Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Ivywoods]

Hello everyone. Sorry I've been missing in action for a few days. There's just been a lot going on here. After the power outage I ended up throwing out all the eggs that were due to hatch. I left them a few more days, but candled them, and they had died in the shell.

Today, however, has been a great day. The wind has been terrible. 50 mph! Through it all this past weekend and today I managed to get all the block picked up around the old barn, a well installed in the barn, a pile of lumber and scrap iron sorted and removed, and my grow out pen finished!

Amazing woman, huh? Actually, I owe it all to my two college age sons that have been home for a few days.

The boys leave to go back to Manhattan tomorrow, and naturally I hate to see them go.

I was going to put all my older chicks in the grow out pen tonight, but with the possible storms, I think I will wait a day or two.

I've had the hardest time hatching marans. I've been hatching several kinds of chickens, but the lowest hatch rate is my marans. I've got some golden lakenvelders from Chookschick, and they hatch like popcorn. I'm not sure what the difference is, but there is a definite difference.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Yay...I love those really productive days. They are awesome!
Hope this weather decides to give us a break soon. Sounds like its not going to be a very good night with that line of storms coming through.
I agree about the marans eggs...it took me a bit to get the hang of hatching them. Still have hatches that don't go so well from time to time, but this year is way better than last year.

 

[Debbi]

Oh Susie, sorry to hear about the hatch, but I am glad you are ok! I sure wish these storms would get done for the year! The last two or three days have been beautiful here, but they have been in the 90s and humid. The cicadas are buzzing, but few have made it to my yard yet. The chooks are having a hard time here with the "all of a sudden" heat, lots of panting going on. The smart ones go under my deck, where it is probably 10 degrees cooler in the bare earth. I've been toying with the idea of trying to hatch some other breed just so I can see if my poor hatches are my fault, or if it is the Marans eggs. Still have 6 chicks in the brooders, and 7 eggs in the bator, but after that, I'm done for the year. Wish my boy would get home here to help me with the new coop, but it doesn't look promising all that soon. Sounds like you've had a very productive day there!!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
It only gets worse ( ie LOUDER)!

Thankfully they are all locked away in the barn at night!

Too bad they don't generally crow at night! That said, I've had some 3am crowers in the coop! Go with the flow baby, if you can!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Yay...I love those really productive days. They are awesome!
Hope this weather decides to give us a break soon. Sounds like its not going to be a very good night with that line of storms coming through.
I agree about the marans eggs...it took me a bit to get the hang of hatching them. Still have hatches that don't go so well from time to time, but this year is way better than last year.

Oh Vicki, stay safe! We are looking at possible storms tomorrow and Wed., and I'm already dreading it again! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! What ever happened to the gentle, rolling thunder storms that we had only a few years ago?? Seems like any more, when it thunders, it gets ugly.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
Yay...I love those really productive days. They are awesome!
Hope this weather decides to give us a break soon. Sounds like its not going to be a very good night with that line of storms coming through.
I agree about the marans eggs...it took me a bit to get the hang of hatching them. Still have hatches that don't go so well from time to time, but this year is way better than last year.

Oh Vicki, stay safe! We are looking at possible storms tomorrow and Wed., and I'm already dreading it again! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! What ever happened to the gentle, rolling thunder storms that we had only a few years ago?? Seems like any more, when it thunders, it gets ugly.

This has been such a crazy batch of spring weather. Not one I care to repeat very soon.
I wanted to get all the poop and dirt cleaned off the cement pad where the new poultry barn will be built, but with the wind blowing so hard it would have been most unpleasant. As it was, we all had dirt and sand in our hair, eyes, mouth and all over our bodies. Stirring up that stuff would not have been a very good idea.

I still have eggs in the incubator that are not due to go into lockdown for another week or so. I put some guinea eggs in lockdown today, but I'm not sure if any of them will be any good after the power outage. I'm going to set another batch of eggs tomorrow and hope for better luck. My incubator has been working well.... as long as it has power! I was hoping to be done hatching with this batch, but it looks like I'm going to have to keep at it for a while to get the number of chicks I wanted.

 

[Debbi]

May I assume that you are using the Sportsmans that you found in MO? What a find for you!! I think when I finally get one, I am going to rig up a battery back-up for it, in case the power does go out. It would literally make me ill to lose a whole Sportsman full of eggs!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Yay...I love those really productive days. They are awesome!
Hope this weather decides to give us a break soon. Sounds like its not going to be a very good night with that line of storms coming through.
I agree about the marans eggs...it took me a bit to get the hang of hatching them. Still have hatches that don't go so well from time to time, but this year is way better than last year.

Oh Vicki, stay safe! We are looking at possible storms tomorrow and Wed., and I'm already dreading it again! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! What ever happened to the gentle, rolling thunder storms that we had only a few years ago?? Seems like any more, when it thunders, it gets ugly.

thats so true about the weather....im so tired of it too

 

[Ivywoods]

Hi Debbi-

Yes, I am using the GQF I got in MO. It works great! I found another about 1/2 mile from my sister in SE KS. I will have it ready to go for next season. Right now it needs the thermostat replaced, and I'm going to put a tray turning unit in it. I will use one for an incubator and one for a hatcher. I gave $150 for each of them. Pretty good buy, I thought, especially considering I was able to just plug the one in and go with it.

I'd love to find an old redwood Leahy incubator, but all of the ones I've seen are either too big or too expensive. I'd like to find one I could rejuvenate and restore.

Oh, yeah.... that's what I need... another project!

 

[math ace]

Quote:

Sorry

This is actually my second time writing to you. .. .
My dang computer keeps losing internet connection. . . AND it never fails to do it when I hit the submit button

Again,

Sorry. It really sucks losing a hatch no matter the reason