Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Bravo]

Thanks Seabreeze and Marquisella. Humm....maybe I should make the effort to try them

I have a few cull girls who are still young that I kept here in my urban flock. When they start laying I'm going to have to check it out

Seabreeze--oh man, I feel you on the bugs. Last year my backyard flock practically ate every single bug we had. I was seriously tempted to set up an xpen in the front yard and let them forage through the planters there. Even my mom was collecting snails from her house to bring over to the girls.

A diet rich in bugs makes some amazing yolks--that's for sure!! This is my favorite egg pic:

 

[sewandgrow]

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I have a half dozen of my own eggs going into lockdown today AND yours ( Keara) will go into lockdown in less than 2 weeks

Do you candle? I had a hard time with my eggs so far; too dark to see with the light I have. I found that the only way to judge development was to look at the aircell. No aircell = no development. I wait til day 10 to look for the aircell. Keep me updated!

I don't candle because I use a LED flashlight & can't see through the dark eggs or the Ameraucana eggs. The tinted & beige ones I do fine. I do an egg topsy on every egg that doesn't make it though & that tells alot. What I am not sure of though is.................If the egg is just yolk & runny was it not fertile or was it possibly fertile & didn't go.??? Nothing at all formed in it, no blood, no lumps no nothing.

 

[pinkchick]

Village~ Yep I was known as dex but for the last several years I have tried to stop filling my head with numbers but rather with chicken info instead.

 

[sewandgrow]

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Hi Spitman, really cool incubator. What did you use for the temp control? I've got plans for a homemade incubator off ebay, I'm off today so I think I'm gonna go to Lowe's and get the stuff to get started on it. It uses the wafer type thermostat, I'm not sure i want to use that, I would rather have something electronic that has better heat control, more like a house thermostat.

Have got 30 shipped marans eggs in the foam incubator right now. I can't wait

Got a question for all you experienced hatchers on here, what brand of hygrometer/thermometer are ya'll using? I bought an electronic display one off ebay from incubator warehouse, very easy touse, and I "think" it's pretty accurate. just wondering what is working best for everyone else.

My cabinet Brinsea came with ait's own but I bought one on Ebay that sounds about like yours to put in the styrofoam incubator that gets my overflow eggs. I thought it would at least give me a good idea. I am giving it a try now. It read 36% & I added water & it took it up to 46%.

 

[flgardengirl]

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That's what my freeranging girls eggs looked like after gorging themselves on nasty white grubs lol. I was sinking about 12 plumeria tree pots, digging big holes and they followed right behind me digging in the clumps and eating gobs of white grubs.

 

[Spitman]

Mine is a herpstat made by Spyder Robotics its awesome and easy to use. I made a box to hold it and the rest of my wiring . I control lights , egg trays , and power to unit from the outside box . Which also gives me and inside temp reading.

 

[Spitman]

Yes 2 fans, the unit sucks air from the middle pulls it down and then pushes it back up the side walls (they are false walls ) and out the adjustable side vents , Hence zero hot spots . yes 2 water trays at the bottom and one up top. My fans run 24/7 and I get awesome air movement with minimal temp fluctuation usually no more then 0.2 of deg. the herpstat controls the 150 watt lights used for heat. I can control humidity with 3 easy to fill from top of unit trays. I never have to open up until lockdown. Ive had three hatches , second 2 100% HR

That hole you see is the inside of the false wall air gets pushed past light bulb and water tray and up the wall.

 

[Bravo]

Quote:
That's what my freeranging girls eggs looked like after gorging themselves on nasty white grubs lol. I was sinking about 12 plumeria tree pots, digging big holes and they followed right behind me digging in the clumps and eating gobs of white grubs.

There is something so satisfying watching them feast on those danged grubs. When the June Bugs (that make those nasty little grubs) swarm I keep the backyard and coop nice and illuminated and watch the feeding frenzy LOL

 

[sanctus7]

Hi to all
I am a newbie to posting here but could not resist replying to this thread. I have had the worse luck with BC Marans, sickness has plagued my group from day one. You could say I was sabotaged with ill birds from the beginning. I have fought off illness several times this winter noting that two buckeye hens never became ill and handled the cold winter without a problem. After comparing notes to another BCM's breeder who lives near by, he conceded that he has lost more BCM's then his other breeds. I have often wondered if it is possible to decrease the hardiness of the breed by too much inbreeding??
With the weather improving here and the birds now healthy I plan to sell off this breed. I guess if I would insulate my coop my BCM's would fare better but I just don't want to go that route (yes, the coop is weather tight).
I plan to start with another breed (s) that can handle the winters in Ohio.
Anyone out there in Ohio have the same problems?

 

[Debbi]

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I live in Missouri. We had an awful winter this year, with lots of snow, ice, rain, minus temps (like -10 a few days and a solid week of 0), and that bloody wind! I have an uninsulated, but weather-tight coop, no light or heat source, and kept 10 BCMs this winter with no problems. What are you feeding them? Have you wormed them? How old are they? This breed does need a higher protein content ration than some other breeds.