Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

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lol..... they give me that look because they know I'm about to pick them up!

Thanks Debbi.

 

[Debbi]

It was a real pretty day here today, about 80 and sunny! Thought I'd bring ALL of the different aged chicks together (14 weeks, 9 wks, 4 wks.). Of course, I seperated the youngest ones with an enclosure. They are 4 weeks tomorrow, and this was their first jaunt outside. Poor Pip, the cockerel without a country, was put in with the little ones. He was the only one to hatch in his clutch, a single child if you will, and is a real Mama's boy. I pulled up a chair to watch the fiasco unravel. Pip is 2 1/2 times the size of the little ones, but still a good 1 1/2 times smaller than the older ones. He does not fare well with the big chooks, they want to kill him, and he will not stand up to any of them, so in with the younguns he went. Now, in the young group of 5, there are 3 cockerels and 2 pullets. Two of these young cocks are very promising looking, to me anyway. Pip is mellow, so he blended in well with them...at first. He was checking them out one by one, when he came upon Clyde. Clyde is named for his Clysdale type shank feathering

Pip made the first move, and gave Clyde a gentle tap on the head, really, it was gentle. Clyde EXPLODED in Pip's face! This little thing jumped up to Pip's height and let poor old Pip have it! Mucho macho chest bumping and pecking! You would think with his size advantage that Pip would've put a stop to it, but he didn't, he just ran. And so it went for the next couple of hours, and then Clyde would make it a point to chase Pip! Then, the older chooks came to watch and check things out. One of the pullets stuck her head through the wire of the little pen and went to swipe a peck at Clyde. WRONG MOVE! Gees, this little guy is a gangsta!! He jumped into her face through the wire and ran her off. So the fiasco went.. he, Clyde, even challenged the big roo Fuglee, so he is not a welcomed member to their little flock. Guess it's time to start cracking on the next chicken coop, cause these 3 bunches aren't going to get along ever at this point! On the plus side, Pip did get to interact with some chooks, and the majority of them were nice to him. They even went into the house together in one cage. The little ones really got a kick out of the bucket waterer, and pecked the tar out of it! In the sun, I could notice one of the pullets in this bunch is going to be mossy, but so far, only on one side of her breast?? The other pullet is looking very nice conformation-wise, so I hope her coloring will be good. Never had a mossy one yet, so we'll see how she turns out. Names came to mind for this group today: Roy, Clyde, Slick, Mossy, and Flossy. Once everyone calmed down, they were having a field day with a bunch of young crickets that must've just hatched. Everyone is pooped this evening!

I can see Clyde will be getting a lot of Mama handling as of today! Don't want that gangsta after me!!

 

[poularde]

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Thank you Wynette! I see that dog every day for the past eight years and I still want to hug and squish him. He even lets me! Your Rudy is beautiful.

 

[math ace]

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Since these bcm will be 3 months old next week and they were from greenfire farms, then they should be pure bev davis. So, I am glad to see some pics of bcm stock from greenfire since Bev got involved. Do any of them have the pumpkin orange eyes yet ? ? From the pics, I did not see the expected eye color, but maybe they are too young OR the lighting played tricks on them .
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The first roo seems to have the right color of copper, but he seems to have too much coloring on his chest. Your favorite roo has the right amount of coloring, but it is light in coloring.

Maybe we could use your birds pink to try out the pinched or not pinched tails that Don has been talking about . . . .

Edited to adjust the quote symbol

 

[Debbi]

Math Ace,

My birds eyes looked like that 3 weeks ago, now at 14 weeks, they are all "pumpkin" colored. I think Pink's bird's eyes will darken as well.

 

[The Point]

Oh Debbi! What fun! One of my favorite things to do is watch the babies get to know each other. It never fails to entertain me.

I just moved my 3 month old Wynette cockerels into their own bachelor pad. The testosterone kicked in hard all of the sudden. They started picking the little boys up by the back of the necks just for fun. The little ones are looking so content now, little kings of their own pen. Quick question to all... at what age do your girls have all the copper in their neck?

 

[Debbi]

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Me too! They are so funny!! Wish within 2 hours time I could get some decent pics!

They are all too fast and REFUSE to pose no matter what I do. Candid shots seem to last just a nano-second, and either my camera or me (ME!) are too slow to respond. It's time to call "the boys" to come help me with the next coop! Section it off for brooders, breeders, and layers/roos. Let's face it, my first eggs won't be here till SPRING!!!!

 

[pinkchick]

Debbi~
Young as they are they are somewhat playing but also working out a pecking order. Given enough time they will work it out......but don't let them work it out to the point of aggression that causes injuries and I know you won't cause Mamma loves 'dem babies!

Math~

Yes, they are from Bev's birds. They are still young and I won't expect eye color to change for about another 6-8 weeks. Just wait until you see the ones that have very dark eyes. I watch the birds that have the greenish/gray colored eyes from hatch, in my experience by about 6-8 weeks I can see who is going to have dark eyes, I watch them in hopes that they will change but I have found they may lighten up BUT they are always still too dark. The greenish/gray eyed ones always seem to be the ones who have pumpkin eyes or some of them have ended up having too light of eyes like a very bright yellowish pumpkin, I guess you could say that almost glows. I have a gal like that and will try to get a good photo of her eye for you.

You can discuss/use them for anything that you would like.........learn and discuss away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that I noticed one that may have that pinched tail. Will try to get photos of that too.
I have been working on gathering some photos of my culled birds and getting them posted as well for everyone to see and I was going to post why they were culls in my eyes...if anyone ever wonders why it looks like I'm always online?????? Trying to load photos via dial up baby....oh yah!!!!

I have no hope for the first roo.....he has what I think of as a squirel tail. Will get that photo up for ya someday too!

My fav boy.........my guess is he may end up coloring like Gnarles in hackles.
Theres another brother too!

 

[math ace]

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What you describe with eye color is what I have experienced ( in my little bitty experience) too. When I picked up my two yound roos they were about a month old. The one had pumpkin eyes already and the other was black as coal. I purchased him and took the risk that the eyes would chang with time. At four months, his were still black as coal.

My liitle girls were that greenish / gray color and changed to orange as they matured.

That you for letting us use you photos to carry on Don's tail lesson.

 

[Debbi]

Pink,

I do watch for the difference in the pecking order type pecks and the "I'm gonna kill ya" hunts. Pip had the gang of the 4 older birds get him in a corner when I stepped out of the run for 2 minutes, after they had been in together for at least 3 hours. They all cornered him and beat the crap out of him. Pip played possum so well, I thought he was dead! Even when I picked him up, he didn't move, till I said, "oh, my poor Pip". The eyes then opened and he started his "mama trilling" to tell me of his sad story! The older birds now will go after him immediately when he enters the run, and Pip won't stand up for himself. This older bunch is treacherous, and they all get a "hawk-like" posture when stalking. Talk about a pinched tail, they ALL display that well while in this mode! With the temporary pen left up tonight, I caught all of the older birds for some "alpha" holding. The pullets are MUCH worse than the roo! Fuglee will drop now when I say "stop!", and let's me pick him up, hold and carry. The pullets all put up a MAJOR fight, but they all got hold time tonight. Pip with the young chicks was definately a "pecking order" kind of thing, and I just let that one play out. They all calmed down after a few bouts, but little Clyde wasn't going to be defeated. Pip is shy of chickens, and I give that to being a lone chick for so long. He is looking better to me these days, so he will probably be destined to live with the two pullets in the young group, at least until he finds his manliness

. Sigh...