Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Keara]

Quote:
I got two mutts hatched, two mutts pipped, and two BC marans pipped. A bit on the early side but I won't complain. The hard thing will be stay at work all day and not leaving early to check on them! I can't wait to see what my BC marans give me for chicks. I will take photos when the hatching is done. I know Math at least wants to see them as I am sending her some of these same BCM eggs in trade on Monday!

Here is a picture of my roo and one of my hens!

 

[Mountain Mel]

Quote:
I got two mutts hatched, two mutts pipped, and two BC marans pipped. A bit on the early side but I won't complain. The hard thing will be stay at work all day and not leaving early to check on them! I can't wait to see what my BC marans give me for chicks. I will take photos when the hatching is done. I know Math at least wants to see them as I am sending her some of these same BCM eggs in trade on Monday!

Here is a picture of my roo and one of my hens!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/KearaMc/PA250032.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/KearaMc/PA250009.jpg

Wow!!!

Those sure are pretty birds!

 

[enggass]

Pink Eggs in Maine UPDATE:
5/14 Marans hatched- 2 Black, 2 Splash and 1 Blue. The blue has a twisted middle toe n his/her left foot

Out of the 14 eggs only 3 could possibly give me a Splash and so far the 2 that have hatched have done so. 4/10 Wellies hatched... Pictures will follow once things settle. Many pips still in the 'bator.
Steve

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Hi Keara,
I am trying an egg carton on one of my shelves this time. I love my new Brinsea but it came with a rail system for the baskets that sit on the shelves & I didn't care for the play that allowed the eggs if the row wasn't snuggly full. The first hatch I propped the last egg in the rows up with wadded up bubble wrap to just keep that last egg propped air sac up. This time I took a 2 dozen egg carton & 2 one dozen ones & cut them to fit the whole basket so far it seems to be fine. I checked on the egg racks that would fit but it only holds 30 eggs. I get 47 or 48 in my way.
We'll see..........
Karen in California

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
I use a dollar store crate with holes . . . They didn't come with holes in the bottom, so Dh drilled some in the bottom for me.
Mine were a little too tall to double stack in my cooler / incubator so Dh cut them down to size. The bottom was slick, so I cut a piece of vented rubber matting / shelf linear for each crate. LASTLY, I had a chick escape thru a hole in the side of the crate during a hatch. Since then, I have taken a sheet of green plastic fencing and zip tied it around the crates to stop any WILD CHICKS from escaping.

I like the crates because I can separate the eggs and still see them hatch. You could put 6 BCM eggs in one crate and the 6 mutt in a different crate. Even during a 2 - 3 day waiting period, the dryer chicks won't be able to mess around with the chicks in the other crate.

Hi Lisa,
I may have mis-answered Keara's earlier question. I am trying out the egg carton thing I explained for incubationg but for hatching I went to something else I am trying. I was having a problem keeping track of what chicks are what & who's are who's. I found bird feeders at Tractor Supply that are like expanded steele coated heavy guage metal cyclinders meant to hold sunflower seeds or shelled peanuts for the birds. They hold several eggs a piece with room to hatch & I will be able to stack them on my hatcher shelf. I think I can get 8 down there without interferring with the top 3 shelves rotating. This is the first hatch I am trying them though so we will see.
Karen in California

 

[Keara]

Quote:
I use a dollar store crate with holes . . . They didn't come with holes in the bottom, so Dh drilled some in the bottom for me.
Mine were a little too tall to double stack in my cooler / incubator so Dh cut them down to size. The bottom was slick, so I cut a piece of vented rubber matting / shelf linear for each crate. LASTLY, I had a chick escape thru a hole in the side of the crate during a hatch. Since then, I have taken a sheet of green plastic fencing and zip tied it around the crates to stop any WILD CHICKS from escaping.

I like the crates because I can separate the eggs and still see them hatch. You could put 6 BCM eggs in one crate and the 6 mutt in a different crate. Even during a 2 - 3 day waiting period, the dryer chicks won't be able to mess around with the chicks in the other crate.

Hi Lisa,
I may have mis-answered Keara's earlier question. I am trying out the egg carton thing I explained for incubationg but for hatching I went to something else I am trying. I was having a problem keeping track of what chicks are what & who's are who's. I found bird feeders at Tractor Supply that are like expanded steele coated heavy guage metal cyclinders meant to hold sunflower seeds or shelled peanuts for the birds. They hold several eggs a piece with room to hatch & I will be able to stack them on my hatcher shelf. I think I can get 8 down there without interferring with the top 3 shelves rotating. This is the first hatch I am trying them though so we will see.
Karen in California

I am sitting at work while my eggs hatch at home, wishing I had done something like this. Oh well, live and learn. I will set more of my eggs in about a week, with some of Wynettes eggs, I will have to get me some of these baskest before then.

-Keara

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Hi Lisa,
I may have mis-answered Keara's earlier question. I am trying out the egg carton thing I explained for incubationg but for hatching I went to something else I am trying. I was having a problem keeping track of what chicks are what & who's are who's. I found bird feeders at Tractor Supply that are like expanded steele coated heavy guage metal cyclinders meant to hold sunflower seeds or shelled peanuts for the birds. They hold several eggs a piece with room to hatch & I will be able to stack them on my hatcher shelf. I think I can get 8 down there without interferring with the top 3 shelves rotating. This is the first hatch I am trying them though so we will see.
Karen in California

I am sitting at work while my eggs hatch at home, wishing I had done something like this. Oh well, live and learn. I will set more of my eggs in about a week, with some of Wynettes eggs, I will have to get me some of these baskest before then.

-Keara

Keara,
I have Wynette's eggs on their way too. I will be putting them in my new system to keep them straight. My friend & I are buying out all the Tractor Supply's in our area. We have hit 3 stores in 3 days.....LOL They only carry 4 at a time. If this doesn't work, by the time I finish buying them I will have enough bird feeders for everyone in the garden club.....LOL

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
Congrats on your SS babies! Are they talking to you already? My 2 SS are the chattiest things and yep they wander. One girl will just go and go, then finally discover she is all alone and starts squawking lol.

I ended up with 2 little leprechaun babies late last night. I have 3 more OE pips and only one Birchen pip. I'm beginning to get worried LOL! These OE are popping out like popcorn but they are from my own OEs. The other eggs weren't shipped though so they should be okay....I discovered a crack in one of the birchen eggs about halfway through incubation and put some scotch tape on it. So don't know if that one will hatch.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Congrats on your SS babies! Are they talking to you already? My 2 SS are the chattiest things and yep they wander. One girl will just go and go, then finally discover she is all alone and starts squawking lol.

I ended up with 2 little leprechaun babies late last night. I have 3 more OE pips and only one Birchen pip. I'm beginning to get worried LOL! These OE are popping out like popcorn but they are from my own OEs. The other eggs weren't shipped though so they should be okay....I discovered a crack in one of the birchen eggs about halfway through incubation and put some scotch tape on it. So don't know if that one will hatch.

Did you ever candle the eggs? or just gonna go with surprise?

I hope you will get more to hatch today!

off to be busy, busy outside before I go to work. I am loving that I can work in the garden again!!

 

[Ivywoods]

OMG! My female great pyreneese got sprayed by a skunk.... big time! Just opening the door I could smell her. She was looking at me with a very forelorn look. She is all wet and muddy from head to toe. I'm sure she was trying to wash herself off in the creek. Darn skunk was probably planning to pay my chickens a visit, and Sophie paid the price. I hope she scared the skunk enought that it doesn't come back. There seems to be a lot of them around this year.

Keara- Your chickens are beautiful!

I'm getting a trio of chickens later today. They are golden lakenvelder project birds. I'm excited to see them. I'm going to hatch one batch of their eggs, then marans will be next. I'm getting kind of a late start with my hatching. I'm also getting an order of ameraucanas next week.

Chicken math at work.