Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Vicki ~ Are you water logged up there?? Gees, more rain coming in tonight. Already have 6", and this place looks like a mud wrestling pit!

That is what it is like here in the Pacific North Wet for like 7 months out of the year, but this morning we woke up to 4" of snow atop of the mucky mud. Mmmmm Yum.....slushly muddy chickeny pooh snow....and the ground underneath the snow is not frozen as you think it might be. If one is not careful around here....the suction of the mud will take your boot or worse yet...both boots.

 

[hipeatall]

Come on little chickies!!!

overnight tally...3 BCM chicks hatched, 8 more pips or zipping ones, and 4 not doing anything yet (2 of those the clear ones I thought wouldn't hatch.)

I agree....Go Chickies!

 

[Debbi]

I can relate to losing both boots in the muck! Been there and then fell on my arse trying to catch my balance. Pretty, really pretty...NOT! At least we don't have snow here, I don't envy you that. We'll probably get snow next month....I'm waiting.

 

[flgardengirl]

hey Lenette...did you see at the sale I went to over the weekend that I picked up some black birchen pullets? I can't remember if you commented or not... I'm still workin on taming them down a bit so I can actually get some decent pics. All I've gotten so far is blurs. They are birds I'm realllllly interested in watching grow.

Some people have all the luck!! I can't wait to see them. Keep giving them treats and they will love you lol. The way to their little hearts is through their greedy little stomachs

 

[flgardengirl]

Get some of Wynette's eggs if you want to know sex right out of the shell! I swear, I could tell what they were when they dried off! 2 roos, 1 pullet! Combs were very obvious, and the wing feathering now confirms it.

I can tell alot of mine that way as well.
Then there is DH/s theory. He always says, "First one out is a roo!" Guess what? He's been right-even though we hatch mostly pullets LOL!

On the silkies, I know it was at least 2 different girls cuz one lays a little more tinted color than the other. Monkey see, monkey do with those silly girls!

The only boots I haven't managed to have pulled off in the muck are my bogs lol. I love those things but they are hard to remove.

 

[Debbi]

That's funny! I usually watch the "rockers", they all seem to end up being roos. My very first hatch, I had one huge chick pop out second in line, with a huge comb! I would've bet the farm it was a roo. SHE just laid me a lovely egg this morning!

 

[pinkchick]

That's funny! I usually watch the "rockers", they all seem to end up being roos. My very first hatch, I had one huge chick pop out second in line, with a huge comb! I would've bet the farm it was a roo. SHE just laid me a lovely egg this morning!

 

[kowgurl62]

Thank you, I think that is one of the 2 to 3 roosters I've decided to keep. He also may be the one with the white feather. It definitely could be from a pulled feather, because I have way too many roosters right now and they are all picking on each other. I wanted to wait until they were all a year old before I made a decision, so I've decided on 2 for sure. I picked up a birchen cockerel at a show who is just HUGE, but not colored properly. If the black coppers I have were as huge as the birchen, they would really be something.

Sometimes they get a white tail feather growing in right before they molt. See if it molts out and grows back in black. I have had two do this this spring. Another thing that can happen is a feather could be pulled out by another rooster and the new one will grow in white. If the feather is traumatically pulled and did not fall out naturally sometimes they can grow in white then come back in black after the next molt. I had this happen on 2 hens that got their neck and head feathers pulled out by roos. The new ones grew back in white then molted out to back to normal coloring.
BTW, That is a very nice looking rooster in your avatar photo from what I can see of him

 

[shesaredroan]

That is what it is like here in the Pacific North Wet for like 7 months out of the year, but this morning we woke up to 4" of snow atop of the mucky mud. Mmmmm Yum.....lushly muddy chickeny pooh snow....and the ground underneath the snow is not frozen as you think it might be. If one is not careful around here....the suction of the mud will take your boot or worse yet...both boots.

SO TRUE!!! Pink,
Down here in central TX it's the soil, that's good for growing cotton with lots of clay in the black dirt, that'll suck your boots/shoes right off.
As a kid, can't remember how many times I went home with only one shoe/boot, after playing around the ponds (down here most folks call them tanks, cause they are usually man made/dug). At least we didn't have to deal with snow....so walking home wasn't too bad.
I learned to walk slowly and (like Debbi) don't turn too quickly and slip and fall down. Trying to get up is a real problem.
Reminds me (while living in Vermont) of trying to get up after falling while cross country skiing...my friend and I would try and try to get up and end up laughing so hard as we watched each other struggling to get to our feet.
Glad our chicken family doesn't have these issues. LOL

 

[gilavina]

Vicki ~ Are you water logged up there?? Gees, more rain coming in tonight. Already have 6", and this place looks like a mud wrestling pit!

Its definitely been raining lots, but it still soaking up pretty ok. We're getting a reprieve today from the rain with lovely sunny weather. Bonus, I just got out of work and won't go back to later tomorrow afternoon...so I'm gonna be outside most of the day working on random stuff after I eat some lunch. Pretty much feels like every time I turn around I see something else I can work on.... such is life eh?