Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Lost another cuckoo marans chick over the night- DH went out this am and checked and found another cockeral who didn't make it.

The others are still feeling poorly- but not a piled together under the heat lamps and a few were moving toward water and food. Second day of treating them with Sulmet and hoping they pull through

I lost some babies last year due to a resistant strain of cocci. I switched to Corid from the Sulmet and it worked much much better. Sulmet is harder on thier system (intestines) than the Corid as well from the parasites causing lesions in the intestines thus the bloody feces that is seen in with cocci. The Sulmet is irritating to the intestinal lining which is already damaged by the parasite, more than the Corid is. Corid is supposed to treat all forms of cocci and Sulmet doesn't from what I understand.

 

[gilavina]

hey Lenette, any word on the Silver Marans hatch yet? I can't wait to get my chicks. I need to wrangle my wild bunches first. Gonna do some sorting tomorrow and separate the ones to go to the weekly sale a couple of towns away. That way I have room and am not wasting feed on ones I'm not seeing enough prospects in.

 

[thebutress]

Updated pic of our marans girl! HA! Here he is again. His name is copper and he's my daughters favorite. Don't really want to tell her we will be giving copper to the neighbors!





what gave it away to me was the copper tips of the wing feathers. i read somewhere on here that hens only have copper on their necks. I am not sure you can actually see the copper tips to well in this pic. Anyone want to tell me...that its a she??

 

[flgardengirl]

I just had one Silver Marans egg pip an hour ago. They aren't supposed to be due until tomorrow lol. I still have the silkie hatch going on in the other hatcher. Two little terds were born upside down and I had to end up helping one out of the egg about 4 am. There are still 3 silkie eggs to go.

 

[qball53]

Yes, they should be rounder in shape. I have had so many other problems, that egg shape isn't even on the long list yet! Some of the really round eggs are very hard to determine the air cell end, at least for me. Now, if you have a really bright candler, that would help. I would say both have to do with the egg color. If you have a hen that lays a dark egg, breed her to a roo with at least the same egg color, or the offspring's eggs will be lighter. Just what I have found here...

Ok new question though I am afraid I know the answer. We are new to Marans, we are building several flocks. Silver or Black Birchen, Blue Birchen, Wheaten, Blue Wheaten, and Splash. We actually got the splash first and have the most of those. Silver Birchens have just been laying a short while. The latest hen to start laying is laying the most round egg and it is the darkest. The other two hens are laying larger less round and much lighter eggs, no where near the six required for Marans. The splash lay the darkest eggs and they are rounded. For the Birchen that are laying the large oval shaped, like other eggs, color 5 or less, do we continue to breed them? What if they are the only hens showing silver in the hackles? If their type and color is good and we continue to breed them can the egg color of their chicks improve much? So far we only have purchased roos so we do not know the egg color of the roosters. I know these are questions only we can answer but wonder what others would do. Thanks, Mike

 

[Hens and Roos]

I lost some babies last year due to a resistant strain of cocci. I switched to Corid from the Sulmet and it worked much much better. Sulmet is harder on thier system (intestines) than the Corid as well from the parasites causing lesions in the intestines thus the bloody feces that is seen in with cocci. The Sulmet is irritating to the intestinal lining which is already damaged by the parasite, more than the Corid is. Corid is supposed to treat all forms of cocci and Sulmet doesn't from what I understand.

Can you switch from one to the other during treatment? I started treating with Sulmet because that is what I had on hand. Is the Corid a powder form that you mix into the water?

 

[gilavina]

I just had one Silver Marans egg pip an hour ago. They aren't supposed to be due until tomorrow lol. I still have the silkie hatch going on in the other hatcher. Two little terds were born upside down and I had to end up helping one out of the egg about 4 am. There are still 3 silkie eggs to go.

YIPEE...can't wait to see what you will get! I should be pretty well set up for the silvers with this shipment of chicks. I can't wait!

 

[pinkchick]

Hens~ Very sad! So Sorry! Hugs my friend! I used Sulmet when I was hit with Cocci. I noticed, the Sulmet can make them maybe have a little bloodier poops....and agree with Flgarden that it is a bit harder on their systems. The brighter side to that is that I noticed that they seem to perk up a little faster with the Sulmet. The thing I like about the Sulmet is that it is liquid and changed everyday. I think it is 1tablesponn to 1 gal of water for 3 days and then 1/2 tsp. for 2-3 days...can't remember exactly but not to take my word on it, the directions are on the back of the bottle. Careful with exposing the bottle to moisture or elements. I left it on the table I have outside for watering and cleaning buckets..in the rain for a few days while using it for treatment...and the plastic lettering stuff (ie...the dosage instruction) on the bottle seems to wash away. Constituted an un-necessary trip to town on my part because wouldn't you know it, I discovered this just as I needed it.................

 

[Coop de Grille]

Is there such a thing as a black maran cockerel without the copper? I have this one chick that was very funny looking, but is starting to look really cute. He is black with white on his chest and neck. I can't figure out if he is marans or a marans mixed, and if mixed, with what. If he is mixed, his daddy is a Wheaten Maran. My kids think he looks like Orville Reddenbacher lol

 

[flgardengirl]

Can you switch from one to the other during treatment? I started treating with Sulmet because that is what I had on hand. Is the Corid a powder form that you mix into the water?

It is a liquid and you can mix it in their water. It is okay to switch treatments. When I went through a horrid case of it last spring, I was originally using Sulmet and they kept dying I pm'd Dawg53 here on BYC because he is always so knowledgeable on the emergency forum and he said absolutely to get the Corid and it worked right away. I was in tears and devastated because I couldn't figure out wth was wrong that they kept dying even on Sulmet. It was a resistant cocci.

I now know our dirt is positive for it here so I treat babies with Corid at first sign. The broodies' babies never do get cocci because they are exposed to it right after they are born so I am going to start putting some chickenyard dirt in with the brooder babies' food right away this spring with my hatches and see if they become immune as well.
Some old time farmers used to do that.

The thing with the cocci is, in the spring or early summer when the weather is warming up and/or the indoor brooders are kept real warm the babies spill their water and then the warmth and the moisture poop combo makes the cocci expode with growth. Sometimes even if it isn't a resistant type, they can still get too many parasite in their systems and it can overcome the medicated foods. I had mine on medicated when this happened last spring.