Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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is it just me or is she quite the big girl? Like the color tone of the blue on her! hope she gives you an egg soon!

 

[ChicksterJo]

Yes she is big

. She is bigger than one of my Red Stars and almost as big as the 22 week old. I think she might even get bigger...and you should see her feet!

Do the Marans fill out their bone structure first and then put on weight later? She's a gentle giant..

 

[gilavina]

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haha...regular clodhoppers eh? i do like the big birds indeed!

 

[gilavina]

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since I've been raising them...that has been how the majority of them have done it...they go through that teenage stage where they are all bones and gangly limbs and then boom...all of a sudden they get beefy! They seem to take a while longer to fill out and finish growing than other breeds. Every once and a while I will get one that stays beefy the whole way through...I have one growing out that is an odd coloring, but man is he a hulk...way more hefty than the BCM Gigantor I posted on here a couple of days ago.

 

[MARANMAN2011]

Ok had to throw some cuckoos of mine on.

Heres a couple more

and then my girl with her baby copper

and the other babys

 

[Debbi]

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Pretty girl! Love the color and her long back! As for the white feathers on her feet, has she gone through her juvie molt yet? I find when my boys are getting ready to molt, they tend to get white on feathers that used to be black. I freaked out the first time I saw it, but it's the same thing now that they are getting ready for their adult molt. And it's not the whole feather, usually just a stripe or spot on an otherwise black feather. A couple on the feet, and usually one or two sickle feathers. It's like the feathers get "tired" and lose their color right before they fall out. In a few weeks, all feathers are back to black. Just for giggles, if you have a red permanent marker, mark the white feathers and see if this is true for your bird too.

 

[kathyinmo]

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One of my very first chickens (well, a trio of them) was Cuckoo Marans. Man, I loved those birds! Hope you enjoy yours, too!

 

[ChicksterJo]

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Pretty girl! Love the color and her long back! As for the white feathers on her feet, has she gone through her juvie molt yet? I find when my boys are getting ready to molt, they tend to get white on feathers that used to be black. I freaked out the first time I saw it, but it's the same thing now that they are getting ready for their adult molt. And it's not the whole feather, usually just a stripe or spot on an otherwise black feather. A couple on the feet, and usually one or two sickle feathers. It's like the feathers get "tired" and lose their color right before they fall out. In a few weeks, all feathers are back to black. Just for giggles, if you have a red permanent marker, mark the white feathers and see if this is true for your bird too.

She is going through her juvie molt right now; tons of her feathers on the ground. I think I will mark those feathers like you suggest.

 

[gilavina]

I just was doing my evening water chores for my birds and I've got baby ducklings!!!!!!

Only two have hatched so far, but they are teeeeensy tiny chocolate runner ducklings. Seven more possible eggs to hatch. Never had any ducks hatch out ducklings before...so I'm over the moon, especially since it took me a year and a half to track down a pair in the first place!

I also am not sure but think perhaps one of my BCM girls has gone broody...she's doing the puff and cluck dance around a corner and has been stealing eggs from one of my other girls! Never had luck so far with Marans sticking out through a whole hatch cycle....here's to hoping she can last the whole way through!

 

[Debbi]

Congrats!!