cucoo marans......how are they with really cold temps.

[prov31gal]

im really eyeing these birds, and welsummers, i like the dark chocolate egg color, and when selling eggs, alot of people like a different color, it just makes things more interesting i guess. but i wonder if they are cold hardy, that may be an easy question, but most of my exp are sexlinks and orpingtons, and soon i will experience light brahmas, so how are the cm and welsummer in the cold, and what other chickens besides the obvious ee ley an interesting egg.

oops, i mean CUCKOO marans

 

[MimiChick]

You don't say where you are, so it's kind of hard to judge how cold hardy you need a breed to be. That being said, I have a cuckoo marans (who is still a freeloader, not having laid any eggs yet) in Northwestern RI and she's doing just fine with cold we have been having here. I have a flock of 4 in an unheated, unisulated coop that has gotten down to 8 degrees F. All the girls have been fine and one of my project orps has just started laying and is giving my 5 eggs a week. Chocolate, my CM, has been doing the egg squat for almost 2 weeks now, so I suspect she'll start soon. The past few days it's been in the low 20's here during the day and the low teens at night. Chocolate and her flockmates have been just fine with this, playing outside all day. So, I guess you could consider her pretty cold hardy. Good luck. I'm sure others will weigh in on this with their experience too.

 

[nanawendy]

I'm very interested in this thread. I hope you experts reply soon. I need to order to get my eggs in neighbors bator when she starts it up
I'll be watching

 

[prov31gal]

im sorry, im in wv, and last night it was 8 degrees with 31 inches of snow on the ground. buff orpingtons are totally fine, theyve been giving us an egg each a day all through this winter. sounds like ri may be colder more frequently, so im thinking they will be fine.thanks!

 

[Katy]

My roos do experiance some frostbite on their combs......but generally not until we get into the single digits.

 

[rancher hicks]

I have 5 hens and one roo. Here's my experience so far. 2 hens came from Ideal, 3 hens and roo came from farmer. Hatchery hens lay lighter eggs and are lighter feathered. Farm hens lay darker eggs and are darker feathered. Though only one or two lay copper colored eggs, they are nice. One farm hen has gone broody less than a year old. Hatchery hens are one year the end of this month. Eric the roo is big and not overly friendly. Not aggressive though. Hens are getting there and partial to me. Oh one is a French variety, quite by accident. I could have had them all feather footed but it is wet here so I thought better of it. Roos are easy to tell at feathering as they tend to be lighter than the hens. The broody hen seems to be sitting well for a first timer. I suggest anyone who expects to have a broody sit be prepared with a location for just that purpose.
They have been in confinement most of the winter w/ a white heat light on a timer to extend the day in their part of the coop. It has no window and the only other light comes from the front of the coop. So I've use the light to brighten their part of the 8x 12 coop.
They seem to be taking the cold very well. They are laying well by my estimation, 4-5 eggs a day. Though now the broody has stopped laying. I don't recall they ever laid the small eggs one expects at the beginning. I was surprised. Medium size I'd say. Oh and I put the light up near the roosting area but not so close they'd hit it. 3 of the hens roost in the rafters and I'm surprise cause that is where the vents are but they don't seem to mind even though there are lower roosts.
I'm practicing how to post pics, I've learned to save them to the computer but can't seem to transfer to this site.

So the run down is this. I would skip Ideal for anything special. My experience has not been good, though chicks were healthy they had flaws for the breed. SLW's with single combs. , Reds w/ black feathers. If you buy from a hatchery try another.
The information given has been my experience and since I'm a first year poultry keeper is subject to correction by the "experts". That said , I think Cuckoo Marans are good layers, take confinement well and are cold hardy.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I'm in WI, and have had cuckoo's for 3 years, both from Ideal and private breeders, and both types lay very well in the cold. Mine are in an unheated coop and are my best layers. the big difference is the egg color ideals are light the others i have lay very dark.

 

[prov31gal]

i do not have anything good or bad to say about ideal, ive never ordered from there, but from what i hear, and read, there just not up to snuff, i will never buy from mcmurry, unless i want intensely inbred and deformed chicks, or dead ones, no offense, thats just the way i see it, so im going to go with cackle if i do this cuckoo marans and welsummer thing , ive never had a bad experience, even with there cust. service issues, you know not having enough hands to answer phones last year, i always got through and ive never has a dead or deformed chick from cackle.
any whoo, i hear that alot of the hatchery chickens dont lay the really chocolatey eggs, i wonder why that is, anyone had any from cackle? are they dark brown?
and are there any other types that are good hardy birds that lay interesting eggs other than ee. i really am learning alot here, im glad to have this forum!

 

[aimeeinwv]

I am also in WV - I ordered both. I read up on them really well and it seems they fare well during the cold. Check this site chart too - you have to click the link to redirect, but it's a great chart!

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

Where in WV are you? I'm in Teays Valley - I just found a great source for brooder boxes in Dunbar so I came on here to let people know and saw your post.I have 40 new babies coming and with the weather they'll be indoors a little while!

I could only find The Cukoo and Welsummers at Murray McMurray. I tried everywhere else. They all had backorders to April! I needed an earlier start than that.

Good luck! Aimee