Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[sewandgrow]

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Sounds like an excellent solution to me Susie......Good for you & him.

 

[gilavina]

Oh and I was hearing an awful racket in the incubator...was starting to worry one of the chicks had somehow gotten caught or stuck or something...so I popped it open quick just to make sure. And lo and behold...no wonder there was so much racket...I had 15 totally dry chicks ready to go...they had mostly pushed the lid up on the hatching tray on one corner...and were trying to squeeze out...so the one that was making the maiden voyage had his head out and one foot and then had gotten stuck. I can't believe I have half my hatch done already and its not even day 21 yet. How's the hatching progress looking over there for you Kim?

 

[sewandgrow]

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Most importantly, your kindness will be feeding hungry people. Excellent decision!
Jeremiah Johnson is on amc right now! My favorite (one of) movie!

Me too Mel.....My husband has always referred to Robert Redford as "My boyfriend" because of that movie..................LOL.I bet he wouldn't be shy about butchering a chicken either.....LOL

 

[Mountain Mel]

Good Morning, Folks...

Today is chicken moving day. The six birds that I got from Pinkchick in January are going to be moved from what I call my "brooder box" into a pen of their own that is outdoors, yet under a good roof with protection from the wind and elements. I'll still keep a brooder lamp out there for a while so they will have an external heat source.
This will give them some room to move around and stretch their wings. The pen is about 12 feetx12 feet so they will have lotsa' room. I'm guessing that they will stay there until they start to lay -- or until I sell that property -- whichever happens first! They will have my 2 pigs -- Soupy and Norm -- for next door neighbors to keep them company.
My fishing buddy -- ex pro wrestler Dutch Savage -- told me last night that I can have his incubator. I'm not sure what brand it is (probably a Hova-Bator) but he said that it hatches lots of eggs and it has an automatic turner. This is good. Maybe I can find someone close who has some "not-so-good" or "not-so-special" fertile eggs that I can eggsperament on before I get some real precious eggs ( or a viable Rooster that won't get me laughed outa BYC ).

 

[sewandgrow]

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That's still exciting to have rocking happening I'd think. I can't see anything in the sportsman...

can just hear noises. I'm trying with all my might to not open it up and take a peek until at least tomorrow afternoon sometime...I don't want to shrink wrap any babes. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to open the incubator and keep the eggs from doing that while I get other babes out. I read on here that some people take their incubator into the bathroom where they've been running a hot shower so there's humidity in the air, but I'd think carrying a nearly 100 pound incubator up the stairs to the bathroom without damaging any eggs or myself is just not an option

Any ideas over there since you have a sportsman too?
I also had to work today and in a way it was probably best as I get impatient and just have to have a peek to see what's going on...so i suppose...at least kept from fiddling around and messing anything up I guess. Hope your babes pick up the pace and decide to come on out and say hi

I am wondering if a baby humidifier would work to bring up the humidity before you open the door. I think alot of us probably haveone tucked in a closet somewhere from years gone by when we used them for our stuffed up kids.......LOl If not I see them in the Goodwill store all the time & if not they are pretty reasonable even new at someplace like WalMart.

 

[Mountain Mel]

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gilavina, if I had hens that looked like that, I would cross them with a big 'ol Blue Jersey Giant Rooster! I think your birds are very pretty.

 

[sewandgrow]

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I do not know enough about genetics yet to help you there but I am sure someone else has probably jumped in to help you. I was just wondering about the egg color?????/

 

[pinkchick]

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Nothing yet...

Who knows...I didn't have that much luck with this batch set as I mentioned before so if one of these do hatch I will be surprized. I think a had a couple too many girls in with Gnarles and have downsized to 12 girls....I know that's pushing it but until I can catch the 2 BCM pullets that are laying a lighter colored egg and removed them to a bigger pen with Bill, then 2 of them have to stay for now. Candled the 11 eggs set for lockdown on the 16th and removed 2 very new pullet eggs that I tossed in for fun, they developed, but didn't go very far. Another 2 BCM eggs were clear and 2 BCM pullet eggs from a second girl that just started laying, again tossed in for giggles to see what they would do, but they were clear also. 5 are still going strong with good development 3 Blue Copper eggss and 2 Black Copper eggs. This batch of eggs was also put in before I removed 2 more girls from Gnarles. I have 16 eggs set on tray 2 for lockdown on the 24th. I collected these eggs after reducing the flock size. Will candle those next week upon lockdown.

Congrats on your little hatchers!

 

[gilavina]

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That's still exciting to have rocking happening I'd think. I can't see anything in the sportsman...

can just hear noises. I'm trying with all my might to not open it up and take a peek until at least tomorrow afternoon sometime...I don't want to shrink wrap any babes. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to open the incubator and keep the eggs from doing that while I get other babes out. I read on here that some people take their incubator into the bathroom where they've been running a hot shower so there's humidity in the air, but I'd think carrying a nearly 100 pound incubator up the stairs to the bathroom without damaging any eggs or myself is just not an option

Any ideas over there since you have a sportsman too?
I also had to work today and in a way it was probably best as I get impatient and just have to have a peek to see what's going on...so i suppose...at least kept from fiddling around and messing anything up I guess. Hope your babes pick up the pace and decide to come on out and say hi

I am wondering if a baby humidifier would work to bring up the humidity before you open the door. I think alot of us probably haveone tucked in a closet somewhere from years gone by when we used them for our stuffed up kids.......LOl If not I see them in the Goodwill store all the time & if not they are pretty reasonable even new at someplace like WalMart.

that's a good idea...I don't have one, but perhaps my parents might have one from when I was a kid layin around....and since i'm taking care of their hatches too I'm sure they won't mind

 

[Debbi]

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X2! What's up with the light one's beak? At 16 weeks, they both have filling out to do in both body and feathering. Does the lighter one have white-based hackle feathers?

Thanks for the feedback. The beak just had mud on it, it's fine. There's no white in the hackle... yet, it's just shine. The lighter one actually acts more healthy than the dark. He's smaller, but he's feeling his oats already and ranges around, calls the girls to food etc. The dark one just kind of skulks around on his own, and isn't very nice to the girls when they come close while he's eating. Don't think the testosterone's flowing in the dark one quite so well. I had a bunch of birds processed a few weeks ago, they were between 17-19 weeks and I was surprised what big differences there were in the sizes of their "organs". Some of the males still had not hit puberty.

I'll post pics in another month or so. I don't think the light one had an eye injury. There's a hen that hatched with him with the same "dirty" eyes.

VC,

Get ahold of the lighter roo, and push his hackle feathers forward. Look at the base of the feathers by the skin, as they are growing in. Any white there? Wouldn't hurt to check the dark roo for that either. Glad that was just mud on his beak! Looked like he'd blown the end of his beak off with a firecracker on my moniter!