Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Barngoddess and Christie~
What genetics books did you both get? I know you have both probably said it before but I either missed it or can't remember.

Barn~ Hows the silkies in the bator?

 

[pinkchick]

Debbi~ I think I saw that Olivia has gone broody........WOOOOOOOHooooOOOT!!!!! I hope she does an awesome job for you! Crossing my fingers bigtime!!!!!

 

[DMRippy]

Hi Marans FRIENDS!!!!!!!!! Been really busy with the stuff of life around here and been missing my favorite BYC thread alot alot alot!!! Haven't even had time to go back and read up on what everyone has been up to.
Been transplanting veggie starts into bigger containers as they out grew the smaller ones sitting in the greenhouse patiently waiting for the rains to subside so they can go into the garden...but I fear the rains will hang on to their lead for a while longer this spring, so the veggies will just have to suffice in the greenhouse. Been working in the gardens building raised beds and have a little left to do on them, then will construct their temp. hoop houses for each one.

Had a great hatch last weekend with the Marans...already sold most of them. Think I still have about 11 left if anyone over here near me in Portland or SW Washington are looking for some.

All 4 of those really really dark eggs that I got from that Black Copper hatched and they are all doing great. 1 Black Copper and 3 Blue Coppers. Thinking I lucked out and got 2 males and 2 females.

3 Wellies hatched, 2 boys and one 1 girl and I am very stinkin' excited about that...they could have all been boys and I still would have been thrilled. Hoping beyond hope that one of them turns out very nice. I think they will probably both turn out nice due to their parentage. I can't wait to have a Wellie rooster again. Chicken life without a Wellie boy around here has sucked.

3 Barnies hatched, one died after hatching, one pipped a good size hole and then started bubbling/foaming from the beak, so I put it down. The other 2 Barnie babies (both pullets) are doing great....except one of them had a slipped tendon upon hatch and I have been nursing her back to her feet. Day before yesterday I was finally able to get the vet wrap hobble just right to keep the tendon in place and now she is up running around and causing havoc. She of course will not be breeding stock due to this problem, but she will be one spoiled rotten layer. She is a little sweetie.

Hope you all are doing great!



Whose hatching on Easter?????????

Mine are due Monday, but will start on Sunday I am sure.

 

[Debbi]

Debbi~ I think I saw that Olivia has gone broody........WOOOOOOOHooooOOOT!!!!! I hope she does an awesome job for you! Crossing my fingers bigtime!!!!!

Yes! How ironic, I buy Silkies for some broodies, and my Marans goes broody! I am not happy with where she is, very vunerable place, not to mention, she is right up next to my rototiller, and I have to get it out to till the garden! She has about 2 dozen eggs under her, and I have no idea how long it's been there. Yesterday would've been her first full day of setting....so, do I now count 21 days from that?? Never had a broody except for a bantam BR years ago, and she left the property to have hers! Do I try to move Olivia?? She is under a tarp, under a lean to, and I'm afraid the heat is going to be unbearable there, not to mention she is open to predators. I guess we'll see what happens when I move the tiller today, although it's going to be a real task, as I will have to pull it forward by the tines to get it out and not run over the nest!

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, all! Life definitely takes us away at times...I've missed chatting w/you guys, too!

My incubator's been going nonstop for many, many months, and I'm now putting it up for awhile. I need to do just a few more very small hatches, but am going to take a break for a bit! As much as I love the babies, I'm overun & they are a ton of work! I'm tired!!

I'm expecting 4 ducklings a week from tomorrow - I've never had water fowl before, so this will be a whole new thing for me! Pretty exciting!

 

[Debbi]

Good morning, all! Life definitely takes us away at times...I've missed chatting w/you guys, too!

My incubator's been going nonstop for many, many months, and I'm now putting it up for awhile. I need to do just a few more very small hatches, but am going to take a break for a bit! As much as I love the babies, I'm overun & they are a ton of work! I'm tired!!

I'm expecting 4 ducklings a week from tomorrow - I've never had water fowl before, so this will be a whole new thing for me! Pretty exciting!

Hi Wynette,

Baby ducks are so cute, good luck with them. I love watching ducks on other people's property, they are too messy for me.

The chicks I hatched from your eggs are 3 weeks old already, and getting big! I've got two batches of eggs now going in the bators, and at least one or two more hatches planned. Then there is the chance that Olivia will hatch a bunch! At least now I am finding more outlets for my culls, so that takes lots of stress off the feed bill!

 

[pinkchick]

Hello Ms. Wynette!!!!!!!

I am also sooooooooo ready to turn off the 'bator but I still have many chick orders to fill. It will probably not be turned off for the next couple of months.

Debbi~

I would move her.......do you have an dog crate or carrier that you could move her to?
I have good luck with a dog crate for broodies if I don't have any other space for them. I have a 6 'x 6' chain link dog kennel with a gate that I put a roof on and I can take a big crate into it and put the broody and her eggs into it and leave the door to the crate closed for the first day so that she has to settle down on her eggs because she is liable to be miffed that she was moved, but as long as she can see her eggs she should want to get right back on them after she has paced and squawked off a little aggression over the move.
I would start my count from the first full day she sat.

 

[Debbi]

Thanks Kim! I have hopes for her being serious. The night me and the dog found her, she lept off the nest and ran to the coop. I watched her the next morning when I let them all out, and she went straight to the eggs and sat all day. I was thinking of making her a small pen within the run so the other nosy girls don't bother her. I'm thinking that Bad Charlotte may have contributed some eggs to the pile too, there are two different colored eggs in there. Guess I'll get going and put together that other little crappy coop I bought a while ago. Either that, or will have to kick the Silkie chicklets out of their crate, and supply them with a smaller one, since now I am two less with them, and one more is on his way out. Guess it's all part of the chicken math equations, but it's starting to act more like algebra!

 

[Christie Rhae]

Barngoddess and Christie~
What genetics books did you both get? I know you have both probably said it before but I either missed it or can't remember.

Barn~ Hows the silkies in the bator?

The one I am reading is called Genetics of Chicken Colours. Very easy to understand!

 

[gilavina]

mornin all... its a windy windy cool day here, but managed to get some more gardening done, round one of worming done and will repeat next tuesday. I also prepped my next set of eggs for the incubator. I ended up losing one of my best blue girls the other day and so I'm going to set eggs from the nests in her group from the last few days and hope that some of them were hers. She had a run in with a fence panel falling on her and as much as I nursed her, I think she had internal damage. I've been pretty bummed about it. I really, really liked her.

I should have expected at some point that construction and all that would have an affect...I just wish it wouldn't have been her. Now, the birds are mad at me that they don't get to come out on work days...but its safer!