Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Hens and Roos]

H&R,
Thank-you. They are breeding age around 16-20 weeks? I'm having a dilemma....Back in January I bought 1 hen, 2 pullets and the lady gave me a 3year old roo. He was just running around outside with no shelter..basicly coyote bait. Not a good option up here in Michigan. When I got him home he was very under weight, lethargic, his comb and wattles were frostbitten. I was able to nurse him back to health and he is now thriving. My little hen was bred by the ladies show bird, one she kept in the house. This chick is out of the show roo. So now what....keep the old boy who I gave a second chance or keep the young one that has been hand raised. How long will my old.boy remain fertile?

Are you able to post some pictures so that others can chime in with suggestions. Not sure how long a rooster will remain fertile, our roosters are all aroud 2 years old

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi EllieMae

I cant speak from experience on Marans but most breeds of LF Chickens remain fertile until at least 5-6 years if kept in pens, some giant breeds the fertility drops off younger but I suspect its from their weight. Your 3 yr should be good this year anyhow. You could use both, separate them for a few weeks to a month from the hens you want to breed to the other.

 

[DMRippy]

Has anyone ever figured out how many lumens you need to candle the really dark eggs???

I thought I was OK with 104, but my young girls are laying dark (yay!) and I can't see inside@

I have 120 and 400 lumens and with the 400 lumens... I can see some in some eggs. I have 2 layers that I can't see anything in the eggs. I can now tell there is life in them at 7 days... more red compared to a clear eggs. I just don't toss any marans eggs... I can't see what is going on. If they are clear at 14 days I will toss.

 

[gilavina]

I have 120 and 400 lumens and with the 400 lumens... I can see some in some eggs. I have 2 layers that I can't see anything in the eggs. I can now tell there is life in them at 7 days... more red compared to a clear eggs. I just don't toss any marans eggs... I can't see what is going on. If they are clear at 14 days I will toss.

same here...by day 14 you can see clear versus development to make better decisions on pulling eggs

 

[Elliemae 77]

OK, so....how do I post a pic? I have them uploaded into the default album but I don't know how to get it from there to a post.

 

[Debbi]

OK, so....how do I post a pic? I have them uploaded into the default album but I don't know how to get it from there to a post.

Left click on the pic you want to make it bigger. Once the bigger pic is up, right click on it, and copy. Then paste the copied pic to your thread on here.

 

[Cadeau]

haha - that's what I've been doing!
I just wait to see if there are any clear eggs, when they should be dark!!

Just hoping there was a better option (and I do SO love to watch the little eyeball "swimming" around in there!)

 

[gilavina]

hey ladies! How's the weather down your way Debbi? Its a wee bit stormy tonight...just one of the things I love about here is the views tho



I was hoping for more progress today, but am happy with what I got done...every day I've been spending time working on wittling down to just the best of my birds that I think will give me the best chances of offspring and it really is nice to see what I have left.

I'm also gonna need to get update pics on some of the chicks I hatched not quite 6 weeks ago now...they are getting huge and some of them are looking really nice!

 

[Debbi]

Neat pic Vicki! We are looking at some strong storms in the early morning hours. It has been gorgeous here lately! Still waiting on the Wheaten eggs, should be here tomorrow or Friday. I figured out some more with my camera, I'm not sure this is the right one for me. Got a great pic the other day of my Splash girl, Dopey, and can't get it to upload ANYWHERE! Not even onto a photo optimizing site! Strolling through the menu of the camera, I saw the setting was on "Fine", so I switched it over to Normal. Let's see if that doesn't help, otherwise, I don't know what to do??

 

[DMRippy]

I have pips! my first d'Uccles and an Olive Egger

oh YEAH Marans tooo lots in the hatcher over 2 doz I think. They have piped too just a couple. Maybe babies tomorrow. I have to move 2 set of chicks out of the brooder tomorrow to make room for these new ones.

Sold 1 roo and hopefully 2 more tomorrow.... that leaves one. What an I going to do with 1 roo?