Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

I missed these this morning! Love it!

I am hoping to get stuff set up for starting seeds today. Its raining and supposed to turn to sleet and snow, but if I can get the greenhouse situated and get my seed starting racks moved inside where its warmer, then I should be on my way to get going.

Even my greenhouse isn't off limits to the chickens LOL. I really need a screen door I can open on the front of it. My chickens don't seem to care about larger plants and pots but they sure love to dig and eat up seedlings (fresh sprouts!). Today I opened the gh door and found a egg sitting in my Starfruit tree pot and some bites out of one of the ripening starfruits! What terds! You can hardly blame them though, those starfruits even smell delicious when they start to really ripen up!

 

[pinkchick]

haha sounds like they are having a blast! I can't wait to see them as they keep growing!

Remember you will probably only be seeing 2 of them grow up.....

 

[pinkchick]

Even my greenhouse isn't off limits to the chickens LOL. I really need a screen door I can open on the front of it. My chickens don't seem to care about larger plants and pots but they sure love to dig and eat up seedlings (fresh sprouts!). Today I opened the gh door and found a egg sitting in my Starfruit tree pot and some bites out of one of the ripening starfruits! What terds! You can hardly blame them though, those starfruits even smell delicious when they start to really ripen up!

THEY MESSED WITH THE STARFRUIT?!?!?!?!?!? Baaaaddddd Chookies!!! They must be related to Debbi's Bad Charlotte and Bad Olivia!

Hey.....speaking of Debbi....where is our girl lately?

 

[flgardengirl]

I was wondering the same thing about Debbie! I officially have 2 key west hens I let go broody now and I am currently putting more silkie eggs under the 2nd one. They will sure be suprised when they hatch little black skinned babies with 5 toes and big poofs on thier heads...I can hear them now, thinking.."Hmmm I don't remember meeting any roosters that look like this!" Haha.

One hen took over a rabbit nest box I had sitting on top of the rabbit hutch. The second girl wanted that box sooo bad...she kept trying to get in there with the other one. I do have 2 nice wooden rabbit nest boxes but the other one is in the rabbit hutch since one of the bunnies had 4 babies a few days ago. So I found an old plastic kitty litter container and set it next to the other rabbit box on top of the hutch and the other hen finally decided it was good enough lol. I think she still really wants the other one. They are so funny!

 

[gilavina]

I was thinking the same thing about the lacing vs barring. I don't know if theirs are quite barred either. I was thinking your boy may be silver cuckoo x birchen. If he is that is where I would start looking for a female...in your birchen flock! Maybe you still have one of those girls around?

Better than that...I have all of those girls around! 11 of them were in with my cuckoo boy Claude last year and so I will just test mate each of them and see which one it might be...I have a hunch I know possibly which 2 it might be. They are not traditional birchens, but sports I believe.





And that wee sweet pigmy girl is Ina, I might get some babies from her this spring!

If she does kid....they are going to be sooooooo teensy weensy!!!! I think I'll die when I see them!! haha

 

[flgardengirl]

GReat to know! Love tomatos!!!

Turned my green house into a turkey house!!! Or rather DH did for me. Not sure what I will use this year. Maybe a temp type made with bales of straw and glass roof. More to build. . . . DH loves building

A straw bale hot house or seed starting bed sounds great. Straw is so insulating. Maybe I should make one just to keep the chooks out of the seedlings!

I just have a ghetto greenhouse made from a 10x20 metal carport frame with a white poly roof and 12 mil (6 mil doubled that you can buy in the paint supply aisle at H.Depot) plastic on the sides. It all comes down at the beginning of March so I have more room in the yard. I don't need it all year here so this suits me just fine. I only heat it on nights that go under 32F (not too often) with a propane heater. I am in a zone 9a so it works well here even on the real tropical-ish type stuff. I think next year I will need 2 of them to fit everything into grrrr. Time to go further south!!

 

[flgardengirl]

No you didn't just post those goat pics!!! OMG I want goats so bad

They are really cute. I think that really light bircheny laced girl looks like a possible suspect!! Try HER with Claude first haha.

 

[gilavina]

Remember you will probably only be seeing 2 of them grow up.....

heehee....I'll believe it when I sees it! haha

 

[gilavina]

THEY MESSED WITH THE STARFRUIT?!?!?!?!?!? Baaaaddddd Chookies!!! They must be related to Debbi's Bad Charlotte and Bad Olivia!

Hey.....speaking of Debbi....where is our girl lately?

I've been wondering the same thing. I think I might shoot an email off to her and see how she is!

 

[DMRippy]

Really--it's a thrill to see a touch of spring. HEre in the Northeast winter is still running strong and as it's only mid-winter . . . . . two more months until it feel like spring . . . . need to get my seedlings going in another 4 weeks. Now is too soon . . . learned that last year !

I could not do that