International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[KF0002]

Thanks. Since we are just backyard chicken raisers for fun we don't mind the leakage and like color variety in our flock, so we are hoping for that rather than a Roo

I have chicks around that age, and the cockerels combs are bigger and redder so I think it's safe to say yours is a pullet. Hope she lays pretty eggs for you!

 

[KF0002]

Great looking pen! Do you put hardware cloth around the bottom of the fence wire?

No we have never had an issue with varmints taking chickens in pens, they mostly just pick off a free ranging grow out here and there. That does make me wonder if we should though just in case. Especially now that we are down a LGD.

 

[KF0002]

We are going to put plywood around the roost area for protection from the elements and to knock off the wind chill this winter. Hopefully that will help keep anything from grabbing them off the roost through the wire. Minks however would be another story entirely.

 

[Red Banks]

8-9 week FBCM. Mossy girl or Roo color development?
View attachment 1179766 View attachment 1179767

Looks like a mossy pullet. My cockerels don't color up like this.... for me they start with the head, neck and chest.

 

[Red Banks]

8-9 week FBCM. Mossy girl or Roo color development?
View attachment 1179766 View attachment 1179767

They are so cute!

 

[Red Banks]

Maybe so.. You're probably right. I will take a close look with better lighting when I open the incubator to raise the humidity. I started with 24 eggs. If I can get a 25% hatch rate I will be happy. That's the best I've ever been able to get with shipped eggs. A 25% hatch rate would be 6 chicks.

I am praying!

 

[Red Banks]

No we have never had an issue with varmints taking chickens in pens, they mostly just pick off a free ranging grow out here and there. That does make me wonder if we should though just in case. Especially now that we are down a LGD.

I built a new coop and used the same wire you have on your pen. I kept thinking about the stories I had read, possums and raccoons reaching in and taking their heads off. I had a panel from a small pen and I put it up (left side of the pick). You know how it goes I kept thinking I need to get that hardware cloth up well.... one morning after sunrise I heard a ruckus outside. I threw on boots and a robe and ran out. A possum was terrorizing the birds you see below. He took off four heads and ripped out a cockerels crop.

So I finally got the hardware cloth up. What I didn't realized is some varmint had killed a CLB a couple of weeks before. I thought she fell off the roost and broke her neck. I am fairly certain something reached thru the wire and broke her neck. This may not be necessary where you live but this is a 8 X 9 coop and the possum was still able to reach them. I just used plastic ties and secured the hardware cloth to the field fencing. I only put it around the bottom and anywhere that a predator might be able to reach in and grab them on the perch.

 

[KF0002]

Hey guys we need one of these!!

 

[KF0002]

I built a new coop and used the same wire you have on your pen. I kept thinking about the stories I had read, possums and raccoons reaching in and taking their heads off. I had a panel from a small pen and I put it up (left side of the pick). You know how it goes I kept thinking I need to get that hardware cloth up well.... one morning after sunrise I heard a ruckus outside. I threw on boots and a robe and ran out. A possum was terrorizing the birds you see below. He took off four heads and ripped out a cockerels crop.View attachment 1179822
So I finally got the hardware cloth up. What I didn't realized is some varmint had killed a CLB a couple of weeks before. I thought she fell off the roost and broke her neck. I am fairly certain something reached thru the wire and broke her neck. This may not be necessary where you live but this is a 8 X 9 coop and the possum was still able to reach them. I just used plastic ties and secured the hardware cloth to the field fencing. I only put it around the bottom and anywhere that a predator might be able to reach in and grab them on the perch.
View attachment 1179826

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare! We always try to protect the roost areas for this reason. We've had that happen before too before we moved to our house. I can't wait to get Waylon grown up and trained so he can protect the chickens. Right now all he does is eat, sleep, poop, play and repeat.

 

[Red Banks]

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare! We always try to protect the roost areas for this reason. We've had that happen before too before we moved to our house. I can't wait to get Waylon grown up and trained so he can protect the chickens. Right now all he does is eat, sleep, poop, play and repeat.

He is so cute! Plenty of time for being an adult with responsibilities!