cuckoo maran chick question

[TammyTX]

I also bought mine from McMurray. They were born on Valentine's Day. I wonder if it has to do with climate? We had several chilly days in the first week but in the last couple of weeks we've had 80-90+ days. I've actually had to turn my heat lamp off during the day several times. (Edited: gapeachy, I see by your name you are in a warm climate too?)

I'm feeding a starter/grower and they are totally not interested in treats of any kind but I have given them grit because I know they are eating some of the pine shavings. I have to be careful with the grit because they LOVE it for some reason.

I add 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar per gallon of water and only this weekend I started adding vitamins to the water.

I have some photos of my Marans at different ages:

At 5 days:

At 10 days:

At 14 days:

I've only lost two of my McMurray chicks out of the 43 I ordered from them and they all seem very vigorous. I think it's because the main post office here was responsible and let me pick them up on a holiday unlike some other poor folks of whom I've read about.

This is the first time I've had Maran's and they seem very calm. My Wellies are pretty calm but I'm thinking the roos are going to be more aggressive than the Marans, that's okay, I have a big freezer.

 

[gapeachy]

I ordered 150 chicks from mt healthy....they were all good....only lost 5...but mt healthy dont have alot of the rare breeds like marans or wellsummers.....I got some speckled sussex.......I had a box of 40 different breeds that I got from breeders...the cuckoo marans...welsummers and some speckled sussex and sussex mixed with EE's.....they are not doing as good....but the marans seem to be really hardy....lost not one....

 

[KattyKillFish]

yes, the cuckoo marans are the hardiest birds i've kept. i don't think the late feathers are a concern if they are looking to be healthy chicks. i miss my cuckoo marans dearly, a dog got them just the other day

i have another order of them coming from mc murray along with some other breeds. if you haven't kept cuckoos already they are so much fun! fromy my expirience the roos seem more tolerant of each other than other breeds. best of luck!

 

[okiemommy]

Looking at these pics makes me wonder if my "barred Rocks" really are barred rocks... I picked them up at the feed store, and I asked the lady if they are barred rocks and she said yes, But I think my chicks look more like Cuckoo Marans to me.

 

[KattyKillFish]

barred rocks and cuckoo marans look very similar, and at a glance it is pretty difficult to tell the difference. one way to tell is that the cuckoo maran hens are generally much darker than the cocks. second, Barred Rocks have yellow legs and Marans have white or "pearly" legs. also, Cuckoos have V shaped bars on their feathers while barred rocks have relatively straight bars.

and cuckoo marans tend to lay very dark eggs compared to other brown egg layers, as many of us know.

 

[fpscabs]

What an interesting post. I had intended to get one Barred Rock and one Cuckoo Marans, but I either got two BRs or CMs.
This is at two weeks. Bessy in front of her sister Bella.

This is Bessy at 3 weeks.

Any thoughts as to BR or CM?

 

[KattyKillFish]

for ME to tell, they would need to be older, but in all honesty i think they're cuckoos. curse me if i'm wrong

one DOES seem to have yellower legs, but it may be the picture. they are also fairly equal in size and weight. i say watch them for a few more weeks. and btw I THINK IT WOULD BE SO COOL TO HAVE BOTH IN ONE FLOCK XD

i wonder what the outcome of a crossbreed would look like. maybe not so different, but i would show off the chicks anyway. XD