Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
so you have a group that are keeping you guessing on who are the boys or girls? How old? I know that with the one group of chicks we are currently raising the boys were distingushable by 5-6 weeks and with the second group one kept us wondering for a good while

I have just three chicks from this last broody...She is notorious for chicks that have the exact same size cuckoo spots on their head....She is a nice bird tho that produces nice offspring...so I'll put up with the guessin. If I had to guess I'd say 1 cockerel and two pullets, but the last batch I guessed 4 cockerels and ended up with 1 cockerel and three biiiiig pullets. I'm usually pretty good at it, but I'm gonna have to practice patience

kind of like.. hurry up and grow, I know what you mean about having patience!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
I have just three chicks from this last broody...She is notorious for chicks that have the exact same size cuckoo spots on their head....She is a nice bird tho that produces nice offspring...so I'll put up with the guessin. If I had to guess I'd say 1 cockerel and two pullets, but the last batch I guessed 4 cockerels and ended up with 1 cockerel and three biiiiig pullets. I'm usually pretty good at it, but I'm gonna have to practice patience

kind of like.. hurry up and grow, I know what you mean about having patience!

exactly! I'll don't mind waitin tho since my cuckoos are throwin some nice chicks this year. I posted a pic of some of the pullets I've held onto last night...they are still a work in progress, but I have a nice start.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Quote:
kind of like.. hurry up and grow, I know what you mean about having patience!

exactly! I'll don't mind waitin tho since my cuckoos are throwin some nice chicks this year. I posted a pic of some of the pullets I've held onto last night...they are still a work in progress, but I have a nice start.

I think I saw those a few posts back and they looked very nice! I like the barring on them.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
exactly! I'll don't mind waitin tho since my cuckoos are throwin some nice chicks this year. I posted a pic of some of the pullets I've held onto last night...they are still a work in progress, but I have a nice start.

I think I saw those a few posts back and they looked very nice! I like the barring on them.

that was probably them....its nice seeing more consistency in their body type and tail carriage. I have plans to work on the leg feathering and the egg color this next year. The guy I got them from was getting older and didn't have enough time for them along with all the other animals he raised, so I don't think it will take too long to get them where they could go. All the cuckoos are just solid...I love it.

 

[chevgrl]

Quote:
hey anna! hows your day? ya know...I got to thinkin...I may, not sure, but may have a cuckoo cockerel. We'll see....I'm trying to decide on which one I'll keep....for sure the best feather legged one I'll hold onto...I just need to decide on the odds that one of the youngest chicks will be a good cockerel. I suppose I should clarify.... if one of those younger chicks ends up being a cockerel, then I'll have a cockerel same age as those younger pullets I showed you.

Your the very best ! All my girls have pretty good feathering so no problem and my blue cuckoo roo Relic has Amazing feathering!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
hey anna! hows your day? ya know...I got to thinkin...I may, not sure, but may have a cuckoo cockerel. We'll see....I'm trying to decide on which one I'll keep....for sure the best feather legged one I'll hold onto...I just need to decide on the odds that one of the youngest chicks will be a good cockerel. I suppose I should clarify.... if one of those younger chicks ends up being a cockerel, then I'll have a cockerel same age as those younger pullets I showed you.

Your the very best ! All my girls have pretty good feathering so no problem and my blue cuckoo roo Relic has Amazing feathering!

haha...you are funny. I am thinking I should know soon on those youngest chicks....i figure you can probably use him more than i can if i end up with some more younger ones. his pappa's a handsome devil so he should be a big boy. ill let ya know how its lookin here in a few days...worst case scenario...ill have one for you next spring.

 

[wyan_zen]

Relative new to BYC and had a few variety of breeds from our friend and breeder. Wife and I are learning poultry keeping and are learning something new each day. We are leaning towards keeping Marans as our primary flock with Jersey Giants, EE and RIR as our secondary. We have 4 Marans which are 5 months now one of which is a roo.

This is Josh. He is our alpha roo for his personality and the care he gives his girls. After reading this thread, I believe he does not satisfy many of the SOP's requirement. When compared to 5 month old roos on this thread, I don't think he is on par mainly due to our starter knowledge on poultry raising, too many roos for the space we have (we have since culled all by Josh) and the limited variety of grain feed our local Tractor Supply carry. He still could be a rooster for Marans or olive egg layers.

Our alpha pullet is Fuzzy Feet, a BC Marans. She is supposedly a C1/Jean line but we have no idea of the upstream breeders beyond where we got our chickens from. She is nervous in this photo thus she is not showing her true body structure. We are waiting for her to lay any day now.

Hope you like both of them.

 

[chevgrl]

Quote:
She looks pretty nice but don't take my word for it I'm still learning.
Hopefully someone else will comment!...

Anyone?

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
She looks pretty nice but don't take my word for it I'm still learning.
Hopefully someone else will comment!...

Anyone?

sorry...got distracted...someone texted me from WI and told me they were having northern lights and I ran outside to look...I could actually see them! Only the reds, but still...haven't seen them here since I was a kid

I'm curious how old these are? And are they bantams? I can't quite tell

 

[wyan_zen]

Quote:
She looks pretty nice but don't take my word for it I'm still learning.
Hopefully someone else will comment!...

Anyone?

sorry...got distracted...someone texted me from WI and told me they were having northern lights and I ran outside to look...I could actually see them! Only the reds, but still...haven't seen them here since I was a kid

I'm curious how old these are? And are they bantams? I can't quite tell

They are both standards at 5 months old. I had to break out the telescopic lenses as they are not photogenic.