Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[seabreeze]

Best of luck to everyone's hatches!! Out of 23 eggs, we had 12 hatch, not the best but better than before!! We have another 23 due March 27 along with 6 Midget White turkey eggs due at the same time.

Waiting for some blue Orp eggs before we set the last batch!

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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Sorry, I haven't been on here much and reading this now. Have a lot of homeschooling to catch up on since the baby was born. I hope everything is OK with you. My kids and I have been praying over the situation in a whole.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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I'm curious.... what projects do you have going on and what breeds do you have? I'm also trying not to look at other breeds, but there are so many and soooo cute.

To be honest, when we moved from the farm I sold everything and I had a lot of different breeds (and mutts). This time around we live in a residential area and I have promised my husband I would only keep two breeds (Marans & Ameraucanas) to play with. I am now looking at some light brown egg layers (with some good chicken math I am sure I can convince him).

Haha....uh oh...you want me to actually admit to myself how crazy I am and list all my projects?

haha...just kidding. I don't mind. I also handle my parents stock, my dad is legally blind so I do all the work with him to decide what to keep, how to pair them up and etc. For my dad's stock there are wyandotte bantams in BBS and White, a couple of Seramas, and a trio of Old English. My mom always has a fresh supply of new pullets from my culls for her flock of layers.

For my stock in the bantam I have Columbian Wyandottes and White Cornish. I will keep the wyandottes, but am working also on creating some columbian bantam cornish. Its a fun experiment.

In Large fowl I have Coronation/Light Sussex, Marans in BBS, blue and black birchen, cuckoo, BCM, and I am slowly working my way toward silver blue duckwing...it will be a while...but I'm ok with the wait. I also am going to be starting an olive egger project with a few of the girls that don't pan out for my Marans breeding programs. I also have those mixed Wyandottes coming from Paul's poultry middle of next week. Those I will split with my mom for her flock of layers. I will be keeping the Silver Pencileds and depending upon what else is in the mix, maybe another color? Luckily there is plenty of pen space for my projects. Oh, and I have dorkings coming up to hatch in a couple of weeks. Most everything I have is a project at the moment, I like to work with difficult things to see what I can do to try and improve them.

I have a pretty good network developing of people that want my culls for their laying pens or for their kids for 4H and I have a fresh supply of chicken for the year as well...once I start heading towards fall, I do the hard task of selecting only a few of each that best represent the breeds I'm working with and only winter them over for the next breeding season.

Wow! Sounds like a lot of hard work, yet so much fun. We are just getting into the meat and potatoes of this now. I started last year, but then got rid of most of my chickens and now starting all over. I'm excited about it though.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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I've been watching wondering how this will end. Don't give up. From what I've read you still have a few days where something can happen.

Hoping you will get a good hatch.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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So totally understand!

I am on day 12 with my Ameraucanas and have yet to candle them. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I am nervous over what I'll find out. Talk about paranoid.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Slight damage so far and they are still trying to keep idiots away it's a weird dreary overcast day. I'm off to the store my turkeys are hatching like popcorn looks like they'll be done tonight I'm going to try and post some pictures tonight of my Blue Copper Splash rooster he didn't think much of me trying......

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Woohoo, I think I have a pip on one of my FBCMs. I know I definitely hear peeps coming from the eggs.

This is really exciting for me because I never candled, so not sure how many chicks will hatch out of 18 eggs.

 

[math ace]

It ALWAYS amazes me as to how quiet this thread gets on Friday nights. ..

I am going to go take a bath and head to bed with a REALLY GOOD book.

Tomorrow I will awake to find that all the folks out west got up and had a party while I slept!

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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But.... Hey, I'm still here. Well partly running to the bator to see the VERY slow progress of hatching, but nonetheless still here.

But honestly a hot, long bath with a GOOD book sounds more relaxing.

 

[Hens and Roos]

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But.... Hey, I'm still here. Well partly running to the bator to see the VERY slow progress of hatching, but nonetheless still here.

But honestly a hot, long bath with a GOOD book sounds more relaxing.

Good luck with your hatch...

we are in the process of making maple syrup and just waiting for it to get to temp and then into jars it goes!