Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Hi Vicki! Glad you had fun! Can't wait to see the Birchen girls!

 

[gilavina]

Hi Vicki! Glad you had fun! Can't wait to see the Birchen girls!

Hi Kim! I can't wait to show them to you! They really are gorgeous! Look just like young BCMs, but definitely have crisp silver instead. You know how hard it is to get decent birchens....especially in body type! Plus I got them cheaper than you would buying daying old chicks from somewhere and paying to have them shipped (still probably will do anyways with the ones we're getting, just to give me a good leg up), but got the 7 girls for 63 bucks. Still can't believe it!

 

[DMRippy]

Ok I did a check on all the new babies yesterday. Final count....78 in the brooder and 2 in the hatcher hoping they will get their legs.

I got 4 GCM, 1 GCM with leg problems, 1 Black? from those same eggs. 3 Blue Coppers from Pinks roo and my pullets. 6 Blue Cuckoos (2 splash I think). 7 chicks from Becky's pullets 2 blue coppers and 5 black coppers. Only 1 does not have feathered legs on all the coppers, not bad? 2 of the black coppers have the copper on the head and already have mossyness on their feathers. I have tagged them and made notes so I will keep an eye on them.

I have some group shots of all the babies

This is the brooder with all the Marans, Lav Splits, RIR, EE, Leghorns and BR



This is all the other babies

Wheaten AM, Partridge Rock, EE, SLW, NH and Leghorn Crosses



With my others that are still in the nursery I have 90 babies. 6 are sold.... maybe 5 more are too....

I have 2 sets of 90 eggs in the bator, but I have tossed some. I am going to set 180 more monday. Those will be Marans, RIR and Leghorns so I can go to a trade day and have some to sell. I missed selling any this week since I didn't have a great hatch of the RIR and Leghorns.

 

[pinkchick]

Donna~ Congrats on all the babies! Love the brooder! Love the smaller wattage light bulb. Does it work well for them?

 

[DMRippy]

Donna~ Congrats on all the babies! Love the brooder! Love the smaller wattage light bulb. Does it work well for them?

It is doing great. I had a 100 watt light when I put them in but they stayed on the other half... changed it to 60 watts for the new babies and the one on top stay more to the middle because of the heat from the light below.... Might should put the bigger ones on top and not use a light. That way they can still have the heat from the light below. It is a work in progress. I need to put something on the metal. They dig down to the metal and slide too much. I am thinking some shelf liner stuff. Cheap and could be tossed. Hubby thinks hardware cloth scraps. We will see any suggestions? I put in a lot more litter and they don't do it as much.

 

[pinkchick]

Blue or Black???






Here is one of her next to something black......but her belly area still looks blueish. She is related to Bill Sr., so I probably won't know for sure for a long while.



P.S....I LOVE THIS CHICK! Don't know why, but I do.

Now if I can get the photos of my favorite little Blue Coppers from this hatch to upload.

 

[pinkchick]

Donna~ So the floor of the brooder is metal? If you use that shelf liner stuff that is rubbery and has holes in it...it can be washed easily and reused.

 

[DMRippy]

Donna~ So the floor of the brooder is metal? If you use that shelf liner stuff that is rubbery and has holes in it...it can be washed easily and reused.

Yes, we did that so it would be easy to clean... didn't think about slipping. I think that is an easy fix with shelf liner.

 

[DMRippy]

Blue or Black???






Here is one of her next to something black......but her belly area still looks blueish. She is related to Bill Sr., so I probably won't know for sure for a long while.



P.S....I LOVE THIS CHICK! Don't know why, but I do.

Now if I can get the photos of my favorite little Blue Coppers from this hatch to upload.

I am kinda thinking blue too.... close call though....

 

[pinkchick]

I was finally able to get a good photo showing the real color of those lavender looking eggs I get from the Marans from time to time. Tried to hatch a couple of them out with the fridge babies but they didn't hatch. They are the some of the hardest eggs to hatch with this extra thick coating on them. Have only ever been able to hatch one out and that was a couple years ago.