Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

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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?

I have just been typing in the search bar on google, Carnation comb genetics, Penedesenca comb genetics and poultry comb genetics and reading any and all info I can about the carnation and other comb issues. Surprizingly there is not tons of info on the Carnation, wish there was more.


Congrats on you Blue Marans eggs. Wishing them a safe trip to you.

 

[stoopid]

Is it just me, or do you guys find the most amazing stuff on the internet one moment, but when you REALLY need info... Can't find diddly?

 

[Debbi]

These two girls of yours are the oddest little creatures. Neither one of them has ever roosted in the coop. They prefer to roost on top of the nest boxes outside. Same thing with your boys. It's not like they are afraid of the other chickens, they just prefer to be out. Hopefully, the girls will change their minds when the snow starts flying! Temps here have gotten down into the mid 30s already at night, but no dice. I also noticed, within the last couple of weeks, that Olivia and Charlotte don't "hang out" together any more. Used to be when you saw one, the other was right there too, not any more.

I think it's because Charlotte is the only blue girl here, the colors seem to run together. My Dobes used to do the same thing, blacks stayed with the blacks, reds with the reds, and the poor sole fawn girl I had, had NO friends. Racist animals?? Hope I get at least 2 Splashes if this is the case!

 

[pinkchick]

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LOL! I can find diddly!!!!! I know diddly!

 

[Debbi]

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LOL! I can find diddly!!!!! I know diddly!

...and I know his cousin, Squat!

 

[pinkchick]

Debbi~

I do find that the blues and the blacks tend to stick together, but let someone new into the flock and they all band together. I don't know how in the world dear Darryl has made it this long being the only Splash and not take a licking from the others...maybe it's because she just ain't taking no guff from anyone...heck she even lets the roosters know who da boss is.

And right now she is the boss of that little Barnie cockerel, she is being a good momma..cooing and chuckling to her new baby. I am glad that she finally got the chance to be a mommy. She has tried so hard this year.

 

[pinkchick]

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LOL! I can find diddly!!!!! I know diddly!

...and I know his cousin, Squat!

That's his cousin????? I thought that was his brudder!

 

[Debbi]

I think I have my first Splash baby!!

Two hatched, two more pipping! Seems like they hatch a lot faster with the dryer humidity. Guess it dries those hard shells out more, so they are more brittle and easier for them to break out? This last chick completely hatched in a little over an hour!

 

[pinkchick]

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[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!!

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.

Well...its a bit hard to say on that girl, as she has been stealing eggs as soon as other girls have laid them and I just put 5 niiice dark eggs under her...so If I had to guess...I'd say probably around the end of oct beginning of Nov....maybe sooner if some of those eggs were ones that she stole from another broody. She's a brooding fiend and moves so fast I can't keep track of where she gets them from. So...I'm just letting the cards fall where they may

I might go down in flames for this, but in all the birds I've hatched I haven't had any with carnation combs...I've hatched out of original stock that came from hatching eggs several batches and still don't have anything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and have had nightmares about comb issues (literally)...that I have to go check my stock to make sure it didn't happen...my main problem has been the leg feathering, size on the birchens, and eye color and evenness of color on the BCM girls and the split for the gold/silver gene on the birchen boys... every once and a while I'll get a bird with too many points or not enough, but I really really really hope the sprig and carnation fairy stays far far away from here.

I'm sorry you are having so much trouble Kim! Its gotta be heartbreaking. I know it hurts to just hear about it....let alone be the one going through it. What colors are you looking for? I am working on getting some solid blue stock for this next year because the ones I've had so far have had leakage...so i'll be starting over on that since I don't have a solid boy.