Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Tikkijane]

those purple eggs!!!

WOW!!!!

 

[gilavina]

Would love to see them. This breed of chickens is best addiction ever! I hope my family and friends never try to do a inter-friend-tion....this is one habbit I will never never give up. Love me some Marans!

Glad to hear they have settled down for you Vicki. When I brought home those Birchens from Zanna they were a little freaked out at first because of their new surroundings but after a couple weeks they were sweet as pie. I HATED that that very large male had that sprig on the blade of the comb. He was a sweet as they come and I almost cried giving him up.

You know....I just have to say I love having found other poultry crazy people like me. I know exactly what you mean about getting emotional when having to give up an otherwise good bird for one small thing. Hate that, but know its for the best in the long run

These girls still make little chicks noises but are just huge...I'd guess they might be a month and a half to two months old after getting them out and seeing them closer. Keeping my fingers crossed for them and the young chicks I've already got. I held off on putting eggs in the incubator yet since I have two pens crankin out eggs left and right. I want to give the one pen in particular every chance I can since they are laying really nice eggs

 

[pinkchick]

Here they are kinda wet......please keep in mind these eggs are over a year old and I have not kept them in a dark place away from light or in a air tight container, but are kept from natural daylight. They sit on a shelf in my office so that I can see them every single day because I love looking at them. I don't know if they have faded from the light or air exposure but they have faded. When they were fresh they were probably 2 full shades darker. 2 of them are from a Black Copper hen if I remember correctly and 2 of them are from a Blue Copper hen. The Blue Copper hen I still have and she still gives me these beauties. She is the one that lays the more solid coated ones (in the middle of this photo), the Black Copper gave me the heavily spotted ones.

 

[Christie Rhae]

You know....I just have to say I love having found other poultry crazy people like me.

Amen to that sister! lol

 

[chickeneyfoot]

How do i keep blown eggs? So they wont fade lol

 

[Arielle]

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.

Great job on the brooder, Donna. As for the liner, I have used an old cloth, something cheap, laid it out, covered it with shavings. Then lift up the edges I had tucked under by a few inches, and lift all the soiled shavings out and to the compost. Shake out the cloth and wash in hot water. When the chicks dig deep they are still on a rough surface with plenty of traction.

 

[Arielle]

I have a FBCM hen that has just started laying for the year. Why are the bumps appearing? They are under the paint layer, and are like calcium beads. Other hens lay without the adornment of beading. It breaks off with a bit of effort and is hard, like calcium.

 

[michaelinnc84]

i just aquired two cukoo marans spelling? and they are so sweet. I have fallen in love with another breed. i really need to pick one breed and stick with it.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Well...made it safe and sound back from the sale in Kansas and bought a few birds.....7 of which are black birchen marans pullets with streetsweepers, nice silver color is coming in on the neck collar, eye color is already changing, combs are great....but.....they are wild as march hares... I'm gonna have to double my efforts of attention for this lot. Every time I touch them, they screech like they are getting killed. I asked around and they were from an older couple that was thinning down their stock because its becoming too much for them....so, I'm super excited to see how they do. I will have pics coming, that is if I can get close enough to.

might be a few days.

I also got a Silver Penciled Wyandotte pair...so now I will have a man for my lone girl. I'm pleased with what I got indeed. I missed out on a couple of boxes because the prices were insanely high at some points... for example...a pair of old english game bantams from bill wolf stock went for $175 per bird!!! Crap hatchery RIR young pullets were going for between 25 and 33 bucks. I just couldn't believe it. I lucked out because my boxes came later on once the crowd had blown their wad of money and was able to snatch really, really good deals. It also didn't hurt that the guy reading the box tags to the auctioneer totally butchered everything about the marans box...

Sounds like you picked up some good finds Maybe try treating them with small pieces of bread, we do this with our chicks starting around 4-5 weeks- it helps get them through the wild phase LOL!

 

[gilavina]

I have a FBCM hen that has just started laying for the year. Why are the bumps appearing? They are under the paint layer, and are like calcium beads. Other hens lay without the adornment of beading. It breaks off with a bit of effort and is hard, like calcium.

haha...I have your twin egg at my place! I believe they are calcium deposits indeed.

Anyone that has dealt with squash bugs will get why it freaked me out when I collected mine a couple of days ago. The bumps and color remind me so much of squash bug eggs on the underside of squash plant leaves. There isn't too much I hate more than squash bugs. (we need a smilie that's freaking out haha)