Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Actually there are some really cute little blue ones with straight combs and perfectly feathered legs. Too bad I have to consider them all mutts since their hatch mother had to go be a hussy LOL!! There are a couple black chicks with feathered legs as well. I haven't got a real good chance to look over all of them really well. She is an evil Jurrasic Park Spitter every time I get around them. I really wasn't ready for hatching yet. I was only going to be hatching those silkie eggs and nothing else till later this spring.

haha...should still be interesting to see what those chicks end up like, I'd think.

Its lookin like I'm on the right track to have more blues than anything else...my favorite kind of hatch!

 

[flgardengirl]

Debbie, that would be cool to get them on film. If I caught them on camera, I would put it on you tube lol. If that hen hatches a wild bird egg she better feed the baby cuz I don't wanna lol! I know the KW hens do fly 20+ft up in the trees around here but have never seen them snitch any wild bird eggs yet. There was a hen sitting up in a squirrel nest in an oak limb that is over their coop last spring. As far as I know, she didn't hatch any chicks in there. I was really afraid one would try it and the babies would fall out.

Vicki, none of her chicks look like her. She is a silver duckwing color. I think it would be cool if one was half blue marans and half silver duckwing. Maybe a Marans body and blue silver duckwing pattern! I don't think any are actually hers but who knows what else they might be. I will try to get some pics tomorrow. I am sure one of the little black ones is a little roo. It took us an hour to catch his little butt the other day! He can run!!!

 

[Arielle]

HI, I don't know if she just took over someone else's nest (which is probably what she did since there were so many) or stole eggs. I have seen key west and phoenix hens move eggs by putting them way up under their wing-pit (whatever you call it) and flying over the fence or going into the next nest box. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe it. I was trying to break a broody Phoenix hen from her 'woods nest' and she kept getting her eggs from out of the nest box in the coop and taking them over the 6 foot fence of her run and out to her woods nest. (This was before I covered their run) I would put the eggs back and they would disappear and I would find eggs out in the her woods nest. I finally put some X's on the nest box eggs and found those same eggs out there. Then I caught her after she jumped the fence and sure enough she had one way up under her wing. Since then, I've seen quite a few broodies moving eggs usually just from one box to another or off the floor up to the box. The smaller lighter birds who are really good fliers will take them further.

CHickens have proven themselves to be far more clever than I ever gave them credit for. DH says the same thing. Here your PHoenix is proving once again, how truely clever a chicken can be! And determined!

 

[gilavina]

Debbie, that would be cool to get them on film. If I caught them on camera, I would put it on you tube lol. If that hen hatches a wild bird egg she better feed the baby cuz I don't wanna lol! I know the KW hens do fly 20+ft up in the trees around here but have never seen them snitch any wild bird eggs yet. There was a hen sitting up in a squirrel nest in an oak limb that is over their coop last spring. As far as I know, she didn't hatch any chicks in there. I was really afraid one would try it and the babies would fall out.

Vicki, none of her chicks look like her. She is a silver duckwing color. I think it would be cool if one was half blue marans and half silver duckwing. Maybe a Marans body and blue silver duckwing pattern! I don't think any are actually hers but who knows what else they might be. I will try to get some pics tomorrow. I am sure one of the little black ones is a little roo. It took us an hour to catch his little butt the other day! He can run!!!

I can't wait to see pics! As soon as I get some chicks out of the hatcher I'll post them...I might sneak a shot of them in the hatching tray and post here in a few min....It will probably look like piles of fluff, but they really are cute!

 

[flgardengirl]

Chickens are very smart some of them remind me of little dogs the way they act. I never noticed how smart they were before either. The more you watch them the more amazing they are. I never noticed that some roosters will actually train younger roosters..that is another long story but I have watched them do it. I don't know if chickens really have emotions the same as people but I sure have seen some jealous hens. Not just jealous of each other's chicks but jealous of me holding another hen. One of my ameraucanas will squawk and run up and peck other hens when I hold them instead of her. When I put the offender down she will try to beat them up. Sometimes she gets mad at me if I am paying too mush attention to other hens in her presence she will run up and peck me in the foot lol.

 

[gilavina]

Chickens are very smart some of them remind me of little dogs the way they act. I never noticed how smart they were before either. The more you watch them the more amazing they are. I never noticed that some roosters will actually train younger roosters..that is another long story but I have watched them do it. I don't know if chickens really have emotions the same as people but I sure have seen some jealous hens. Not just jealous of each other's chicks but jealous of me holding another hen. One of my ameraucanas will squawk and run up and peck other hens when I hold them instead of her. When I put the offender down she will try to beat them up. Sometimes she gets mad at me if I am paying too mush attention to other hens in her presence she will run up and peck me in the foot lol.

This is exactly why I love chickens! They are crafty little entertainers. I find particularly with the Marans that they will watch me and will steal things I set down and run off with them...then set them down....and when I go to grab whatever it is they stole (particularly gardening gloves)...they will pick them up and run off with them again....and making a wild clucking noise that I swear resembles laughing in an eerie way! There's millions of other things, but I feel like its so sad most people will never know just how stinking funny and intelligent they are!

 

[gilavina]

well...chicky 12 is just about ready to join the rest of them. They are making some quick work of zipping. Me thinks the humidity must be just right for them. I'm excited to see how many I have in the morning at the rate they are workin. I just wasn't expecting some of them to be quite this big! One of them wanted to say hi!

 

[Debbi]

Chickens are very smart some of them remind me of little dogs the way they act. I never noticed how smart they were before either. The more you watch them the more amazing they are. I never noticed that some roosters will actually train younger roosters..that is another long story but I have watched them do it. I don't know if chickens really have emotions the same as people but I sure have seen some jealous hens. Not just jealous of each other's chicks but jealous of me holding another hen. One of my ameraucanas will squawk and run up and peck other hens when I hold them instead of her. When I put the offender down she will try to beat them up. Sometimes she gets mad at me if I am paying too mush attention to other hens in her presence she will run up and peck me in the foot lol.

Yes, have to agree! Even the Silkies show signs of high intelligence! Heck, even Pip shows definate signs of "Orphan Pyschology"! He is forever a PIMA, but yet he is an ever ending source of how the bird brain works...plus, he amuses me!

Now ,if I could just get a grip on the "Bad Charlotte Syndrome", I'd have them all pretty much figured out. Charlotte has now recruited the roos into this behavior, and as we speak, I have 4 roos outside tonight!?? Three of them have no problems with other roos, so what is their excuse? Pip, well, he's a different story. He went from lowlife to top dog in a 2 week period, and is now back on the low end of the pecking order, so he refuses to go into the run at night. The others, I can't figure? It's like Teen week here, and they are all taking dares. Hope they didn't dare themselves to death tonight; I just got a strong whiff of skunk here!!

 

[Spitman]

You are in the right place to ask that! There are a few in here that breed Birchens and Blue Coppers! Stick around, some of them will chime in. Got any pics of your birds?

Ya Ive posted my blue boy's before , But the Birchen bunch are only about 6 weeks , But they are Very good looking Birds. The 2 Cock's have really nice 5 point combs growing , and all have not just heavy but nice long feathers on there shanks. I fixed a incubator for a local farmer and Knowing I wanted some of her eggs, she gave me a Doz. eggs for fixing it . Great deal for me Took me about 35 min. and she gets $100.00 a doz for her Eggs . Her Marans take first in show every year at the fair I have little Question they will be the Best birds I've ever owned , but will see how they grow out I'll try and post some pictures Tomorrow.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote:
Knew I recognized that chick! Mine are from Garry farm too.