Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[cpartist]

Kim I totally have to agree with you about the Dels. I have some very friendly birds....
My BLR Wys will follow me around like puppy dogs, my W/BW Ameraucanas will jump on my shoulder
and loved to be held once they get over the initial shock of being picked up. I get many emails saying
these have the best personalities of any birds anyone has. I've never thought of the
Marans as being extremely friendly compared to the other breeds, but they are inquisitive and come runnin when they see me.
Kathyinmo has done some test hatches for me, and loves them and says they are among her friendliest....and she has A LOT
of breeds. But the Dels I have seem to lack any fear of anything larger than them as most of them do.

My Del boy Domino will just prance around me each morning until I pick him up. He WANTS to be held,
and the girls will nip at my legs until I pay attention to them as well.

Marans are mellow and friendly... the Dels are beyond that, they want to be your best friend

 

[Debbi]

Good morning all

Looks like a nice day forming here. Have to call the PO to make sure the eggs made it in today, I should know by 8:15. The bator isn't on yet, it's one of those plug n' play babies, and it heats up pretty quickly. I let me shipped eggs rest for about 20 hours before popping them in the bator, so while they are resting, I clean up the bator, get my settings and humidity pump going, and by morning all is stable and ready for the eggs. This will be the first time I use the dryer settings on Marans eggs. The last hatch of Silkies was my best ever, and I do believe that the too high humidity was what did in all of the Marans chicks before. So...wish me luck! Now, let's hope the weather doesn't go from 80 to 20 until the chicks are old enough to acclimate and get outside in the coop!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
mornin debbi! yay for eggies coming!

I don't work til a bit later today, so I'm hoping for a nice day here too so I can sort thru some more birds again. I'm pretty excited about getting down to the last of the culling...even tho I know I still have a ways to go...but yeehaw!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
What were you running your humidity at before?

What do you plan on running your humidity at this time?

Have you calibrated your humidometer?

 

[pinkchick]

Good Morning Ladies!!!!

Hoping you eggies show up all safe and sound Debbi.

Hi Math!!!!

CPARTIST!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where have you been hiding my friend? You have been missed! What's new? Speaking of Wy's.....did you ever pop by the BLRW thread and take a look at those girls that I have from you. They are chunky monkeys and 2 of them are laying. Call me crazy but I want more of them. DH will have a kaniption.

I just love them and they get along so well with the Barnies, my Uggzie buggzie boo (my Barnie roo....very manly knickname huh?

) loves them and he has a favorite..the splash, my personal favorite as well. Can't wait to get past pullet eggs, look out Blue Laced Barnies here I come!

 

[gilavina]

Mornin Kim!

Argh....no talk of the BLRs!! I can't seem to find anyone that has any around here. I've contacted a few people on here as well and they have either gotten out of them or are getting out of them. I'm bummed. I am hoping I'll have a chance at the fall show here since they have a wyandotte meet. Hopefully someone will have a roo for sale....

I think I might have made a nice score this morning tho. I saw an ad on craigslist last night for a 4 unit stackable metal brooder on wheels for $40 over in Iowa. It just happens to be the part of iowa where a good friend of mine lives and is coming over to pick up some cull pullets from me...so I took the chance and asked if she'd maybe be able to pick it up for me and bring it here. Well...she knows the guy selling it and is going to pick it up this morning and rewire it for me (she does all the electrical work for her husbands custom hot rod shop) in trade for a few of my pullets and we'll barter the price on the rest of them. This is making me happy!! Hooray for good deals!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
What were you running your humidity at before?

What do you plan on running your humidity at this time?

Have you calibrated your humidometer?

Hi Lisa, I used to run the humidity at 45% for the first 18 days, then bump it up to 60-65% for lockdown. The last hatch of Marans I had dropped the initial humidity down to about 38% and all of the eggs were rocking and pipping on day 20...and then all but 2 died. Humidity was at 65% for the hatch. This time I am running 35% for the first 18 days, and bump it to 50% for lockdown. Since all the chicks in the last Marans hatch all seemed to drown in the last days, and then the Silkies all hatched, this seems to be the way to go for me. So far, the best Marans hatch I have ever had was 5 ! Let's hope this one does better. My bator is digital and has auto humidity pump on it. I did run it with a hygrometer inside it, and they coincided, give or take a %.

Called the PO, and the eggs did not come in. I will call back later today, as sometimes they stick the box in a seperate tub, and today the sub Post Master is working, and she tends to get flustered in the mornings.

If not, they surely will be here tomorrow..

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Holy cow! Now that's a deal!!

Congrats on that find!!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
Holy cow! Now that's a deal!!

Congrats on that find!!

No Joke!! I really hope its in good condition besides the wiring. She'll check it over for me with a fine tooth comb for sure. This is making me happy...and will save me tons of time having to build some from scratch. I'm running short on times a lot lately. I have three metal brooders already...two I found in the haymount when I was clearing my parents barn...I'm going to rewire them as well to be safe, and I have one I'm using right now for my cuckoo chicks.... So I will be all set for growing out chicks!! I'm getting more and more excited about setting up my hatching room by the moment!

 

[Debbi]

I never find deals like that. Folks around here seem to think their poop covered, mud dauber infested, rotten wired things are nothing but pure gold! Or antiques