Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[DMRippy]

Well...I say if you set that many eggs from those Blue Cuckoos...going that route of keeping only those from the darkest eggs and with leg feathering, it will certainly launch you ahead...

how many SLW eggs did you get this time? I hope they hatch better for you this time.

I haven't decided when I will set eggs again, I've got so much going on and not feeling good, so I'm not in a rush like I have been the last two years. Plus, I'd like to see what these new wee (or not so wee) chicks develop into over the next three or four weeks. I want to try to be more concentrated in my focus with hatching, going group by group. I'm hoping it will keep me sane this year

I don't know if any will be feathered from the dark eggs. I only have one pullet with feathered legs, she has also plucked all the vent feathers of the other two girls... I think it is nerves since she is in a cage and was in a huge pen before. I hope you are right. I think I set another 12 today.

20 SLW eggs, she got hers from the same place so I am hoping they will look just as good.

My goal is to only hatch one breed at a time for me too. Keeps things easier, I hope. This was just an odd thing to have all these eggs hit me at the same time.... I hope I can handle it.

 

[DMRippy]

Wow that's gonna be a cr@pload of eggs LOL! You are gonna go nuts when all those hatch. Can't wait to see your little blue cuckoo babies!

Vicki, your poor girl. Yep that had to hurt!

A good kinda nuts right???? I am a lot scared.... I need to start planning brooders and lights to keep them all warm... with that many I may not need any lights

 

[flgardengirl]

I just have the KW broodies hatching out silkies One has a blue silkie and 2 of her own kw chicks (her other silkie chick was the grey one that died) then another KW just hatched out 3 silkie eggs (2 partridge and one white) that I gave her and 4 of her own KW chicks. I found one blue silkie that had got squashed in her nestbox too. Poor thing. So that's 3 KW hens being used as broodies so far lol. I don't think I will do anymore silkies unless the silkie hens go broody themselves.

I am doing the birchens, bcms, golden cuckoo, and a few other project Marans next.

 

[gilavina]

I just have the KW broodies hatching out silkies One has a blue silkie and 2 of her own kw chicks (her other silkie chick was the grey one that died) then another KW just hatched out 3 silkie eggs (2 partridge and one white) that I gave her and 4 of her own KW chicks. I found one blue silkie that had got squashed in her nestbox too. Poor thing. So that's 3 KW hens being used as broodies so far lol. I don't think I will do anymore silkies unless the silkie hens go broody themselves.

I am doing the birchens, bcms, golden cuckoo, and a few other project Marans next.

yay! I can't wait to see what you get for birchens. Did you see the birchen chicks I posted? I think I ended up with 9 altogether of them from this batch.

 

[flgardengirl]

I am going to use cocoa in with the birchens and a black hen that I have too, to see if I can clean up the gold leakage some and get the feathered shanks going, along with the darker egg color. Cocoa and the black hen lay pretty dark. I have a black roo I could use too with decent leg feathering. I don't care for his comb though...no sprigs but it is large and has a double serration.

I gotta go look for these baby birchens... Can't believe I missed them.

 

[flgardengirl]

Ok...here is the first round of chicker pics. I will start with my, um, surprises. These are from the same pen as Gigantor, Big Boy, and Genghis....but none of them are the papa of these tykes. I didn't even mention that I had a young cuckoo cockerel growing out in with them....well...lets just say, he's been busy! 7 babies are his! The bonus is that some of them have really nice feathering! I'm really hoping he stuck to the black or blue girls that are solids in there. If so, I'll be on my way





Here's a couple of loners so far. I only have one splash out of the hatcher yet, and the other is a blue cuckoo...we'll see how it turns out. Every once and a while I get a cuckoo with a bit of a rust colored fuzz, I have yet to see them come out with bad coloring, but we'll see



nice leg feathering...I just hate waiting for the yellow to go away on the legs from the yolk. This little splash is from my birchens....leg feathered birchen baby!!!

Here's some more birchens. I had to break them up into two groups. They wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get shots without them all spreading out.

group 1 - that turd in the front is not cross beaked...he has a piece of feed in his mouth and kept puttin it in his mouth and dropping it over and over...I caught him in action so he looks like a doof.


notice the leg feathering....on another birchen!!



group 2 birchens....almost all feather legged again. One has a couple of feathers on middle toes, but most of my birchen girls are clean legged, so can probably work with it, if they turn out ok



check out these birchen street sweepers!!!



I have three more surprises....marans/wyandotte crosses. They are super cute, but will not stay here. I have two with feathering, one without.


three from gigantor or big boy..... no fuzzy am. faces yet...

FOUND THEM!!! OMG how cute! Not fair... lol. Nice leg feathering on your birchens.

 

[gilavina]

I am going to use cocoa in with the birchens and a black hen that I have too, to see if I can clean up the gold leakage some and get the feathered shanks going, along with the darker egg color. Cocoa and the black hen lay pretty dark. I have a black roo I could use too with decent leg feathering. I don't care for his comb though...no sprigs but it is large and has a double serration.

I gotta go look for these baby birchens... Can't believe I missed them.

well I just reposted, but you found them so easily I deleted them heehee!

 

[gilavina]

FOUND THEM!!! OMG how cute! Not fair... lol. Nice leg feathering on your birchens.

haha...you'll get there Lenette! I still have a long road ahead of me still! I'm so thrilled with the progress, they really are striking and as far as comparison to the other varieties of chicks...they have the size and heft and leg feathering, so they blend in wonderfully. All good signs I'm making progress!

 

[flgardengirl]

I love the leg feathering. Lookin really good. I can't wait to see how the little splash birchen turns out. Do you hope it is a male or female?

 

[gilavina]

I love the leg feathering. Lookin really good. I can't wait to see how the little splash birchen turns out. Do you hope it is a male or female?

I'm really pretty ok with either to tell you the truth. I'm at a place now with the birchens that from here on out, it will be smaller battles than trying to work on everything. So, whatever i get will be culled heavily and I will test mate carefully to see what progress I make.

What are you hoping to get from your hatches? It sounds like you have a good plan for breeding using cocoa and your black girl.