Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Vicki ~ Glad to hear you are hearing voices!

My Marans very rarely hatch before day 21, so if you had a power outage, you are doing good! I know where you'll be tonight, with a bottle of windex to keep the door clean!!

Good luck, C'mon chickies!!!!!!!!!

 

[gilavina]

haha too funny about the windex! I did find where the noise was coming from tho! There is one of the eggs pipped in the second tray! Here my Marans eggs almost always have hatched on day 20 and been done by day 21. Just the way it always has been. Not sure why? Even when I used different incubators.

Maybe just environmental factors of some sort at play?

oh...and its one of the birchen pen eggs!

 

[Christie Rhae]

Yup, those would be vulture hocks, and are a DQ. I'm not sure how hard they are to get rid of since I've never had any here, but I sure would not breed that bird and double up on it! So sorry

A DQ? Lovely....

I think I do remember reading that. Well good for her she lays eggs. Any of the boys with it are out of luck...

 

[Debbi]

A DQ? Lovely....

I think I do remember reading that. Well good for her she lays eggs. Any of the boys with it are out of luck...

Yes, and it happens in quite a few breeds from time to time, if I remember correctly. I would keep a close eye on the hatchmates of this one too, if they have the same lineage, they may be carriers for it as well. Not sure on that one, you may want to look into it some more. Test mate the clean ones to see if it comes forward as well. Sorry to see you go through this, especially as it's so hard for you to get eggs. Believe me, I feel your pain! I would definately make sure you make the breeder aware of this problem too!!!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I have 6 chicks that are 7 weeks old. 1 BCM pullet that is 5 months from same breeder. She does not have them I am pretty sure. And 15 day old chicks arriving in a couple weeks from a different breeder.
Sigh.... oh well. I am not gonna be able to show birds because there are no bird shows in Hawaii so for me the journey is the reward. Boy do I have a journey... lol If vulture hocks are as bad as carnation combs I will not use these birds for my marans breeding. Lookin forward to see how my next batch of babies will look!

I had someone knowledgeable tell me that 7 weeks might be too early to judge. (Mine was 5 weeks old at the time. He suggested I let the bird grow out and referred me to this picture - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/218470/what-are-the-dqs-in-silkies/10#post_2588032 - scroll up to the black chick) Plus, if I was understanding correctly with vulture hocks, the feathers have to be stiff, not just abundant. My bird in question, a Cuckoo Marans, has improved with age. He is now 13 weeks old.

 

[gilavina]

haha...I think that this chick is excited to get out of that shell! About a 1/3 of the way zipped now and rolling around like crazy! I can hear it on the metal mesh bottom of the tray. I'm loving being able to watch them hatch finally!

 

[Debbi]

haha...I think that this chick is excited to get out of that shell! About a 1/3 of the way zipped now and rolling around like crazy! I can hear it on the metal mesh bottom of the tray. I'm loving being able to watch them hatch finally!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:

This was my chick in question. Both Marans folks I talked to suggested I need to let him grow out and see.

 

[Debbi]

I had someone knowledgeable tell me that 7 weeks might be too early to judge. (Mine was 5 weeks old at the time. He suggested I let the bird grow out and referred me to this picture - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/218470/what-are-the-dqs-in-silkies/10#post_2588032 - scroll up to the black chick) Plus, if I was understanding correctly with vulture hocks, the feathers have to be stiff, not just abundant. My bird in question, a Cuckoo Marans, has improved with age. He is now 13 weeks old.

If the bird has feathered in, and at 7 weeks they sure should be, the vulture hocks will be hard, down pointing feathers. Barb, the chick in the link you provided does have vulture hocks. Do you have a handy pic of your 13 week old bird? This is just another fault (DQ) that this breed doesn't need passed on! Not knocking anyone's birds, just trying to point out the wide spread ramifications of these problems. This could be another "Carnation" problem in the making for the breed, why not stamp it out now??

 

[gilavina]

YES!!! Baby has arrived! Can't tell if its blue or black yet