Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding strategies...

[flgardengirl]

Hope your little cuckoo chick makes it!
I set my lav orp and lav silkie eggs last week and also added in some various Marans including golden cuckoos and lemon cuckoo project eggs. I didn't get as many cuckoos in there as I wanted because they weren't laying all that great. So of course a few days ago they started laying like crazy grrr.. I have 5 broody silkies right now (not the lav one of course) so I traded out most of their eggs for lav silkie and golden and lemon cuckoo marans eggs LOL. I don't know if they are really going to sit on all those eggs or not. I finally have the silly silkies trained to lay eggs and go broody in their 3 low hanging nest boxes instead of all over their coop like they used to. There is 2 broody pairs in each end box and one broody in the middle box lol. They are funny how they like to go broody in pairs around here. All our breeds do it for some reason..."monkey see-monkey do".

 

[flgardengirl]

Yeah. I got the basket at the Dollar Tree or one of those type stores. I have a cookie cooling rack, also from the Dollar Tree, on top with zip ties to keep them from hopping out. Works great. I can get 12 in my hatcher when I stack them 3 tall.

I really love these little crates!! I am going to check our $ store and see if they have any, next time I go!!

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

we went to big lots and got some baskets Friday

 

[Hens and Roos]

thanks for the well wishes, we ended our hatch with just the 1 chick- cracked open the other eggs after recandling them and found that our Cuckoo and Welsummer eggs stopped anywhere from day 16 to day 20/21 and our Andalusian eggs stopped around day 9/10. Not sure what went wrong, currently watching the thermostat and trying to get it to stay in range and seem to be having a big swing going on......

 

[DMRippy]

thanks for the well wishes, we ended our hatch with just the 1 chick- cracked open the other eggs after recandling them and found that our Cuckoo and Welsummer eggs stopped anywhere from day 16 to day 20/21 and our Andalusian eggs stopped around day 9/10. Not sure what went wrong, currently watching the thermostat and trying to get it to stay in range and seem to be having a big swing going on......

Might want to calibrate your hygrometer too.... just thinking really. That really sucks. I hope you figure it out

 

[DMRippy]

I really love these little crates!! I am going to check our $ store and see if they have any, next time I go!!

I can't take all the credit the idea originated with Vicki's suggestions of BASKETS and needle point canvas.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Ok here is a few photos of my GCMs I have 17 in 3 different ages. I have 2 that look like this. As a chick it was black with white points kinda like a BCM chick but lighter. I thought it was a hen but look at the comb and waddle development! Is this a rooster with no golden in it? Thanks for any help! Oh its 4 and a half weeks here.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Here is the other rooster colors, as chicks they where a light tan/brownish color. I have about 5 that look like this:




Then I have about 4 or 5 that where a dark chocolate type brown as chicks and this is what they look like now at almost 5 weeks old:








And I have another 4 or 5 that as chicks looked just like the first one I posted above in my first photo post that has the big comb and waddle, they all are the same age and look like they do not have any golden in them kinda just like regular cuckoos. Will they get golden in them later as they age?





LOVE the feathered feet! The underside of the feet still look a little yellow.. so I will be keeping an eye on that and cull if they aren't the desired color.

 

[pmessner]

Ok here is a few photos of my GCMs I have 17 in 3 different ages. I have 2 that look like this. As a chick it was black with white points kinda like a BCM chick but lighter. I thought it was a hen but look at the comb and waddle development! Is this a rooster with no golden in it? Thanks for any help! Oh its 4 and a half weeks here.

Hi... I'm a bit confused... were these gcms from eggs you purchased? cause I ain't seeing gold? I'm still pretty much a "new chic" but I do have goldens and this fellow looks like he does not carry any gold. If they are heterozygous, carrying gold and black, bred back to heterozygous, you can get all black. Just a thought... others are more knowledgeable I am sure but understanding the origin of the eggs would help.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

All of my GCM in these photos where purchased as Chicks from thefancychick.com I also purchased eggs from her and hatched out some older ones. So all my stock came from her.