Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

did ya see I got a couple more pics taken of my oldest chicks Kim? I'm working my way through them as I can. I haven't gotten more of the birchen girls from Kansas, yet, but will try this week still. Things at work are pretty stressful right now

 

[pinkchick]

Mel~ If you are out there.....we have 2 Olive Egger chicks (1 splash and 1 black), 1 Marans chick (a lovely little light blue copper) and another one feverishly working on getting out. The cute little buggers are doing great! Still have some more pips happening, will update more later when I get home.
Also wanted to tell you Mel, that the little black copper that I hatched from your last eggs is doing fine an she is turning into quite the lovely little pullet.


My first 3 Blue Laced Red Wyadottes from my girls are also here. 2 Splash and 1 Blue. They are sooooooo cute! 3 for 3 hatched. Can't wait to for the next batch of 15 to hatch.

Wonder if my Marans eggs and olive eggs that I set are going to do anything??? Haven't seen anything from them yet.

 

[pinkchick]

did ya see I got a couple more pics taken of my oldest chicks Kim? I'm working my way through them as I can. I haven't gotten more of the birchen girls from Kansas, yet, but will try this week still. Things at work are pretty stressful right now

Yes I did and I love love love the copper on that cockerel!!!!!!! Also...if that little Birchen pullet is causing and ruckus you can always send her to me....I'll straighten her out! She's a doll!

 

[pinkchick]

WELCOME TO THE NEW FOLKS!
Totally cool that there are sooooo many newbies poppin' in around here! Good to see Marans popularity growing. Marans will get a person... hook, line and sinker. They are little heart stealers!

 

[gilavina]

Yes I did and I love love love the copper on that cockerel!!!!!!! Also...if that little Birchen pullet is causing and ruckus you can always send her to me....I'll straighten her out! She's a doll!

haha....yeah I love the copper...so far the chicks (including the girls) out of both Big Boy and Gigantor have nice copper....I am so excited to see how they continue developing. I like that little birchen gal too, none of the birchen chicks are quite as beefy as the chicks out of my bcms and blue coppers, but I think I'm getting there. Just wait tho til you see those black birchen girls. They are giants now and growing everyday! Hopefully more pics asap. The other thing I like about that black copper boy is how nice his comb is.....only one has a comb with too few points, but other than that, he's a beauty, so we'll see.
I'm gonna try to get pics of the two splash birchen boys for ya too...they sure are lookers! And...I have my F1s for my start with birchen wyandotte large fowl. They are beauties!

 

[pinkchick]

Hens and Roos~ Those chickies sure are growing fast! Funny, I love Cuckoo chicks and think they are adorable....but for some reason I don't care for the Cuckoo's once they have matured. Is that wierd or what? Maybe I am Cuckoo? LOL!
Are the white ones in the photo Cuckoo's too?

 

[pinkchick]

Vicki~ I can't wait to see more of them! You could accidentally slip a photo of one of those Wy's in there for good measure too. I love me some Wy's! My Wy boy is going to a new home today as I am not very happy with his comb...but atleast I gave him a test shot. We will see how his offspring grow out. The gal that I got him from has another boy that is GORGEOUS and she has given me the offer of an indefinite rooster loan....I might just take her up on it. Have you ever crossed your Wy's and Marans Vicki? Wondering what kind of hefty monster they would make. I will be turning the Wy girls out with Bill and might just possibly hatch out some of their eggs once fertile by Bill. I bet the girls would be great layers. Would the boys be worth holding on to and butchering once old enough?????

 

[gilavina]

Vicki~ I can't wait to see more of them! You could accidentally slip a photo of one of those Wy's in there for good measure too. I love me some Wy's! My Wy boy is going to a new home today as I am not very happy with his comb...but atleast I gave him a test shot. We will see how his offspring grow out. The gal that I got him from has another boy that is GORGEOUS and she has given me the offer of an indefinite rooster loan....I might just take her up on it. Have you ever crossed your Wy's and Marans Vicki? Wondering what kind of hefty monster they would make. I will be turning the Wy girls out with Bill and might just possibly hatch out some of their eggs once fertile by Bill. I bet the girls would be great layers. Would the boys be worth holding on to and butchering once old enough?????

Where do you think my Birchen Wyandotte project came from?

The body types actually breed really well together. The feathers on the leg aren't a problem as I'm selecting only birchens with clean legs. The leg color will take a bit, but already in these F1 girls the bottoms of the feet are yellow, so that will really work well against the yellow legs on my splash and blue wyandotte boys. And indeed....they are hefty and blocky. I love how they look!

I'm really glad you have access to another Wy Roo to work with....I'm getting much stauncher about who gets to stay here and if they don't pass the inspection, they gotta go. period. Its the only way to be able to afford staying in it.

Oh...and the boys I believe will make just a fantastic butcher bird. They probably will still need more time to fill out, but I'm guessing somewhere between 18 and 24 weeks is what you'd be lookin at for timeline. If you can freerange or even give lots of your excess from the garden to them, I bet the meat would be really juicy and tender. I'm growing lots of kale, collards and swiss chard along with some other stuff, specifically for them this year

 

[gilavina]

alright....off to work, truck day, which mean lots and lots of unloading and heavy lifting. I'm gonna be tired! I'm praying it goes really smoothly so I'm out of work early. Usually can if all gets done!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Eggs set 3-31
Lockdown 4-18
Hatch started 4-20
Last chick hatched last night 4-22 and there is no other activity. When should I shut down the incubator and called it quits?

If you don't have any eggs pipped you could probably try and candle a few that are left and see if you can see any movement, probably pretty hard at this point. Have you taken the chicks out yet? I like to try and get our chicks out of the bator and in the brooder within the 1st 48 hours, they seem to do better for us. If you were able to remove the chicks,you could leave the eggs go another day. It's hard to say with other people's hatches as they are all different. We know that for our hatches everything that is going to hatch does so within the first 24 to 48 hours from the first pip. Hope this helps!