Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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x2! I love that stuff and use it around here for all sorts of stuff and only buy in the fall and store in the garden shed over winter for the next season. You can save some serious cash buyin in fall.

 

[flgardengirl]

Yep that's when I buy my sevin dust too lol.

 

[gilavina]

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haha great minds think alike I tell ya! last fall I bought 4 of the Huuuuuge containers of 7 dust....I think they were 5 pound containers for 4 bucks apiece I think. I haven't seen any on sale yet here, but I keep my eyes open.

 

[gilavina]

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Hey Kim! What's your plan for your birchen boys for the spring? Who do you plan on putting in with them and etc? I'm just so excited for you!

 

[pinkchick]

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Hey Kim! What's your plan for your birchen boys for the spring? Who do you plan on putting in with them and etc? I'm just so excited for you!

I have a couple of Bill's girls that do not show any copper and I wanted to test atleast the older boy to them. Haven't put any thought into it after that.



Hey.....what happened to Mel?

 

[gilavina]

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Hey Kim! What's your plan for your birchen boys for the spring? Who do you plan on putting in with them and etc? I'm just so excited for you!

I have a couple of Bill's girls that do not show any copper and I wanted to test atleast the older boy to them. Haven't put any thought into it after that.



Hey.....what happened to Mel?

I was kind of wondering where he went too. Its good to see him back in the thread again tho!

That sounds like its a good place to start. Do you have any splash girls that don't have any leakage? That might also be a good place to try as well. I had a pitifully colored blue copper boy I used after my birchen boy died early this spring and put him in with as many known silver girls as I could and did some test mating. I had the best results with the splash girls hatching out the most silver birchens. Just a thought.

 

[Hens and Roos]

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We use a mesh tarp for a cover- like you would cover the top of a dog kennel with and it seems to work well. The roosters can still see to give warming- like the other day when a hot air balloon went over. My Marans boy is the last to go in.

 

[Debbi]

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Keep in mind that flex net type material won't keep out racoons, possums, fox, and even some determined owls! They can rip right through it. It's better than nothing and may deter the predator until you can get out there, but I use welded wire to cover my run.

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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Keep in mind that flex net type material won't keep out racoons, possums, fox, and even some determined owls! They can rip right through it. It's better than nothing and may deter the predator until you can get out there, but I use welded wire to cover my run.

The netting that I got from Meyer Hatchery is a heavy nylon that is of very high quality. I would bet any amount of $ that no critter in North America (except a bear or cougar) could penetrate it. I made a hammock out of the "extra" that I have used all summer and I weigh just over 300#.

I do agree that welded wire is a better, more permanant solution, but in my case it would have dramatically increased the cost of construction due to the amount of lumber that I would have had to buy to facilitate its' use. I needed an "instant fix" to a current problem and the netting was the cheaper, easier, and faster solution. Had I thought about it before construction of my pen I would have designed it with a wire top in mind.

 

[gilavina]

had a good morning so far. Loaded up all the dogs and two of the kitties for their shots and headed to the vet several towns over..that went really smoothly, then went to an antique show and came home to find this!

I took the photo in full sun and it is of a first pullet egg. Its huge and dark and speckled-ly. I love it!