Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Quote:
I vote for feeding them extra tasty treats and promising to bring them back a handsome boyfriend from Crossroads

I just tell them it's time for them to pay their way. "You know girls, those who won't lay get a special place to sit, it's called a SOUP POT! Get crackin' here ladies!!"

 

[Debbi]

Yes! Got my heater yesterday, and it came early in the morning by their "special" truck, so I know I was correct in my thinking!

I LOVE IT!! Temps here are dropping into the upper 20s-30s tonight, and today is dreary, damp from the rain yesterday and in the 40s. I actually woke up too warm this morning, it was 68* in here! My comfort zone at night seems to be between 62-65*, daytime around 65*, so this heater should do the trick nicely, on the low setting. Now, we'll see how it does when it gets below zero and the winds are blowing!!

No bites for the free roosters ad, but I did talk to the guy that built my coop yesterday, and he said that the Amish families do butcher chickens for other folks! Ha! So now I can at least reclaim some of my feed bill. Seven boys...to FREEZER CAMP!!!!!!!

 

[littlels]

I have a question about breeding as we are new to it and are excited to learn!

Besides the small flock we already have of mixed birds, we just received 2 Black Copper Marans hens and 1 Black Copper Marans / Silkie Rooster. We were told by the owner that the rooster carried the dark egg gene (the hens are his "aunts" so they have the gene also). So here's the question...can we breed the Silkie out of our flock so to speak and keep the dark egg gene to eventually have more dark egg layers?

For example, if we took one of the Black Copper Marans hens and the mixed rooster and hatched a batch the chicks would be 3/4 Black Copper Marans and 1/4 Silkie. If we took one of those roosters and one of the hens and had another batch, they would be almost all Black Copper Marans??? The rooster himself is not very attractive and he is very small. We aren't necessarily wanting to keep him around unless we can get the egg color out of him. I hope that all makes sense.

We do happen to have 2 other roosters (another 1 that is a Black Copper Marans and 1 Blue Copper Marans). My guess though is that we won't know if they carry the gene until we get a batch of chicks out of them and then wait to see what color eggs they lay....is that accurate?

I hope this isn't a crazy question either as I've been reading all over the internet about this breed of bird. I have read the standards in multiple places for coloring, eye color, body shape, etc... do those attributes have any effect on laying habits, fertility or egg color? For example, I keep seeing that if the chicken has black eyes, you should cull it. It seems odd to me though that the black eyes have anything to do with the egg production. Are the "standards" more for just showing the birds?


I have a million more questions, but I will save those for another time.

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
I vote for feeding them extra tasty treats and promising to bring them back a handsome boyfriend from Crossroads

I just tell them it's time for them to pay their way. "You know girls, those who won't lay get a special place to sit, it's called a SOUP POT! Get crackin' here ladies!!"

Haha I have 2 hens that hang out together (one is an olive egger and one is a bcm). They lay eggs together at the same time. They brood (sit on the eggs) together, then when the chicks hatch out they raise them together LOL. They bicker and fight and try to one up each other to get the chicks to like one best. Its like a love hate relationship lol.
Here they were when they hatched out some on Easter day.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
If I were you, I would use one of the pure Marans roos that you have. With the Silkie mix roo, you are looking at a reduction in the egg color from the Silkie side, plus you will end up with some chicks that may have 5 toes, weird combs, and may have some Silkie feathers still coming through. You can breed the hens to either the Black Copper or the Blue Copper, the latter breeding will give you black and blue copper chicks. As for the faults, such as eye color and such, those count only if you intend to sell chicks/hatching eggs, or want to show your birds. In these cases, you would want your stock to be as close to the "Standard of Perfection" for the Marans breed and for the color variety (black or blue). If you just want pretty, dark, eating eggs, then none of it matters but the egg color. You can improve your egg color by selecting the darkest eggs to hatch with each generation. Hope this helps?

 

[Debbi]

Oh Lynette, you have some silly girls there!

Good for them being good and gooder mamas!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I just tell them it's time for them to pay their way. "You know girls, those who won't lay get a special place to sit, it's called a SOUP POT! Get crackin' here ladies!!"

Haha I have 2 hens that hang out together (one is an olive egger and one is a bcm). They lay eggs together at the same time. They brood (sit on the eggs) together, then when the chicks hatch out they raise them together LOL. They bicker and fight and try to one up each other to get the chicks to like one best. Its like a love hate relationship lol.
Here they were when they hatched out some on Easter day.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/45258_imgp1473.jpg

Those girls are a hoot!!!

Still no eggs from my girls.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Haha I have 2 hens that hang out together (one is an olive egger and one is a bcm). They lay eggs together at the same time. They brood (sit on the eggs) together, then when the chicks hatch out they raise them together LOL. They bicker and fight and try to one up each other to get the chicks to like one best. Its like a love hate relationship lol.
Here they were when they hatched out some on Easter day.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/45258_imgp1473.jpg

Those girls are a hoot!!!

Still no eggs from my girls.

Maybe it's time to take the soup pot out to the coop and show them??

How old are they? Has it gotten real cold up there? Are they in molt? Seems like it takes forever waiting for the first eggs.

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
Haha I have 2 hens that hang out together (one is an olive egger and one is a bcm). They lay eggs together at the same time. They brood (sit on the eggs) together, then when the chicks hatch out they raise them together LOL. They bicker and fight and try to one up each other to get the chicks to like one best. Its like a love hate relationship lol.
Here they were when they hatched out some on Easter day.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/45258_imgp1473.jpg

Those girls are a hoot!!!

Still no eggs from my girls.

I hope you get some eggs soon. I agree I hate the waiting for those first eggs. My 2 girls in the photo were both so gentle with thier 10 chicks, chirping and cooing to them then they would turn around and peck each other hard. I shoulda video taped them lol. They both got bored of thier chicks after about 8weeks. One lost interest then the other one did too a few days apart. Monkey see, monkey do-they sure are silly.
Don't even try to pet one without petting the other at the same time...the feathers will fly. I don't even know why they hang around together. Everything is a competition. They are half-sisters so maybe that's it: Sibling rivalry.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Those girls are a hoot!!!

Still no eggs from my girls.

Maybe it's time to take the soup pot out to the coop and show them??

How old are they? Has it gotten real cold up there? Are they in molt? Seems like it takes forever waiting for the first eggs.

27 weeks old today. Temps aren't too bad yet but I gather cold (freezing) is due tonight. Their hatch mates; Ameraucanas and EEs - I believe 7 out of 9 (6 for sure) of them are now laying - started at 22 weeks and the number of layers has been increasing since. None of the young ones are moulting. My hens, however, are moulting HARD this year. So I'm getting pretty hard up for eggs!!!