Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
yay! how exciting! shouldn't be long now at all!

one has a small hole on the side and the other one I think is underneath so it is hard to see that one. Maybe when I get home this afternoon from work we will have chicks out!

Oh, go babies go! I'm not going to hatch this fall.... I'm not going to hatch this fall....I'm not...well, maybe.

The Sedalia show is Oct 22. I'm going to drive down to my sister's place the night before, then will drive up together with my two sisters. Lord help Sedalia when all 3 of us girls show up together!

Gilavina-sure hope you can make it. Debbi-Hope you are up to it by then. I've got pretty bad arthritis, but if I use a cane I can paddle around "slowly" all day! I'll be looking for the redheads. As for me, I'm kind of hard to describe, but you can probably look for 3 old gals haveing WAY too much fun and doing an abundance of laughing!

 

[Ivywoods]

I have sold, or committed to sell all my marans except the ones I am keeping for breeding for the next year. I am kind of stressing, wondering if I have made the right decisions for the ones I am keeping. I have several nice pullets that I'm keeping. I intend to breed them back to one of the two roosters I kept from last year (Fuzzy). The rooster may be as closely related as an "uncle" The pullets look like they have pretty decent coppering in their necks, but look rather dark on their combs and head. The rooster has too much coppering in his breast, but otherwise is pretty nice. I'm hoping I am making the right breeding decision.

I still have the rooster these pullets came out of (Goliath.) I just don't know if it would be wise to breed back to their papa, so I will use Fuzzy. Hopefully I will be able to separate my hens better this year to see which ones are laying the darkest eggs. I've been getting pretty dark eggs recently from my hens, but one of the girls is laying an egg that is consistently lighter than the others. It would be my luck that I would sell the ones laying the darkest egg and end up keeping the one that lays the lighter egg.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
one has a small hole on the side and the other one I think is underneath so it is hard to see that one. Maybe when I get home this afternoon from work we will have chicks out!

Oh, go babies go! I'm not going to hatch this fall.... I'm not going to hatch this fall....I'm not...well, maybe.

The Sedalia show is Oct 22. I'm going to drive down to my sister's place the night before, then will drive up together with my two sisters. Lord help Sedalia when all 3 of us girls show up together!

Gilavina-sure hope you can make it. Debbi-Hope you are up to it by then. I've got pretty bad arthritis, but if I use a cane I can paddle around "slowly" all day! I'll be looking for the redheads. As for me, I'm kind of hard to describe, but you can probably look for 3 old gals haveing WAY too much fun and doing an abundance of laughing!

I'm really hoping I can too....and hope Debbi can. I wonder who else might be coming from on here...maybe Kathyinmo? Sounds like you and your sisters have tons of fun together....good way to be!

i understand the stressing about keeping the right ones. How many Marans will you be holding onto then? I don't have a certain number I'm culling down to...just til I feel like I only have the best to offer from my breeding stock and what I hatched this year.
Can I ask why you are concerned about breeding the pullets back to Goliath? In line breeding that is common practice....
I too have a hen that is a lighter egg layer in my cuckoos. whenever I separate them to see which one is laying the lighter egg....I get ...No eggs. it drives me nuts. I will figure it out one of these days....yarg.

 

[pinkchick]

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From the info I have read on the Oliver Egger Thread it makes no difference in color. You use what you have, genes are genes. Oh .... there was a chart let me find it....

it is on this page for additional info https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7212556#p7212556

Thanks. Call me dim, but that chart of hers refers to a dark egg roo x a blue egged hen. Would it work the other way around?? Blue egged roo x BCM hen?? It may not matter, I just listed all my pullets for sale as Marans crosses!

Olive eggers can be produced with either way.

 

[Hens and Roos]

We have 1 chick out so far this am, hatched about an hour ago!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
yay! what color is it?

 

[pinkchick]

Hens~ Congrats on the pippers!!!!! How many did you set all together?

I have 2 more broodies....

, but trying to collect some eggs for them.

These 2 gals have already been broody this year and both of them hatched out babies. How come once wasn't enough?

 

[Raven1]

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YEAH!!!!

 

[Illia]

I am sooooo glad my Marans are no longer broody (at the moment) For a while I had absolutely no Marans eggs, then just one a day, for quite a while. . . .

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
because they want to give you babies!