Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[chickeneyfoot]

Is it hard to breed back feathered legs? Also, how long does it take to get better leg feathers from a lightly-medium feathered legged bird? I want super heavy feathers.

 

[Spitman]

I still need to get update pics of my birchens I have around here. I don't have many blacks...most of mine are blues or splash. The youngest pen where most of them are I noticed last weekend are starting to go into their juvie molt

Seems early, but I wonder if all the crazy weather has them all thrown off. If you go to my profile page I do have some of my various project pen pics loaded on my page...just scroll down and I think you should be able to see my album. I'm afraid its not organized, but it would at least be a start maybe?

Cool thanks

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, I would rather the BC chicks have considerable white around the head and white throat and chest and run down the belly. I originally thought that was where all the white feathers were coming from but through testing that it had no bearing on the white in wing and tail. Don

Good to know. I think I might keep a little photo log of the chicks as they grow and change so I can see how they change. I kinda wish I would have done it last year so I could see how the offspring might correlate with their parents....guess I'll just start this year, so I can see for next year.

 

[Cadeau]

I got my first 2 eggs from my F1 generation today

I forgot to take pics...both were broken on the pointy end...hopefully, they'll figure it out soon!

 

[search4one]

I have 30 marans eggs that are due to hatch in a couple of weeks. I plan to place them in an egg carton for hatching, this will be my first time trying this method. Should I place them straight up or slant them as much as possible?

 

[stoopid]

Randy, the first (and only time) I tried the egg carton hatch thing, I had 2 chicks pip against the carton, and couldn't move.
They suffocated.
Granted, they were bantam eggs, and it shouldn't happen with the big ones, but that alone turned me off to that style of hatching.

 

[Debbi]

Randy, the first (and only time) I tried the egg carton hatch thing, I had 2 chicks pip against the carton, and couldn't move.
They suffocated.
Granted, they were bantam eggs, and it shouldn't happen with the big ones, but that alone turned me off to that style of hatching.

I have to agree. I've done it twice now, and while it is good to prevent the hatched chicks from kicking the other eggs around, it seemed to me like they were having a harder time hatching. The hatched chicks still climb all over the other eggs too. I prefer to just lay mine down, and seperate any really rowdy chicks once they are dry and no one else has started to zip. Afterall, chickens have been hatching eggs for years, and I've never seen a hen use an egg carton to do it!

 

[gilavina]

well...off to work in a couple minutes, but heard from the gentleman in the UK with the Silver Marans. I'll need to work on a reply to him, but there are definitely some things to think about!

 

[DMRippy]

Randy, the first (and only time) I tried the egg carton hatch thing, I had 2 chicks pip against the carton, and couldn't move.
They suffocated.
Granted, they were bantam eggs, and it shouldn't happen with the big ones, but that alone turned me off to that style of hatching.

x2 with Marans 2 died. I will not use it again.

 

[Arielle]

Is it hard to breed back feathered legs? Also, how long does it take to get better leg feathers from a lightly-medium feathered legged bird? I want super heavy feathers.

THis question is often asked. You can read thru the back posts for many conversations about this. Many have opted to be happy with the light feathering as heavy feathering can include MIDDLE toe feathers which are a DQ.

Don--did I get it right???


Edited to add MIDDLE--Brain thought it, fingers didn't type it.