Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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YES! it's one of the most horrible feelings....

There is just nothing you can do about it...I find it is even worse when I open up those beautiful eggies to see what happened and find fully formed little munchkins that didn't get out.

I agree that opening up and finding fully formed chicks is so sad. As much as I do not want a bunch of broody hen around, I have had so many failures that I can't make myself hatch for months. Just can seem to get the humidity level where it needs to be. One person in my area scolded me for trying to dry incubate until day 18, but I do not get results often with higher humidity so I must try something else.

Flower ~ After quite a few really bad hatches here, I tried the dry method. The thing I found with too high a humidity, is that the chicks get too big in the shell, then when you bump the humdidity up, (I used to go to 65% or higher), the chicks ended up drowning in the shell. The last Marans hatch I did here, I was still using the 45%, then 65%, and out of 8 eggs, all but 2 died fully formed. So, when I got the Silkie eggs, I ran it at 35% for the first 18 days, then upped it to 50% for lockdown. Best hatch I ever had!! So, that is the recipe I tried with these Marans eggs too. We'll see how many get hatched out of the 13 that made it to lockdown, things are just starting to crank up now, day 22!

 

[Debbi]

Oh Vicki, sorry for sending you hatching pangs!

Once your done with your shows, you'll have more time?? I promised myself this is my last hatch till spring..honest, it IS!

 

[gilavina]

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haha...I do have a splash broody with some nice dark eggs under her....so we'll see if it works out to get some nice beauties! I am still trying to get all the way thinned down for winter. I've done a terrible job of it so far....mostly trying to let things wait as long as possible to give time to grow out. I'm hoping to sell a few at the show too to get more numbers down.

Hatching is so addictive!!

 

[pinkchick]

Morning All!


So happy to hear that you have action going on in the 'bator Debbi! AWESOME! Oh and about Bad Charlotte and Bad Olivia.....I don't know what to say, but I will say that I only teach them bad habbits if they live here at my house.

Today is day 20 here under the broody and she is still sitting tight. I took a walk on the edge yesterday and stuck my hand under her nasty royalness and brought the eggs in the house to candle, I removed 3 that were clear and put the other 7 back under her and she only managed to draw blood in one little tiny spot on the back of my hand, through a glove no less. She's a wicked one.

 

[pinkchick]

Raven~ Not exactly sure when my Birchen eggs are coming but it shouldn't be too much later than yours...so hoping we can be hatch buddies.

I am very excited to start out with another variety of Marans.

 

[Debbi]

Thanks Pink. At least Olivia came to her senses and finally went in, Mr. Pip was standing in the doorway of the run, clucking to her, "you know, she will leave you out there??" He even had some gentlemanly thoughts of joining her, but all I have to say is "Pip, coop!" and he is IN.

He was the first one to start the run revolt, but he learned his lesson after a night or two outside. Bad little teenagers, I guess!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
haha...I do have a splash broody with some nice dark eggs under her....so we'll see if it works out to get some nice beauties! I am still trying to get all the way thinned down for winter. I've done a terrible job of it so far....mostly trying to let things wait as long as possible to give time to grow out. I'm hoping to sell a few at the show too to get more numbers down.

Hatching is so addictive!!

When are they due to hatch again? Sorry if you have said this before....my mind is mush lately....been reading everything I can get my hands on about this stupid carnation combs crap and the more I read, the more discouraged I get with trying to eliminate it from the birds that I have. I am seriously seriously seriously considering putting every Marans hen or pullet that I have in the laying flock and getting more eggs and starting over, I feel like I don't have one bird here that I can breed (except Bill and without a female to breed him too what good does that do me?) and the rest are useless according to all the stupid comb info I have read. I actually have feelers out and am working on getting some new stock, just don't know how long it will take, could be a while.

Looking forward to seeing what comes out of the eggs under the broody but still feeling like it is going to be a waste.

Hopefully the Birchens won't have carnation comb issues......I can deal with clean legs, dark eyes and even the occassional stupid white feather, but this comb thing has me at wits end.

 

[Hens and Roos]

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I have Blue Marans eggs being shipped either Monday or Tuesday so we will be running another hatch probably sometime towards the end of the week!

Might have to do a test hatch with a few of DS(9)'s lt brown leghorn eggs too!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
haha...I do have a splash broody with some nice dark eggs under her....so we'll see if it works out to get some nice beauties! I am still trying to get all the way thinned down for winter. I've done a terrible job of it so far....mostly trying to let things wait as long as possible to give time to grow out. I'm hoping to sell a few at the show too to get more numbers down.

Hatching is so addictive!!

When are they due to hatch again? Sorry if you have said this before....my mind is mush lately....been reading everything I can get my hands on about this stupid carnation combs crap and the more I read, the more discouraged I get with trying to eliminate it from the birds that I have. I am seriously seriously seriously considering putting every Marans hen or pullet that I have in the laying flock and getting more eggs and starting over, I feel like I don't have one bird here that I can breed (except Bill and without a female to breed him too what good does that do me?) and the rest are useless according to all the stupid comb info I have read. I actually have feelers out and am working on getting some new stock, just don't know how long it will take, could be a while.

Looking forward to seeing what comes out of the eggs under the broody but still feeling like it is going to be a waste.

Hopefully the Birchens won't have carnation comb issues......I can deal with clean legs, dark eyes and even the occassional stupid white feather, but this comb thing has me at wits end.

what information sites have you been reading?

 

[pinkchick]

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I have a couple that jump coops, but they never spend the night completely outside...they find their way into one coop or the other. Good thing they are females.

One of my youngest Blue Copper pullets likes to be the last one in, never fails, just as I shut and lock the door, here she comes running 'cause she suddenly realized that everyone else is gone. I open the door and she goes right in. But the 2 misfits have minds of their own, I don't even try to coax them in anymore.