Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[AyeUpChuck]

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I have a feeling I may have had the same issue with our bator. Not the air con but the humidity part.....

Still so far from this hatch 8 and a few more MAY hatch out. I'll let em ride for another day.

Here's one of the fuzzbuttz!

So far the little ones from this hatch all seem to have nice shank feathering. And all but two are SUPER CHUNKS! Really healthy little buggers!

 

[Debbi]

Oh that's a pretty baby. Start talking to those eggs, get cracking chickies!!

 

[hcppam]

question... I have a blue maran about 5-6 weeks old, when I bought her she had feathers on her legs, but now they are gone? Will the come back, is this normal? She is healthy.

 

[flgardengirl]

So sorry gallivina about your hatch. That really sucks on the shipped eggs too. I am glad you got some babies though.

OMG I just found my key west hen that ran off and guess what? She has two chicks and some more eggs pipping. I did not know I was having a "hatch" today lol

Debbie that is fantastic on your silkie hatch. That is a really great hatch rate for silkies. You must be doing something right! What a bunch of cuties I hope most are girls!

Cute chick Ayeup..hope a few more hatch out. Maybe you will have some 4th of July firecrackers pop out tomorrow

hcppam I haven't heard about Marans chicks typically losing shank feathers and having them grow back but who knows...it could happen. Sometimes with the older ones they can rub off thier shank feathers running around. I have one little blue Marans that had tons of fuzz on its head and was born on day 5 after I had turned off the incubator and she was pretty cold by the time I found her and she lost all her fuzz and was bald headed for almost 3 weeks...totally bald headed. She now has nice dark blue feathers and looks normal but she is gonna stay tiny like her momma I think.

 

[berkeleysprings]

the light feathered shank chicks are even lighter as adults

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[gilavina]

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thanks Lynette, it is a bummer, but I did get some good bbs marans out of my own stock and few others (cuckoos, sussex, etc), so I can't complain. I'm just happy that I have gotten my incubator off..hopefully for the rest of the year and now I can really focus on culling through my older birds and get my pens situated for the rest of the summer. I've already culled through quite a few, but that whole waiting process for them to grow out a little can feel like it takes forever. The plan is to get through this last week of two jobs, and band the ones to cull as I have time through this week and then take care of them this next weekend. The pullets will go to a couple of farms with laying flocks looking for some replacer stock.

hope you have a great 4th!

 

[Debbi]

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I have a blue pullet who is now 16 weeks old. When she was born, I was so excited because she had the "street sweeper" look, great feathering on both shanks and outter toes. One day I go out to the run and look at her and they are all but gone! They do appear to be coming back in, I can see new feathers forming, but I doubt they will be as full as they were when she was young. Usually, the older they get the less they have. Even with my two heavily feathered boys are losing some. That said, they are going into their adult molt, so theirs may come back in. I guess time will tell. Keep an eye on yours and let us know what you find. Seeing as the feathers were there, it would seem to me that they will carry the genes forward for feathered shanks/toes into the next generation. If I'm wrong on this, I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[Debbi]

Good morning all

Looking in on the new Silkie babies this morning, I noticed one little Partridge that had splayed legs. Never had that problem before with the Marans. They are on paper towels for right now, because they were way too anxious to try to eat the pine shavings. Luckily, I have a roll of Vet Wrap, so made a teenie tiny brace for the legs. Wow, that was NO easy task for my old fumble fingers, but I got it on. Hard enough trying to get one on a chick, let alone a chick with 5 toes!

It's now up and running around getting all the others excited over the new "blue thing" in their midst, but at least it's up and running. How long do you leave the brace on for??

 

[kathyinmo]

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2 days worked for me.

 

[pinkchick]

Gilavina~ Sorry about your hatch! But Congrats on the babies that did hatch.

Debbi~ Since I use the vet wrap for banding while they are small I have become very adept at one handed banding but mind you it is not an easy task on these wiggly little buggers and they can slink right out of your hand, but their cuteness makes it all worth it.

The splint can stay on up to a week....all depends on how the chick is doing in a couple days. Take the splint off in a couple days and see how the chick does with out it, if it does fine without- leave it off....if it does not do okay with out- put it back on and check again in a couple days. Vitamins everyday too while on the splint.




Look at the pretty egg I found under BROODY #10 (

) last night. I can't take anymore broodies!!!!!!!!! This particular BCM was already broody once this year.

This color of egg is my absolute favorite......L-L-Love the bright ruby toned eggs.