Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

I'm hoping to get some chicks and birds sorted today for the sale this weekend and tuesday. Not sure which I'm going to take them to yet, but should really help to cut feed bill and get some space freed up for the crazy chicks I've got growing out now. The pen building has been put on hold yet again....due to rain/mud and my crazy work schedule. Its wearing me out...but we've hired two new people that will start training this week and a couple more being interviewed in the next day or two. I feel kinda bad, but not really, I've kinda stepped in to handle the situation, by kinda tellin my boss what to do, but I know nothing will get done if I don't.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Agreed Debbi. I don't use medicated chick feed anymore and have not lost a single chick. I also don't let chicks on the ground where adults are for the first month of their lives and it is a simple and effective preventative measure. By the time they are put on the ground, they have built up their immune system and works well for me. I just use old rabbit hutches to house the chicks for the first few weeks.

Our young chicks are raised in our work garage and only join the adults if they have been picked to stay. This happens around 5 months of age or so. I guess every year hatching is a little different.

 

[gilavina]

Is it hot up your way Vicki?? Yesterday got to 90* here, thankful for a nice breeze. Went shopping, and got some tomatoes, and Cayenne pepper plants, and some Parsley and Basil seeds. Had to make a chicken wire cage for the window boxes for the herbs, as both chickens and cats like to lie in the boxes! Put a stop to that! Then went on to whack the weeds out of the garden, AGAIN, and today I will till, clean out the coop and till again! Looks like another hot one here today...

yesterday it was hot, but also so stifling humid and still that it felt like you were walking through soup...really hard to breathe too. Its not too bad so far this morning, but still humid, just not as bad. CRAPPP! I forgot I still have seeds to send you! I am so behind on everything!

Sounds like you got a ton done yesterday! Hoping I'll be half as productive as you were.

 

[gilavina]

Sitting here with the front door open. Pip got used to coming to the door, and would stand there and watch the TV! I swear he is addicted to my Soap Opera!

Well, since the antenna went out, no TV. Now he is here standing in the doorway, and whining. "What's up? Turn on the tube!!"

haha that's hilarious!

 

[gilavina]

Our young chicks are raised in our work garage and only join the adults if they have been picked to stay. This happens around 5 months of age or so. I guess every year hatching is a little different.

hmmm.... that stinks! Are you using medicated feeds?

 

[Hens and Roos]

hmmm.... that stinks! Are you using medicated feeds?

this group of cuckoo chicks was the only group to get medicated chick starter but I switched them over to non-medicated when I started treating them at the start of the week. The earlier groups were fed non-medicated feed and they had mild cases and we treated them. That is why we went back to using medicated starter- we used medicated started last year and no problems. I am hoping that each day that they make it going forward they will pull out of it. This group has always been away from the other chicks in their own separate dog crate and I am able to keep the shaving cleaner and removing any waste so that they hopefully don't keep re-infecting themselves.

Working at home again today so I am able to monitor them closely.

 

[Debbi]

The neighbors are going out of town for a few days, and they asked if I would store their ATVs and a bike in my garage while they were gone. No problem, so the boys brought them down yesterday. They helped me get my tiller out from under the lean-to, and then they wanted to see the chickens. They freaked when they saw the Silkies! As I explained what they were, and then the Marans came into the line of questioning, I asked if they had ever seen a Marans egg. Just so happened, one of the pullets laid a so-so colored egg, but still darker than what they were used to with RIR.

The younger one wanted to know if they tasted like Cocoa!

Then the question came around as to why the hens backs were getting bare. Some are just coming out of molt, but mostly because the roos are, uh, frisky. The younger one then says, "gee, you sure know a lot about chickens. Right now, I don't have much time for them any more, but I figure when I'm YOUR age, I'll probably start up with them again. I should have a lot of time by then!" Ouch...

 

[Debbi]

yesterday it was hot, but also so stifling humid and still that it felt like you were walking through soup...really hard to breathe too. Its not too bad so far this morning, but still humid, just not as bad. CRAPPP! I forgot I still have seeds to send you! I am so behind on everything!

Sounds like you got a ton done yesterday! Hoping I'll be half as productive as you were.

Aww, don't worry about it, you can do it next year. I've already got more than I can handle here. Tomatoes, Squash, Cukes, Peppers, Herbs, Pumpkins, and hopefully potatoes.

 

[gilavina]

this group of cuckoo chicks was the only group to get medicated chick starter but I switched them over to non-medicated when I started treating them at the start of the week. The earlier groups were fed non-medicated feed and they had mild cases and we treated them. That is why we went back to using medicated starter- we used medicated started last year and no problems. I am hoping that each day that they make it going forward they will pull out of it. This group has always been away from the other chicks in their own separate dog crate and I am able to keep the shaving cleaner and removing any waste so that they hopefully don't keep re-infecting themselves.

Working at home again today so I am able to monitor them closely.

I sure hope they keep getting better for you! I was always taught cocci was something that was found in the soil or building materials like wood and etc, so it surprises me a bit you are having such difficulty with them in the brooders...I wonder if weather is indeed a factor or if there are other variables I'm unaware of. I rarely have trouble and usually it will be just one here or there in the past, so it makes me curious to see if you find the solution to the problem, so you don't have to go through this much more.

 

[gilavina]

Aww, don't worry about it, you can do it next year. I've already got more than I can handle here. Tomatoes, Squash, Cukes, Peppers, Herbs, Pumpkins, and hopefully potatoes.

yarg! I might still get them out to you, and you can just hold onto them for next year. I do highly recommend growing potatoes....they are easy and there is nothing like fresh potatoes!