Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

All is good in chickendom again!

 

[gilavina]

All is good in chickendom again!

indeed!!!

 

[flgardengirl]

For those of you who have made your own incubators that are tall: What did you use for a heat source? I am thinking of using a radiant heat panel..anyone used one of those? It is compatible with the thermostat I got and won't burn anything. Any other ideas?

 

[Christie Rhae]

How old does a cockerel have to be to actually be able to do the deed properly? My blue guy is 5 months old and I had to take him out of the pen he was growing up in because he and his buddy (ameraucana) were stalking and grabbing the two pullets in there and those girls were NOT into it. Those girls are obviously not ready to be grabbed and jumped on, they kept screaming and freaking out. lol

Anyway, now the two 5 month old boys are in their own pen. The blue marans, Igor, is so funny. Always jabbering and picking things up and putting them down. Today I gave them some left over roast beef all chopped up. I thought he would gobble that up so fast but he kept picking up little pieces and making all kinds of little noises then putting the morsel down then repeating this over and over. Not sure if he ever took a bite himself. lol
Now this marans tho he was my first ever hatched and we love him to bits, his comb has a big thumbprint I think. He has waaay too many feathers on his toes and he is not really a solid blue but a blue copper that is mostly blue. Anyway, he will not be a part of my marans breeding plan. But I am not going to get rid of him cuz he is "special".

Could I put him in with my Easter egger hens and actually get fertile eggs? I have put so much energy, time and money into buying fertile eggs and chicks that the idea of having eggs conceived in my own back yard is almost foreign to me. lol!

So to make a short story reaaalllly long. Is 5 months old enough to fertilize eggs?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

So to make a short story reaaalllly long. Is 5 months old enough to fertilize eggs?

Probably! You could try cracking open an egg or two and check the germinal disc. If it looks like a donut rather than just a tiny white dot, he's doing the deed!!

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote:
Oh yeah, I read about that. This is a whole new chapter for me!
I have an EE hen who consistently lays the most vibrant egg.


It is always crazy beautiful. I think I might try to make my own olive eggers. What an idea!! Wait till my husband catches on to what I am up to! lol He might take away my incubators.

 

[Raven1]

I am not into the Blue and Green eggs but lordy that is the most gorgeous egg!!

 

[mama24]

Saw Dr. Oz the other day and we got some b12... so we will see what happens with that.

If you are b12 deficient, that means your intestines aren't absorbing it. Taking it orally won't help if that's the case, you need to do injections.

 

[piper2009]

That handsome roo a couple of pages back, almost looks to me like a Black tail Buff x Cuckoo. Can't really see it in the pic too well, but is his breast area reddish??

He has blueish feathers with red around the outside of each one, giving him a reddish lacing look on his breast area. So I am guessing he is just a Cuckoo mixed with something else then.

 

[flgardengirl]

Oh no the broody wannabes are at it again. I pulled one marans and one fluffy butt orp buffinator off their nests tonight. The buff orp girl had a ton of eggs under her including one she must of broke and had dried egg and goo all over herself Uggg.

One of my Key West hens ran out in the woods a few days ago and didn't come back. Today I went hiking around looking for her and found her on a nest between two huge trees that had fallen over roots and all sticking up which formed a strange corner room. I took her and her eggs and put them in the KW coop. I'm surprised nothing ate her out there.