Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[jlgoinggreen]

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That's awesome. We had to move and sold everything. I miss my cows and my goats (we had jersey cows and mini nubian goats). We are working to start all over in about two years (God willing). In the mean time I will have my chickens and garden to keep me busy.

That's too bad you had to move, but its great you have some poultry to work with! They really are so rewarding. Its awesome in a residential type area you are able to have them and have the room for a garden!

We are only about 10 minutes from where we were before so all though it's considered residential, there are still a lot of farms surrounding us. We live in about an acre, though it's in a weird shape. Still leaves us plenty of room to have our children's huge playground with room to run around in, a medium sized coop (we are starting with a 12X4 coop divided in 3 and a 12X16 run), and a pretty nice sized garden.

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That sounds awesome.

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Woohoo!

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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the longest part is boiling the sap down to get it to syrup and that depends on how much sap you have to boil. We boiled down about 28 gals of sap and ended up with 13- 8 oz jars of syrup. We also have our 2nd batch of sap starting to be boiled down and for that we have about 32 gal of syrup collected. We have only 4 trees to tap. This is our 4th year to do this and my DD(11 years) is hoping to take some syrup as a fair project.

Wow! I had no idea it cooked down that much! 28 gallons for 13-8oz jars?!?!?! Crazy!

Yep. I think that's why it's so expensive. It taste soooo good though so that makes it worth it.

 

[gilavina]

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Hahaha...that's too funny

Move on over chicken math...we've got bigger problems to solve!

I think it sounds probably pretty right to assume the hurting the one you love kind of thing.... poor frustrated little Pip

 

[gilavina]

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That's too bad you had to move, but its great you have some poultry to work with! They really are so rewarding. Its awesome in a residential type area you are able to have them and have the room for a garden!

We are only about 10 minutes from where we were before so all though it's considered residential, there are still a lot of farms surrounding us. We live in about an acre, though it's in a weird shape. Still leaves us plenty of room to have our children's huge playground with room to run around in, a medium sized coop (we are starting with a 12X4 coop divided in 3 and a 12X16 run), and a pretty nice sized garden.

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That sounds awesome.

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Woohoo!

Sounds like a nice place to live! What all do you grow in your garden? any treats for the chicks?
I am very much relieved by this set of eggs after candling! I haven't been feeling all that great this week...kind of tired and achy, like I'm fighting getting sick. So, this was like a shot in the arm for me. Now just to get up and go to work, then it will be back home to start some more seeds, and hopefully start getting things sorted to get some chicks moved outside this week with the warmer temps we are having.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
Please can anyone direct me to someone who has Cuckoo Marans which lay a 7 or darker egg?
I have looked around a lot but can't find any. I sure appreciate the help. English or French are both ok.
Thanks,Karen at [email protected]

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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We are only about 10 minutes from where we were before so all though it's considered residential, there are still a lot of farms surrounding us. We live in about an acre, though it's in a weird shape. Still leaves us plenty of room to have our children's huge playground with room to run around in, a medium sized coop (we are starting with a 12X4 coop divided in 3 and a 12X16 run), and a pretty nice sized garden.

Quote:

That sounds awesome.

Quote:
Woohoo!

Sounds like a nice place to live! What all do you grow in your garden? any treats for the chicks?
I am very much relieved by this set of eggs after candling! I haven't been feeling all that great this week...kind of tired and achy, like I'm fighting getting sick. So, this was like a shot in the arm for me. Now just to get up and go to work, then it will be back home to start some more seeds, and hopefully start getting things sorted to get some chicks moved outside this week with the warmer temps we are having.

Well to be honest, this will be our first garden and I'm

not to mess things up. I'm so nervous. Yes we are planning to have treats for the chicks along with any left overs we get. My six year old is very excited about the garden. We were supposed to do it last year, but I got pregnant and had a horrible pregnancy. Now I have my Ergo ready and the whole family will be out there working on the garden and helping DH build the chicken coop. One of my favorite things about homeschooling. Getting to work together as a family for our food.

I'm glad you are feeling better. See.... Fluffy butts are good for more than just eggs. They can also make you feel better without having to resort to meds.

 

[gilavina]

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We are only about 10 minutes from where we were before so all though it's considered residential, there are still a lot of farms surrounding us. We live in about an acre, though it's in a weird shape. Still leaves us plenty of room to have our children's huge playground with room to run around in, a medium sized coop (we are starting with a 12X4 coop divided in 3 and a 12X16 run), and a pretty nice sized garden.

Quote:

That sounds awesome.


Woohoo!

Sounds like a nice place to live! What all do you grow in your garden? any treats for the chicks?
I am very much relieved by this set of eggs after candling! I haven't been feeling all that great this week...kind of tired and achy, like I'm fighting getting sick. So, this was like a shot in the arm for me. Now just to get up and go to work, then it will be back home to start some more seeds, and hopefully start getting things sorted to get some chicks moved outside this week with the warmer temps we are having.

Well to be honest, this will be our first garden and I'm

not to mess things up. I'm so nervous. Yes we are planning to have treats for the chicks along with any left overs we get. My six year old is very excited about the garden. We were supposed to do it last year, but I got pregnant and had a horrible pregnancy. Now I have my Ergo ready and the whole family will be out there working on the garden and helping DH build the chicken coop. One of my favorite things about homeschooling. Getting to work together as a family for our food.

I'm glad you are feeling better. See.... Fluffy butts are good for more than just eggs. They can also make you feel better without having to resort to meds.

If you ever have any questions about garden stuff or preserving food I'd be happy to help. I love gardening and grew up helping my parents with theirs...I think you are giving your kids a really valuable education...even if they don't see the depths of it til they are older. Are you starting all your stuff from seeds?

 

[Debbi]

jlgoinggreen

Don't forget to plant a cherry tomato plant or two for the chickens! Mine all went bonkers for them!! And if you can afford the space, grow some pumpkins for them! To watch them attack a pumpkin is great fun to watch, and is so good for them! Split the first one you give them in half. The second one will be attacked if you just cut a small hole in it! Mine were on it like white on rice!

 

[gilavina]

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i've read and heard before that pumpkin seeds are a natural wormer for chickens too....so, its like a bonus to all the fun

 

[Ivywoods]

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Hello to you too!

I have used the DE several different ways. I put it in a rubber cattle feed pan that has sides about a foot high. I combine it with different things. I add some sand, wood ash, dirt or shavings. I keep it in the coop where it will stay dry, dry dry. They love it for dust baths. I have had problems in the past with them laying their eggs in that pan. I also sprinkle some DE around the coop when I clean it. I've heard mixed reviews about adding it to their feed, so I don't do that. I think the DE works well on external parasites, but I am not convinced that it does anything for internal, such as worms. If it works externally, however, hopefully it will help by keeping them from injesting eggs/larvae etc. When they poop in it you can just clean it out with a kitty litter scoop.

It seems like my birds will dust bath any place they can find dry dirt. This winter, that's been a little hard to come by.

Eprinex. We have that. I've used it. Ivomec pour on for cattle. (Eprinomectin) I believe we ordered ours from Valley Vet Suppy in Marysville, KS. We get a lot of our livestock stuff there. They ship fast.

I'm hoping tomorrow I can get a little done to clean out the old barn that blew down. I'm going to have to move some fences, clean up some of the old block that was the sides of the barn and generally do a bunch of misc. stuff to get ready to rebuild. It is not a job I'm going to be able to do myself. I'm going to have to wait for hubby and maybe even one of the boys to help. That is probably what will take the most time.... getting someone else as motivated as I am to get it done.