French Marans….when will they lay?

[Bigcountry69]

Wonders what exactly this is.
Is there no poultry premix in your feed?

No. We ferment the whole grain mix we feed so I offer the mineral free choice. I may switch to sprinkling it on the feed when we drain it and give the feed to the chickens. We have just started making our own feed and I am still trying to figure out a few things.

 

[aart]

No. We ferment the whole grain mix we feed so I offer the mineral free choice. I may switch to sprinkling it on the feed when we drain it and give the feed to the chickens. We have just started making our own feed and I am still trying to figure out a few things.

What are the minerals...specific mix for poultry??

 

[3KillerBs]

So we have 4 Black copper marans, one each of black maran and Wheaton. They were hatched on May 12th. They are in with a cream legbar rooster and 4 legbar hens. None of the marans have laid an egg yet. Any idea on when this could happen? I have seen 6 months, but I know that the days are getting shorter and that will have an effect on them. Will it be spring before they lay or will they possibly start soon. We are not using any supplemental light on any of our flock, so they are just getting whatever day light there is here in Eastern NC. It’s hard waiting on these ladies to lay.

My French Cuckoo Marans from Ideal hatched on May 19th and aren't laying yet (one is starting to redden up) . Marans are notoriously later developers so I am expecting to wait until the days start to lengthen at least.

Well there is irony that I asked this question today. Found our first egg from the marans today in the run. It was a gorgeous dark brown with speckles. So at least one of our marans has decided to lay

That gives me a little hope!

 

[Bigcountry69]

What are the minerals...specific mix for poultry??

We offer oyster shell free choice then a general high quality mineral supplement that my local mill uses in the poultry feed they mix and that they recommended. It is not poultry specific.

 

[Bigcountry69]

My French Cuckoo Marans from Ideal hatched on May 19th and aren't laying yet (one is starting to redden up) . Marans are notoriously later developers so I am expecting to wait until the days start to lengthen at least.



That gives me a little hope!

Hopefully you will see eggs soon......it is amazing just how dark brown the eggs are.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hopefully you will see eggs soon......it is amazing just how dark brown the eggs are.

I got my first Marans eggs last week.

Not bad for hatchery birds, IMO.