Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[BarnGoddess01]

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.

I've got my first batch of Marans/Ameraucana olive eggers growing out in the basement. (I'm not in Hawaii so the kids have to be in the heated house at this time of year

). They are 4 weeks old on Sunday. Looking like maybe 4 or 5 pullets out of the 10. And one seriously swanky splash - likely a cockerel based on his shape - Splash Ameraucana mom, Blue Copper daddy. Might just have to keep him because of how cool he looks!!! (I can't say enough good about the Brinsea incubator with humidity pump. 100% hatch on my first hatch including 3 out of 3 Marans. I am convinced it is the stable humidity during the early part of incubation. Wishing I could go back and have a do-over on my shipped/imported eggs.

)

 

[DMRippy]

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.

Actually the oral is fine even if you don't have the acids to do the usual job. The acids break the b12 from the proteins and with the supplements it is already separated.

 

[DMRippy]

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?

Somebody my have addressed this, but I have not gotten to it yet. The girls are NEVER into at that age, they will get used to it. They may scream for a month or so, but things will calm down. Those boys know what they are doing and when to do it. Yes you will get fertilized eggs once they get the technique down.

The roo with the beef.... he was trying to call to feed his girls... even if he dose not have any yet. Good roos will eat after the girls.

I am working on my 2nd gen Olive Eggers. It is just so pretty to have variety in the basket.

 

[DMRippy]

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?

What is that? I am going to use Flexwatt is that similar?

 

[flgardengirl]

No flexwatt is a heat tape I think. The radiant heat panel is an actual panel that radiates heat but cool to the touch. I don't know of the specifics of the differences between how the two would actually heat. I am thinking of mounting the radiant heat panel to the top of the bator and then have a fan angled blowing over the radient panel and a tub of water down a channel in a false back o bator and out the bottom. The one problem is if I have to get a larger wattage panel it might to big and have to go vertically down the side instead of horizontally across the top. I also don't know what wattage I would need LOL! I can't use incandescent light bulbs with the thermostat I have (says not recommended).

How do you know how much flexwatt you need for your incubator is there a guideline somewhere or are you just going to fiddle with it until you get the right amount?

 

[Cadeau]

Donna - so sorry about your youngsters.

Vicki - I think I like a happy medium. Not toooo streamlined and not too puffy.

My big tank blue girl is very soft feathered and she doesn't NEED any help looking any bustier!!


I have my first generation of olive eggers out in my grow out pen!!
I have 2 3+mths and 2 3mths pullets and a gorgeous blue roo that I haven't been able to part with yet!!
They are out of a blue wheaten hen and all are various shades of blue, from nearly navy to powder blue!!

Can't WAIT for eggs!!

 

[flgardengirl]

I've noticed my black coppers have tighter feathering whereas the blue coppers and blues have looser feathering. I don't know why. I have run some of my black and blue copper lines together and the resulting offspring blues still have looser feathering than the black coppers. The black copper feathers are way softer than the fluffy blues when you pet them. Maybe it has to do with the smoothness or amt of oil on the feathers- how tight they are? The male blue coppers have tighter feathering than the females also.

 

[flgardengirl]

I've got my first batch of Marans/Ameraucana olive eggers growing out in the basement. (I'm not in Hawaii so the kids have to be in the heated house at this time of year

). They are 4 weeks old on Sunday. Looking like maybe 4 or 5 pullets out of the 10. And one seriously swanky splash - likely a cockerel based on his shape - Splash Ameraucana mom, Blue Copper daddy. Might just have to keep him because of how cool he looks!!! (I can't say enough good about the Brinsea incubator with humidity pump. 100% hatch on my first hatch including 3 out of 3 Marans. I am convinced it is the stable humidity during the early part of incubation. Wishing I could go back and have a do-over on my shipped/imported eggs.

)

What an adorable baby!!

 

[gilavina]

Evenin everyone

Its ridiculously cold and windy today. I was freezing all day at work and am overly happy to be home. Its official that my collection of eggs for the incubator test run has poured over and into another tray

.... I know realistically that not everything will be good because of the extreme cold, so we'll see what I end up with.

 

[flowerchild59]

I hate to be dense, but if I had a blue or splash roo over a BC marans hen, what would that produce? I am down to just a couple blue marans and BC hens.