Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Keara]

Keara, I'm sorry that was misleading. They are currently 8-9 weeks old. The photo is from 2 weeks ago. So they would be approximately 6 weeks old in the photo. That little silkie was having a problem growing, but we did research here at BYC, fed him scrambled eggs, and he is coming around (sorry I know this is a marans thread). Now the silkie is on the right track. It's sibling is about 3 times its size currently.

Anyways, so in that photo, the marans is about 6 weeks? Does that make more sense? I will try and get a photo of the marans today. What do you think about the eye sight thing? Or am I over reacting.

ok thanks for the clarity on the ages. You have a marans roo for sure. I would not worry about the eyesight unless it seems to get worse. I am betting he is just clumsy from growing so fast.... like my 8yr old son!

 

[Keara]

thebutress, sweety, this thread gets hijacked by silkies and potatoes all the time..... no worries! hope your little slow grower is doing better?

. An d I promise not to hijack with silkies again! I really was concerned about the marans vision, but now I am going to have to find him a nice home. We really can't have all these roos! Agh!

 

[thebutress]

Yes, my little slow grower is a feisty little thing. We carried it around all the time, because it used to cry so much. Now I realize it was really just hungry. We fed it scrambled eggs and I started to use the food processor on the chick food to make smaller pieces. Now its a little garbage disposal, it eats everything, pushes even the marans around. I don't use the food processor anymore and it eats just fine. It isn't much taller, but it is really fat and its feathers are just now starting to grow! At 8 weeks! Crazy. THe other silkie is completely feathered out!

 

[Debbi]

thebutress, sweety, this thread gets hijacked by silkies and potatoes all the time..... no worries! hope your little slow grower is doing better?

Mea Culpa!

 

[gilavina]

get storms down your way last night Debbi? The thunder was so loud it was shaking the house and the lightning was pretty scary! Just glad all the animals made it through the night, but still no baby goats. I think Ina is holding out on me....grrrr

 

[Debbi]

get storms down your way last night Debbi? The thunder was so loud it was shaking the house and the lightning was pretty scary! Just glad all the animals made it through the night, but still no baby goats. I think Ina is holding out on me....grrrr

Nope, nothing here last night. It was a warm, beautiful evening. Ina is holding out for some really bad weather, ya know? When I used to help my friend lamb her 200 ewe flock, all the ewes would wait until the coldest, wettest, ugliest nights to lamb!!

Oh yeh, and it always seemed to be at 2-3am!

 

[Cadeau]

Vicki - we had lots of thunder and lightening last night, too!

Hmmm....usually storms are the best time for babies being born!

Though, I'm waiting on a maiden pig right now...I don't know how long she's going to be able to hold them in - she looks ready to burst!!



As for potatoes - anyone grow them in a feed sack?
The guy down the road says you put them in a feed sack, along with compost.
Then, in the autumn (or when you want to eat them), you dump out the sack and wha-la- harvested potatoes the easy way.

Is it really THAT easy?

 

[Debbi]

Vicki - we had lots of thunder and lightening last night, too!

Hmmm....usually storms are the best time for babies being born!

Though, I'm waiting on a maiden pig right now...I don't know how long she's going to be able to hold them in - she looks ready to burst!!



As for potatoes - anyone grow them in a feed sack?
The guy down the road says you put them in a feed sack, along with compost.
Then, in the autumn (or when you want to eat them), you dump out the sack and wha-la- harvested potatoes the easy way.

Is it really THAT easy?

What are his feed sacks made of?? Down here, they all seem to have gone to the cheapo paper ones. I sure do miss the old burlap sacks!

 

[gilavina]

Nope, nothing here last night. It was a warm, beautiful evening. Ina is holding out for some really bad weather, ya know? When I used to help my friend lamb her 200 ewe flock, all the ewes would wait until the coldest, wettest, ugliest nights to lamb!!

that's what I'm afraid of.....we've had about four stormy nights in the last week and a half, and I prep each night for having to go out to help her...but nothing so far. She's definitely getting close. I'm just praying there are two to three little ones and not one big buck. I lost my doe Lilly last year because she had a giant buckling and he just tore her up. The vet tried to save her, but it was too badly damaged. So, I'm on my toes and watching her close.
I also had a bad day yesterday...one of my cats Gracie was run over and I found her as I was pulling out of the driveway onto the road to leave for work. Shouldn't bother me, she was just a barn cat, but I really liked her a lot. Well....went hunting for baby kitties we suspected she might have and found one giant orange tabby. He doesn't have his eyes open yet, but eats like a pig. He's a sweet little thing, but between the storms last night, waking up to feed baby and checking on Ina, I'm wiped out.
On the Marans front, I should have my Silver Marans chicks the week of the 28th...probably toward the end. I also am working on culling down and selling some of my extra ladies to some sales over the next three weeks. My young ones need room to grow!

 

[gilavina]

Vicki - we had lots of thunder and lightening last night, too!

Hmmm....usually storms are the best time for babies being born!

Though, I'm waiting on a maiden pig right now...I don't know how long she's going to be able to hold them in - she looks ready to burst!!



As for potatoes - anyone grow them in a feed sack?
The guy down the road says you put them in a feed sack, along with compost.
Then, in the autumn (or when you want to eat them), you dump out the sack and wha-la- harvested potatoes the easy way.

Is it really THAT easy?

I just want her to have her babies now, so I can stop worrying every night. I'm a big softie when it comes to animals.

I've heard of the feed sack potato method, but never tried it. What I do with the hay works really well, so I figure why reinvent the wheel here. I've got waaaay too much other stuff I'm trying to juggle at the moment