Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[sewandgrow]

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Ohhh I think I need some Polish Frizzles. That is so cool.

Me too. My daughter wants a couple.....LOL

 

[pinkchick]

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Ohhh I think I need some Polish Frizzles. That is so cool.

Me too. My daughter wants a couple.....LOL

My neighbor has a couple and though they are not my thing, I will admit they are cute and they are very friendly. We just did a paint job for some folks who had a small flock of Polish and they were allowed to free roam the yard, they were under foot the entire time and a couple of them got some nice red paint splatters from standing under the ladders. They were hilarious when we sat down to eat our lunch...it's like they knew we would share.

 

[gilavina]

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Thanks! I do love that egg...the sun washes it out quite a bit, but it is certainly lovely sitting on the kitchen counter next to a white egg and blue egg.

I am thinking I will be ok to show a few. I am looking up pullet and cockerel weights at the moment for Wyandottes and Sussex since I need to make sure I've got enough size on some of them. I will do a scan on my Marans...they are the ones in the worst molt so far. Whatever I do find that will be ready for showing I think I am going to need to move to conditioning pens, which I don't have set up yet. I have plenty of show coops...but most of them are bantams, which is great for my dad's birds, but only three large fowl double coops. That won't get me very far. I'm gonna have to get creative and see what I can come up with. Luckily I have tons of scrap wood in the haymount and rolls of wire and etc to use.

Have you ever gone to a show? I do enjoy them having grown up going to them since before I could walk. I used to be a show secretary when I was younger and around here at least there is a zero tolerance policy for sick birds. In fact...the show superintendent in the show I used to help run would make passes through the aisles checking on the health of the birds. From what I can remember...there was only one time a bird got pulled for health reasons. I am careful and do what I ca to make sure my birds are healthy and that they stay healthy when they come home, but I guess I don't freak out about it. I worry more about theft at the shows than anything. So, I take the whole weekend off work and am there from the time the door opens and closes everyday til they come home with me.

 

[pinkchick]

Does walking through a few barns at some Fairs count as going to some shows?

 

[gilavina]

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haha sure it does...but there really is something about going to a full on show. Especially when the turn out is high for some of the larger meets. I love it! I'm really hoping the turn out will be awesome this year! I talked to Karolyn Sutton from the Wyandotte Breeders club and she said she's heard lots of responses of quite a few people going to be turning out for the show from several states!

 

[gilavina]

hey Kim!

I've been meaning to ask you a question. I know I've read a lot about how people say its hard to get a good Marans male in both black and blue coppers. I plan on using Gigantor (he has his short comings, but think he is a good start) to try for some blue coppers. Are the issues with getting a good blue copper male the same as the issues with the black coppers? Or are there other things you've found to be a stumbling block with them?

 

[Debbi]

Mornin' Vicki and Pink

Vicki, are you talking about the Sedalia show?? I wish I could go to that, but it's not looking good at all. I'm thinking I may have a U joint going out in my truck. Driving to town the other day, it would roll fine for a few yards, then do a shudder, and repeat. Gees, that is not really in the budget right now, but something that has to be done.

I guess it shouldn't shock me, this is a 12 year old truck, that ran a mail route for 7 years, without any problems.

Pink, I'm like you. Been to the fairs where they showed chooks, but never been to an APA or National/Specialty show. So far, the Sedalia show seems to be the closest one to me, and it's a three hour drive one way.

 

[pinkchick]

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To date I have not been able to get a nice enough Black Copper male to consider keeping...except one and he didn't even make the grade. In hind sight I should have kept him, he was from Bill and almost identical to Lil' Bill, but less copper and of course Black. I am going to have to leave ya hanging for the rest of the story until after church. Gotta go, didn't realize what time it was and takes awhile to get there. Dtr is home from college this weekend and this will the only chance I get to see her because we have been so busy working. Will chat atcha later today and maybe I can get some photos of those Birchen boys too.

 

[gilavina]

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I am not so sure about the Sedalia show now myself. I've had several unexpected things come up and am having to pick and choose my priorities at the moment. The show I'm talking about that I will definitely be going to is the 127th Nebraska State Poultry Show here in Lincoln, NE. Its about 10 - 15 minutes from my house

Can't get more lucky than that!

I so understand the problem with vehicles...I'm having quite a bit of troubles myself lately. Sure makes the budget reprioritize in a hurry.

I was just gonna add that as I've been looking through the show catalog its looking like they have quite the prizes this year! Maybe, just maybe I might luck out and do some winning. I've got some cracker jack sussex pullets I'll definitely be taking and also have some nice partridge wyandottes. Yarg. I think I just need to do some sorting for sure today to see what I have. The more I get to thinking about it, the more I realize I have lots of options.

 

[gilavina]

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To date I have not been able to get a nice enough Black Copper male to consider keeping...except one and he didn't even make the grade. In hind sight I should have kept him, he was from Bill and almost identical to Lil' Bill, but less copper and of course Black. I am going to have to leave ya hanging for the rest of the story until after church. Gotta go, didn't realize what time it was and takes awhile to get there. Dtr is home from college this weekend and this will the only chance I get to see her because we have been so busy working. Will chat atcha later today and maybe I can get some photos of those Birchen boys too.

no problem! Talk to you later and hope you have a good time with your daughter! And I will be waiting on pins and needles for some lovely birchen pics!