quality incubator for $50, but it'll take a nice chunk off one! So are you going to try to hatch some sexlinked chickens?

That's AWEsome! I'm not sure were they're getting them, just surprised that they just got them and want to fill them, lol. Be careful with Amazon. I bought mine from there. It's a 42 egg turner, forced air, digital, and it was only $65. But after 5 hatches the heating element broke. Thankfully I have a skillful husband. I was able to buy 2 new elements for $17 and my husband replaced it. Nite I have Styrofoam around it to help insulate it. So eventually I'll buy a better one.

I was tempted to hatch since I have orders coming in but I want to focus on the holidays. I love being distracted by cute chicks do I must remove the temptations, lol. But I'm giving 2 free Salmon Favorelle eggs to my customer today. I haven't taken my Cochin rooster out of that pen yet do who knows what'll she'll get. I will stay hatching again in January. apparentlya lot of people stay hatching in January to have grow outs available in April/May when everyone is buying.