Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

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Have you tried spraying Screw Worm spray on them?? Works with maggots, surely it would work on them. They just boil right out of the wound! It's gross, yet very fascinating to watch!

Cool..Screw worm spray! Is that safe to use on animals? I haven't heard of that. It would of saved me alot of trouble. I didn't really even know what a bot fly was. I had this poor little squirrel with 'something' in it and then started researching squirrel forums and ended up watching a you tube video of how to get bot flies out of people in Africa etc and then did the same thing to get the larva out of the squirrel lol.

I don't know what happened to that turkey. He never climbs on anything and is too fat to fly so not sure how he could of broke his neck. Maybe running away from something and crashed into something. I found him out by dh's boat that he and all the other turkeys and chickens etc. lay under to stay cool. He wasn't under the boat just next to it with his neck broken. He is not usually afraid of anything..just the opposite.

 

[Debbi]

May have to get some of those flies for the summer, but I sure can't see having a stinky compost in the house in the cold months. That's where the mealworms will fill in.

Well, here comes the thunder again. Have a great day everyone, I'm gone....

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Have you tried spraying Screw Worm spray on them?? Works with maggots, surely it would work on them. They just boil right out of the wound! It's gross, yet very fascinating to watch!

Cool..Screw worm spray! Is that safe to use on animals? I haven't heard of that. It would of saved me alot of trouble. I didn't really even know what a bot fly was. I had this poor little squirrel with 'something' in it and then started researching squirrel forums and ended up watching a you tube video of how to get bot flies out of people in Africa etc and then did the same thing to get the larva out of the squirrel lol.

I don't know what happened to that turkey. He never climbs on anything and is too fat to fly so not sure how he could of broke his neck. Maybe running away from something and crashed into something. I found him out by dh's boat that he and all the other turkeys and chickens etc. lay under to stay cool. He wasn't under the boat just next to it with his neck broken. He is not usually afraid of anything..just the opposite.

Yes, made for animals. Can't remember the name of it though, maybe google Screw Worm spray? We used it on a flock of sheep that had a horrible outbreak of wool maggots!

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
Have you tried spraying Screw Worm spray on them?? Works with maggots, surely it would work on them. They just boil right out of the wound! It's gross, yet very fascinating to watch!

Cool..Screw worm spray! Is that safe to use on animals? I haven't heard of that. It would of saved me alot of trouble. I didn't really even know what a bot fly was. I had this poor little squirrel with 'something' in it and then started researching squirrel forums and ended up watching a you tube video of how to get bot flies out of people in Africa etc and then did the same thing to get the larva out of the squirrel lol.

ETA: I did try the peroxide and saline and the worm still wouldn't come out. I remember thinking maybe I could drown the little sucker lol. They mostly would just stick thier head up far enough to breath but not far enough that you could get ahold of them with the tweezers grrrrr.

I don't know what happened to that turkey. He never climbs on anything and is too fat to fly so not sure how he could of broke his neck. Maybe running away from something and crashed into something. I found him out by dh's boat that he and all the other turkeys and chickens etc. lay under to stay cool. He wasn't under the boat just next to it with his neck broken. He is not usually afraid of anything..just the opposite.

 

[Sandara]

Hello,
I'm fairly new to chickens and just hatched out 5 BCM from a dozen ordered on ebay. 3 are black and 2 are brown. Did I get taken or what. I did complain when the eggs arrived due to the wide range of color in the eggs.

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[HeatherLynn]

Well I found a local lady selling Maran babies. She paid a fortune for her hatching eggs but the hens that she got from it are not laying super dark eggs really. I have 2 eggs from my marans that are at least a couple shades darker and still not that super dark chocolate color. I bought the babies anyway because they are just too dang cute and I will see what becomes of them. I am still trying to sort through information on what the standards are, a ton of info out there to sort through still. I am still hoping to find some to go into a seperate breeding pen my husband is putting together for me. Are there any breeders near Kentucky. Like no more than 6 to 8 hours of driving time? I hate having chicks shipped so still trying to avoid that. Any points in the right direction would be helpful.

 

[Sandara]

I agree, so much info to sort through and not all of it is reliable. I'm still looking for a local breeder of quality BCM, don't want to do ebay again! If anyone knows someone in the Louisville or surrounding area please let me know. Still wondering what the brown chicks I hatched out are?
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[Lotsapaints]

For about 10.00 you can join the Marans of America club I know that there are some good breeders close to you and I would go from there.

 

[flgardengirl]

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Overall I think your hens are nice looking body wise and defintitely something to work with. Are they laying yet? Did you keep any of the roosters from your batch?
One of the hens seems to be lacking in shank feathering so you would want to breed her to a roo that has nicely feathered shanks.
One has a wave to her comb, so again you would breed her to a roo with a straight comb etc that does not have any penne influence.

Alot of us have either hens that are too dark (lack of coppering on back of neck/hackles that doesn't wrap around far enough towards the front) or hens that have too much coppering on the chest. Yours look to be the darker variety- like most of mine are lol. I think its easier to work with the darker ones than the ones with too much coppering extending down the chest but that is just a personal opinion on what I have seen in my flocks.
You will find that a lot of the different lines and even the same lines from different breeders will vary. Once you have a flock that you are breeding, and if you keep it a closed flock (not use any new blood when breeding) for a few generations, then you will see different things pop up and you will have a better idea of what you need to work towards.
In general, you will find that it is easier to get nice hens than nice roos that meet the SOP.
Here is a site to learn more about Marans and the Standard of Perfection
http://marans.org/

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:

I don't think the brown chicks are pure BCMs. That being said, some people have had wheaten and black tailed buff chicks pop up in some BCM lines.
The wheatens would present as yellow when chicks. The black tailed buffs are not all brown though. They look more like this
http://marans.org/blacktailedbuffvariety.html
I believe a few people have had partridge looking chicks hatch out of BCMs that were Salmons as well.
I haven't hatched any partridge but they are more chipmunk striped than all brown as chicks.
Some BCM chicks can hatch out with some brown spots on them and those chicks often are 'mossy' upon maturation. This mossiness can be brown patches or a brown brushed on appearance on the black areas of the bird.
I had one cockeral hatch out from the first batch of marans eggs that I bought, when I first got marans, that had a brown patch on his head and he was very mossy as an adult.

Your black ones look normal but I wonder if the others are mixed I would wonder about the black ones too. It would be good to know if the rooster was the only rooster in the pen or if the hens freeranged with other roosters etc. Its hard to know with ebay sellers unless you know them personally or have a good reputation as a breeder and have good references etc.