Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Ok, bear with me, I had to post one of my major pain in the arse, Pip! He stood behind me the whole time growling and wing dancing, until I took HIS picture!

Clyde was right there to keep Pip from zooming in on me. My man Clyde protects me like one of his girls!

Pip, he is what he is, but he's a funny dude...

 

[math ace]

Flagardengirl

I should let you know that I took a pygmy rattler out with a 2 x4 a couple of years ago.

It was black and white, the perfect color to blend in with our sand.

I was feeding our pot belly pigs and almost stepped on it..... I picked up a nearby 2 x4 and took care of it myself!

 

[MuffsnFluff]

Quote:
Yeh, me too! 16' is what I actually saw, there had to be at least 5' more that I couldn't see!

He would've made a whole bunch of purses and boots though!!

True, lol! Now you know, tanning snake hide is EASY

 

[MuffsnFluff]

Quote:
Boy, pip is a handsome dude even if he's being a stinker!

 

[MuffsnFluff]

Ok, here's some of my guys and gals, the rooster I'm keeping my eyes on (love his comb) and hope he does good color wise, lol Little Ronnie named him "George" lol! He named the wierd mossy looking little hen "Roar". They were the first two animals he ever named all by himself, just out of the blue, lol! Then a general shot of a few of the troops

 

[Debbi]

Katrina,

Looks like you have a bunch of promising youngsters there! Pip is my slightest roo, and oh, those flaming golden, Hulk Hogan locks!

Funny thing is, everyone that comes here, picks him out as the "prettiest chicken". He's 10 months old, and has never showed any interest in breeding...thankfully!

I may have to get a sign though, "Beware! Attack Rooster at Large!" He WILL go after a stranger with GREAT GUSTO! Need to warn my UPS guy...

 

[pinkchick]

Happy Sunday Morning Friends!

Gosh.....lots of pretty bird pics being posted here lately. Great BIG WELCOME to the new Marans friends joining the thread.

flgarden~ The snake thing would not go over well here. I can't even handle it when I get close to one with the mower. You are far more brave than I.

Poularde and Debbi~ My Lil' Bill looks almost identical to those 2 Bill boys of yours ('cept he has feathered shanks

), your boys are looking great if you ask me. I am in love with their dark blue.

Debbi~ JR looks like his daddy, WOW! Yep definitely too bad about the stupid combs going on. The one and only reason that Gnarles is now in charge of a very small flock of a couple select Bill daughters, blue of course.

I sure do miss seeing him in the breeding flock with his ladies, but I know I have made the right decision. I'm still going to use him over the Bill girls to see what is created and work on getting more copper color in the offspring from Bill's daughters. My Gnarles even with his STUPID COMB won't make it too far away from me.

ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT to incubate some of Lil' Bill's fertilized eggs from the breeding flock to see what happens. Lil' Bill is as big as his dad now at the age 5.5 months, but does not weigh as much as Bill yet. I'll give him another 8 or so months to finish packing away the heft that his dad has. He is going to be monstrous like Bill.

 

[Debbi]

Hey Pink!

I told you Myron was a dark blue!

He seems to be getting lighter with age. I sure hope he grows into those long legs! I can tell by the way he looks right now, that he will probably grow up first, then fill out later? Inspecting him the other day, he does have a few stubs of feathers on his legs, very sporadically spaced. JR has the "street sweeper" legs. Wish their parts were interchangeable like a Mr. Potato Head!

When he gets old enough, I am going to set him up with one of my Davis/Jeane girls with a nice comb, Clyde's sister who is Jeane/Presley with a nice comb, and my newest pullet, Solo, who up till the other day I thought was a roo! She has nice leg feathering and a nice comb. Seeing as how the hen is supposed to have more influence on the males' combs, we'll see what this will do for them. I love JR, he has "the look" I'm after, and would hate to discard him without giving him a try. After he has a go with those 3 girls, I'll switch him out with Myron and see how that goes. Olivia and Charlotte will be paired up with my big boy, Roy. Clyde can have the rest of the ladies, so all of the boys will be happy. Pip will still have his coffee container!

ETA: Solo is a Clyde daughter, so posses Jeane/Davis/Presley lineage.

 

[flgardengirl]

I actually like snakes and spiders etc. just not in the henhouse or hanging down off a trellis or somewhere unexpected lol. I would probably kill a snake that was in the henhouse or up close to our house if it was poisonous for certain. I am gonna have to do more research on which are the poisonous kinds here (what they look like). We do have guns and all but if I could relocate the non poisonous ones it would be better. They do eat lots of rodents that we have around here. If they kept on coming back that will be a different story lol. Last year about this time, we had a big black snake in a different coop getting eggs and we moved it to the other end of the property and it never did show back up (unless that is the one that was in this coop a week ago but this blk one looked smaller than the one last year). Roaches are A different story..those nasty big giant ones get no chances, I am totally scared of them!!
I'd rather see a scorpion than a roach lol. I haven't seen any snakes in the KW hens pen. I think those rescue hens would even attack a large snake. They are still wild scavengers they rip any bug, lizard, rat, toad etc. apart in a heartbeat. Their babies that they raised are just as wild as they are but the ones I took and raised are real sweet.

Debbi...wouldn't it be nice to play Mr. Potato Head with the chickens parts! I have so many roos I'd like to do that with lol. I really like Myron and JRs' looks! What nice boys those are gonna be

Its cool when you get a good roo like Clyde who will protect you. I have a blue copper rooster named Whistle, who had done that since he was little. All I have to do is say, "Get em Whistle" if any of the other roos in his bachelor pen gets nasty and he will chase the offender into the coop and kick his @ss.

Math: I saw a rattlesnake when we first moved in here. It was way out in the back overgrown garden sunning itself and I almost stepped on it. Good thing it rattled or I would have! I think I would be afraid to try and kill it with a 2x4. In AZ dh used to step on the rattlers heads if they were stretched out in the road and then cut thier heads off. He's nuts!! He is the snake hater of the family lol.

Muffs: Cute babies. Your little roo looks like he is filling out nicely.

 

[rsquared]

Hi all you Marans people, have missed the reading and still don't have time to catch up on the last 4 weeks of posting having just completed a move from the midwest to the PNW. My girls and boys....uh um hens and roos have yet to join us, as a new coop is just now being built, hopefully very soon. Actually had to buy some eggs from the honey people down the road, it has been years since I've actually purchased eggs from someone

Hey Pinks, sorry to have missed the p/u date of 6/18....think I was on a plane going or coming or fixing the latest moving catastrophe. It wasn't that bad cept the 70 ft semi couldn't make it back to the property.....so plan B it was. Always shootin from the hip here.

Anywhoo missed y'all and am now back on a puter and able to easily communicate again, what a relief.

Mel, how are you doing?