Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Has anyone tried this method for hatching?? I assume they are setting the temps at 99.5, and they said they were using the dry method, so humidity would be low. Never heard the bit about "no turning" for 7-8 days???

Let rest 24 hours prior to setting
Set in an upright position for seven days, no turning.
Start turning on 7-8 day, either upright or on side.
Turn till day 18
Move to hatcher
PRAY!!

I've done that before with shipped eggs. I don't do it with the eggs from here because they hatch pretty well. This time I ran the humidity on the lower side of the 20 to 30% the first 18 days and it really seems to be making a huge difference in the speed they are hatching. One minute I see a pip and then the next a chick!

 

[Debbi]

Good luck! Hope you don't get the storms tonight?? We had a good loud one this afternoon, but nothing crazy. Storms here for the next 2-3 days. I need to candle my Showgirl and Silkie eggs tonight. Hope to get something out of the SG eggs! They had a long (6 day), rough trip.

 

[gilavina]

Good luck! Hope you don't get the storms tonight?? We had a good loud one this afternoon, but nothing crazy. Storms here for the next 2-3 days. I need to candle my Showgirl and Silkie eggs tonight. Hope to get something out of the SG eggs! They had a long (6 day), rough trip.

yeah, its been blowing like mad all day today and storm's rolling through ,but hoping they hold off enough to get through this hatch and through being gone at the show all day tomorrow. I have 36 Ameraucana eggs in the incubator too that my uncle gave me, so I really don't want to lose them or the babies. I also am keeping my fingers crossed that my pygmy doe, Ina, doesn't decide she needs to kid while I'm gone tomorrow. She's getting close, that's for sure!

 

[ronott1]

Hi Debbi,

The part about not turning for 7-8 days should say 4-7 depending on air cell damage. It should also say for shipped eggs with damaged air cells. If the air cells look like not shipped eggs, then you don't need to leave them up without turning. Of great importance for these eggs is to not jar them for the repair time. The embryo is very fragile then, so don't candle them until day 8 or so. The other part is the dry hatch method and has been posted on BYC since 2008 or sooner. The 99.5 temp. is what the internal temperature of an egg should be. For a fan forced incubator, 99.5 is what the thermometer should say. For Still air, it should be lower at the bottom and higher at the top. Check the instructions for your incubator.

Yes! not turning shipped eggs makes a big difference. keeping the humidity lower for styrofoam incubators makes a big difference for them. I would not dry hatch in other types. Also, the amount of humidity varies with your area and other factors. Mine seem to do well if I keep humidity at 30 to 40% for the first 18 days and then 70-75% at lock down.

Ron

Has anyone tried this method for hatching?? I assume they are setting the temps at 99.5, and they said they were using the dry method, so humidity would be low. Never heard the bit about "no turning" for 7-8 days???

Let rest 24 hours prior to setting
Set in an upright position for seven days, no turning.
Start turning on 7-8 day, either upright or on side.
Turn till day 18
Move to hatcher
PRAY!!

 

[desertmarcy]

Marcy ~ While I would not call that a Squirrel tail, the sickle feathers look exceedingly long to me. I like his color, but he has too much coppering on his breast for me. That said, if you have a bunch of very dark hens with no copper, he should bring it out in the female offspring. The blade of the comb sits on his neck, it should stand off, but otherwise it looks good. All in all, I like him, it's the tail that throws me the most.

Yes, my hens are too dark, so I hope to get some nice pullets once the hordes of chicks I am raising are old enough to tell. I am getting quite a few mossy ones too, though. I wish there was a color chart for the feather colors, like there is for egg color. I have a problem telling "brassy" from "copper" from "mahogany". Can someone post a pic of a Black Copper Marans cock with a "perfect" tail??

 

[Debbi]

Yes, my hens are too dark, so I hope to get some nice pullets once the hordes of chicks I am raising are old enough to tell. I am getting quite a few mossy ones too, though. I wish there was a color chart for the feather colors, like there is for egg color. I have a problem telling "brassy" from "copper" from "mahogany". Can someone post a pic of a Black Copper Marans cock with a "perfect" tail??

Marcy, Check out the roo on the home page of the MCCU site. His tail has shorter sickle feathers, although I feel they could be shorter and the tail more full. His copper coloring though, is ideal in my opinion!! A perfect tail was the pic of the two birds on the home page of the French site, two awesome birds, but I can't find the link. Brassy would be with a more golden color, Copper would be like the roo in the link I gave, Mahogany would be a deep, dark redder shade (think older Penny as opposed to a new copper penny). http://marans.org/ Also, go to the SOP page and read what it says about the tail.

 

[Debbi]

Hi Debbi,

The part about not turning for 7-8 days should say 4-7 depending on air cell damage. It should also say for shipped eggs with damaged air cells. If the air cells look like not shipped eggs, then you don't need to leave them up without turning. Of great importance for these eggs is to not jar them for the repair time. The embryo is very fragile then, so don't candle them until day 8 or so. The other part is the dry hatch method and has been posted on BYC since 2008 or sooner. The 99.5 temp. is what the internal temperature of an egg should be. For a fan forced incubator, 99.5 is what the thermometer should say. For Still air, it should be lower at the bottom and higher at the top. Check the instructions for your incubator.

Yes! not turning shipped eggs makes a big difference. keeping the humidity lower for styrofoam incubators makes a big difference for them. I would not dry hatch in other types. Also, the amount of humidity varies with your area and other factors. Mine seem to do well if I keep humidity at 30 to 40% for the first 18 days and then 70-75% at lock down.

Ron

Thanks Ron, I had never heard of the not turning part before. I get shipped eggs for the majority of my stock, and I am sick to death of the poor hatch rates I've been getting! I've seen the "dry" method modified to basically 20% - 35% for the first 18 days, and anywhere from 50% - 70% for lockdown. I've tried just about every recipe there is, but never heard of the not turning, so will try that next time I get in shipped eggs. I also read her post about hatching them at an angle, according to the lean of the air cell, that makes sense as well. I am going to have to get a better candler, I can't see squat with the dark eggs!

 

[Debbi]

I've done that before with shipped eggs. I don't do it with the eggs from here because they hatch pretty well. This time I ran the humidity on the lower side of the 20 to 30% the first 18 days and it really seems to be making a huge difference in the speed they are hatching. One minute I see a pip and then the next a chick!

Seems the best hatch yet, with Silkies, I let the humidity flucuate between 25-35% for the first 18, then in lockdown bumped it to 55-60%. I let all shipped eggs "rest" in an egg carton for about 20 hours before setting in the bator. That hatch they all hatched pretty much together, that was way different from what I've had before! Typical hatch here with Marans can run 4 days! I want them to pop like popcorn!

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We just had a blue copper marans broody hatch her clutch. She hatched 6 out of 12. She broke two 5 days ago with no chick visible and 3 of the final 4 rattled when shook so I am assuming they were early deaths. I have had only 50% hatch rates when artifically incubating our own eggs with a lot of chicks dead in the shell.
Obviously the mama can't do any better :/
Last year we had 2 marans hens fight over eggs so badly that nothing hatched.
Is there any trick to helping the broodies hatch? We did notice that mama had brushed off much of the dark coating on some of the eggs. All were much lighter than when they originally were set.

 

[gilavina]

Seems the best hatch yet, with Silkies, I let the humidity flucuate between 25-35% for the first 18, then in lockdown bumped it to 55-60%. I let all shipped eggs "rest" in an egg carton for about 20 hours before setting in the bator. That hatch they all hatched pretty much together, that was way different from what I've had before! Typical hatch here with Marans can run 4 days! I want them to pop like popcorn!

Its been a steep learning curve with what to do here....but think finally after 2 1/2 years I've got it sorted out. I think I was worrying too much about keeping the humidity the first 18 days right around 30 to 35....they really do seem to do better for me here when I let the tray dry up and the humidity gets to 20...esp the last few days before I put them in the hatcher. Then I let it be 50 to 55 and when they start hatching they bump it to about 60. I was following the 70 to 75% last year and was drowning a lot more chicks than my heart could handle!
I can't wait to show you some of these chicks. They are big and chunky again! I'll be leaving them in til at least tomorrow night when I get back from the show. My hatches seem to run for about a day and a half if I'm lucky...but this last time where I let the humidity dip down more in the first 18 days I actually had 9 stragglers that hatched 2 days later. I was shocked!