Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

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They are built almost the same as a regular stick built home, so they can either be a monolithic pour (monolithic pour is when they pour the footing, stemwalls and floors all at one time) or they a built on regular footings and stemwalls and have wood flooring joists and such. The construction for them is really not that different except you have a thicker wall. A moisture barrier is still used before the stucco product is applied. Think of the straw only as an insulation factor..it is not structural.

I love the recycled cedar fence coop....I am going to be housing some Marans in it....hopefully some Birchen Marans boys are going to be snuggled up in it tonight.

 

[pinkchick]

Illia~ Sorry to hear about your BC roo! That is sad!



Ohh and I had an old Buff Orp hen that had spurs that would take ya out if you weren't careful.

 

[stoopid]

Pretty boy is using his good looks to buy a ticket to your house.
He wants to go there.
He NEEDS to go there.

 

[fowlman01]

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Oooo, that could give a cranky broody hen a leg up on stopping egg removal!

Can't imagine it would be too good for the eggs or chicks either? Are they long? I've never seen a hen with spurs.

My one Cuckoo Marans hen has spurs that are over an inch long!

Until this, I had never seen spurs on a hen either.

However, now that I am aware of it, I have seen pics of hens with well-developed spurs in some of my chicken books.

Spurs on females can happen on any chickens, not just hatchery birds. It would be a 1/2 point deduction for each one on a female. Not a lot of points off, but most judges are not going to put up a female with long spurs. You should trim them if they are an inch long. Pretty soon you will have problems with them if you don't trim them back.

Walt

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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My one Cuckoo Marans hen has spurs that are over an inch long!

Until this, I had never seen spurs on a hen either.

However, now that I am aware of it, I have seen pics of hens with well-developed spurs in some of my chicken books.

Spurs on females can happen on any chickens, not just hatchery birds. It would be a 1/2 point deduction for each one on a female. Not a lot of points off, but most judges are not going to put up a female with long spurs. You should trim them if they are an inch long. Pretty soon you will have problems with them if you don't trim them back.

Walt

Dang! She's not a show quality BCM - not enough copper, a bit of a screwy comb, and leg feathering that so sparse it's almost non-existant - and, it seems, spurs! She isn't from a hatchery and she hatched out of a VERY dark egg so I'm hopeful she'll be a dark layer as well. (Egg colour is the thing for me.) But she has more spur than any roo I've ever owned except my Marans (my Marans boys are both developing serious spurs) - not that I'm all that experienced (3 roos in my past - Barred Rock and 2 EEs.) But her spurs DO have my attention. If they keep developing, I'll post some pictures because I'm sure I'll have to deal with them.

Debbi, as usual, my laugh for the day!

 

[Wynette]

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AWE! Well THAT rots! Sorry to hear you lost your boy!!

 

[gilavina]

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I can't waiiiiitttt!!!! I'm so excited for you and happy that there is going to be another one that will be raising birchens! I will try to wait patiently for photos heehee

Crazy chickies are being obstinate and not wanting to come out eh?

 

[pinkchick]

Vicki~

No Marans yet....not even a pip, but I have a cute little Barnie baby chirping away in there as of 3am this morning. Weird all the Barnies have pipped and the Marans nada.


Birchen boys are home and oooo man the one boy is going to be a big boy. They are going to be to get a jump start on Birchens. They are not silver white like Stoopid's boy but they are silver with some gold leakage. Hard to explain, but I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.

I know now for sure that the Splash boy that I had before that I thought was Birchen, definitely was Birchen after looking at these boys.

GREAT BIG THANK YOU going out to you, Zanna and your very funny hubby (he was a hoot!) for meeting us and for very generously giving me the roosters. I will definitely be keeping you updated as to their progress.

 

[gilavina]

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hmmmm....bad little marans babies! How dare they keep their fuzzy butted selves hidden away for so long. They sure are making you wait!

I know exactly what you mean on the birchen boys being a split for gold and silver. I have culled more than my fair share of them this year as I've worked my way through those I hatched that show the least gold leakage and am making progress. I think this next year should be a good one. I just wish this gold birchen pullet I have was silver.....she is NICE, but gold. Since its the female that determines the color of the offspring in this situation...it makes it hard to know I can't do much with her. A good friend is going to get her for her laying pen...so at least I know she will go to a good home.

I have about three million questions that would be easily answered with photos, so I won't write them all out, but I'm curious as anything to see what these new boys are like. Are they feather legged? I'm just so happy for you...no matter how much work it may be to get them where you want them, you have your first start!!

 

[flgardengirl]

Congrats on your new birchens and pippin wellies! Cant wait to see pics of both. Haha the Marans aren't pippin cuz they are all stubborn little roosters LOL!

I had to sic my best blue copper roo on another naughty rooster this morning. When I went out to feed them, one roo came up and tried to attack me and I yelled, 'Whistle" who was busy eating. He popped his head straight up and looked around and I pointed my finger at the offender and said, "Get him" and Whistle runs over then and dances inbetween me and the offender and backs this boy up. The boy then tried to get rowdy with Whistle and so he jumped up and spurred him and then ran the bad boy off. Now that's what I can a good rooster. He is getting some major treats today

My birchens all got fowl pox and they look terrible. I hope thier combs don't get messed up because right now they are really really aweful. I decided from now on, I am gonna go ahead and vaccinate for FP. We get it every fall like clockwork as soon as it cools off and the mosquitos get into the coops for warmth.