Congrats on your new babies! I love the "street sweeper" look!
All of my Marans are slow to accept new food treats. They act like a toddler, "ewwwww, I'm not eating that!" Finally, one brave one will peck at it, and the feeding frenzy begins. Mealworms are THE favorite treat here!
I am not sure. He did try to tell me on the phone, but we had bad connections, and when he brought them to me at work, we were behind schedule getting things done, so kinda rushed. I do know that they had just completely feathered. So not very old at all. he had just been able to make sure the boy was gonna be full BCM. He had a rooster escape at one point, so had some mixed chicks.
Neem oil is a good product. I use it on my plants for different things. It is good for pests and to a limited degree fungal problems. It is a natural product which comes from the Neem tree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem (scroll down to use on pests and diseases).
Be careful if you are prone to allergies or have sensitive skin. I am very allergic to it and many of people are. I still use it on my plants but haven't tried it on the coop etc yet. I just wear gloves and long sleeves when I spray it.
I was taking a look at your cockerels feet, and am suspicious that he has vulture hocks. Since this is starting to crop up in Marans, you might want to take a good look at those feathers that look like they are growing down from the hocks & are longer than the others. Marans should not have long droopy like feathers hanging down from the hock area. If he does have them, you don't want to breed from him or possibly the pullet if she is a sister to him.
I'm hoping its just the way the picture looks, but wanted to mention it.
Sue, I've seen mention of "vulture hock" before (and on the Heritage Fowl thread) but I confess, I Googled and found no images so I still have no idea what it actually is.
is it actually a hock issue, or a feathering issue? Your post makes it sound like a feathering issue, but am wondering if the vulture hock goes hand in hand with this featheirng issue? I confess that I don't see anything in the pics, except that the shank feathering is too heavy (NO disrespect, Farm_Maven!)