International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[chickengr]

2 pullets ,great .double bonus .
to breed the white/grayish earlobe out ,you need to select your cockerels with a pure red earlobe .always for few generation .
focus on the roosters . your seem to have a red earlobe .they ll be your way out .

all the best

chooks man

pullets with some white ear lobes are from my friend's eggs. my marans (all the boys are from my flock) are free of white ear lobes.

 

[KF0002]

pullets with some white ear lobes are from my friend's eggs. my marans (all the boys are from my flock) are free of white ear lobes.

Several of my pullets have white ear lobes. This can be corrected as long as your cock bird has solid red earlobes every generation. Chooks man said it may take several generations to clear it up.

 

[Chooks man]

@Chooks man how much space do you have for raising all varieties of marans?

at this time I have 2 acres of orchid ,all penned . big pens .
I m giving my chooks 25 square meters of free ranging by head .and a lot of trees .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

pullets with some white ear lobes are from my friend's eggs. my marans (all the boys are from my flock) are free of white ear lobes.

great news than ,they are not related ,so your cockerels will help you to breed it out .
it is always easier to breed some thing out if we have at least one breeder without it .

good luck .you are doing very well so far .your pens start to fill up with good marans who lay dark eggs .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Weighed one of #60's eggs.. its huge! A whopping 72 grams.

View attachment 1197329

true marans egg .Bravo

keep that gene in your flock .keep #60 healthy and hatch as many of her eggs as you can .

chooks man

 

[KF0002]

at this time I have 2 acres of orchid ,all penned . big pens .
I m giving my chooks 25 square meters of free ranging by head .and a lot of trees .View attachment 1196965View attachment 1196971 View attachment 1196971

chooks man

Wow I would love to give so much space to my Marans. I make it up to them by free ranging them as much as I can during the summer months. My husband and I are currently working on fencing in our entire property so I won't have to worry about my chickens getting slaughtered by rogue dogs. I love that you are able to keep your birds on grass all the time.

Which leads me to a question: what is a good grass alternative? Will chickens eat dry bales of alfalfa hay? Our feed mix has alfalfa pellets in it. I feed as much fresh produce as I can get, but I hate I can't do it daily. Our current feed mix is 18% protein and consists of corn, laying pellets, calf manna pellets, alfalfa pellets, wheat, milo, and black oil sunflower seeds. I supplement with crushed egg shells and crushed oyster shells also. We try to keep fresh straw in their coop to scratch, especially during wet periods.

As soon as we get the time, I am going to work on some grass frames for the coops so that will help.

 

[Chooks man]

Several of my pullets have white ear lobes. This can be corrected as long as your cock bird has solid red earlobes every generation. Chooks man said it may take several generations to clear it up.

yes as long as one of the breeders has not got it .pure red .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Wow I would love to give so much space to my Marans. I make it up to them by free ranging them as much as I can during the summer months. My husband and I are currently working on fencing in our entire property so I won't have to worry about my chickens getting slaughtered by rogue dogs. I love that you are able to keep your birds on grass all the time.

Which leads me to a question: what is a good grass alternative? Will chickens eat dry bales of alfalfa hay? Our feed mix has alfalfa pellets in it. I feed as much fresh produce as I can get, but I hate I can't do it daily. Our current feed mix is 18% protein and consists of corn, laying pellets, calf manna pellets, alfalfa pellets, wheat, milo, and black oil sunflower seeds. I supplement with crushed egg shells and crushed oyster shells also. We try to keep fresh straw in their coop to scratch, especially during wet periods.

As soon as we get the time, I am going to work on some grass frames for the coops so that will help.

it is great idea to fence as much as you can .they ll always safe .

I fenced all the left side of the orchid ad build one long large pen .between the road ( north side)and the orchid for a dog . no foxes from this side . Dingo in guard 24/7 .

from the south side I got the other dog in a similar run . between the forest and my chooks pens .
all the problem are solves .the chooks are free ranging all the year around and all the time .in and out any time they like .
by giving them super large pens .a lot of my work has been cut out .like opening and closing the doors .cleaning the hens houses .they are hardly in them .except to lay or to roost . better health .a lot grass all the year around . ( no many chooks by pen) .

happy chooks

alfalfa is very good for them in any form

chooks man

 

[chickengr]

at this time I have 2 acres of orchid ,all penned . big pens .
I m giving my chooks 25 square meters of free ranging by head .and a lot of trees .View attachment 1196965View attachment 1196971 View attachment 1196971

chooks man

impressive!

I am thinking how much land to buy. it seems I can find about 1 acre only in the areas I like. I am afraid it is not enough as I plan to have chickens (marans of course, naked necks, rumpless araucana , greek hooded and to work on mixing some of them), ducks: indian runner and muscovy (to keep them separately), guinea fowl (maybe together with indian runners), pea fowl, some turkeys for food, 2-3 goats and maybe 2 pigs. I also want a big vegetable garden, some fruit trees (can be in chicken runs) and a small pasture (can be as a part of rotating vegetable garden). I already feel stuck, lol. and dogs of course. I have 2 old terrier mixes who kill mice and rats and I am thinking about getting some shepherd dogs as they are guards and usually don't chase and kill chickens.

what is the biggest number of chickens you keep in 2 acres?

 

[chickengr]

great news than ,they are not related ,so your cockerels will help you to breed it out .
it is always easier to breed some thing out if we have at least one breeder without it .

good luck .you are doing very well so far .your pens start to fill up with good marans who lay dark eggs .

chooks man

thanks.

it seems that their sire already bred out a part of white ear lobe. he is not related to their mothers and has red ear lobes. I don't like him but he is helping with egg colour as well. I think his head is too small with a huge bad comb and his ear tufts are black.