Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

^^ yeah that, what's the mustard trick?

blow out the yolk on an egg and fill it with salt and mustard and close up the holes, then plant it in the coop. Solves the problem pretty often, as its not exactly the flavors they were looking for haha

 

[Debbi]

So, a bale of hay is good entertainment for chickens? You just put it in there & let them go to town? Do they eat it or just play with it? Sounds fun

& someone commented on hanging cabbag? Like, from a string? We get lots of cabbage scraps here... So they don't really think of it as a treat, I don't think... But they might if I hang it?

My chickens will entertain themselves for days on a bale of hay, or straw for that matter! I found this out by accident, when I left a bale of straw outside of my garden last year. I went into the house for a couple of hours, and when I came back out to spread the straw in the garden, the 15 or so chickens had dismantled the whole bale! Straw everywhere!! BAD chickens! But that only makes it seem like more fun for mine!

Then I rake it up and either put it in the garden or the coop. Helps the garden because it acts like a mulch, and the birds have cleaned out most, if not all of the seeds! I will ad this, if you leave the bale whole, make sure it is baled with WIRE and not twine. The wire won't come apart, but some of them choose to chew the twine, or I feared they may get tangled in it. So, only use wire baled straw or hay, or else cut the twine off the bale.

 

[Elie mea]

I can only go by the two breeds I have here; Marans and Silkies. All of my birds start panting at about 85*. Make sure they have shade, fresh, cool water at all times, and a dry spot to dust bathe in. I see you are in OK, so you know what humidity is! My birds all head for a dry dust bath when it gets very humid, perhaps it dries the humidity off of them? If I put out a mist of water for them, they all avoid it like the plague, and of course that makes the area more humid.  Seems mine can handle the heat far better than the humidity. If push comes to shove, and it gets really hot, put a fan in their coop for them. Last summer was wicked hot and humid here, and all of my birds made it through.

Thanks for answering my hen act like they are having a heat strok they pant and just sis a lot ing the late afternoon the heat don't seem to bother my Roos tho. They have plenty of water and can go in the barn if the want I don't know why they insist on being in the sun

 

[Debbi]

Thanks for answering my hen act like they are having a heat strok they pant and just sis a lot ing the late afternoon the heat don't seem to bother my Roos tho. They have plenty of water and can go in the barn if the want I don't know why they insist on being in the sun

Because they are nosy Marans hens! Mine never want to miss a trick, they are always in the midst of everything that goes on here.

 

[SIMZ]

Hello all! I was wondering if I could get some advice from you? Hopefully this is a good place to ask this. I've learned an important lesson today about trading birds, but now I have to make some decisions.

I picked up two boys from a craigslist ad. I was hoping to use one as a rooster for my girls, and the second was thrown in for free. They're between 8-12 weeks and I notice they both have slightly crossed beaks. I've heard about that but never seen it in any of my chickens. Their previous owner said he hatched them from eggs on eBay.

So......what to do? I'm watching them and they seem to eat and drink a little differently. Is this a genetic thing that they'll pass on? Will this get progressively worse or stay the same as it is now? I DO NOT want to introduce that into my birds, so do I just need to put them on my cull list?

Thanks for your input........

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Hello all! I was wondering if I could get some advice from you? Hopefully this is a good place to ask this. I've learned an important lesson today about trading birds, but now I have to make some decisions.

I picked up two boys from a craigslist ad. I was hoping to use one as a rooster for my girls, and the second was thrown in for free. They're between 8-12 weeks and I notice they both have slightly crossed beaks. I've heard about that but never seen it in any of my chickens. Their previous owner said he hatched them from eggs on eBay.

So......what to do? I'm watching them and they seem to eat and drink a little differently. Is this a genetic thing that they'll pass on? Will this get progressively worse or stay the same as it is now? I DO NOT want to introduce that into my birds, so do I just need to put them on my cull list?

Thanks for your input........

Crossbeak is more than likely genetic and definitely NOT something you want in breeding stock. So far, I've culled all my crossbeaks as younger chicks.

 

[SIMZ]

Thank you, BarnGoddess. That's what I figured. Next time I'll do a better job checking the chickens over. Live and learn. They're such handsome, nice little guys.......it's sad.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:

RUh-RO 'Raggy!!! *Argh, tried inserting a funny scared smiley and it won't work.....*
Becky got that info yesterday!

 

[DMRippy]

well...got back and ended up with 3 ladies from Anna. Two blues and a splash. They are lovely and big. I also got 5 chicks, 3 cockerels and 2 pullets from her blue cuckoo project, but are the ones that show little to no patterning so I can test them with my solid blue girls and work on them.

I think Becky may have come through with some help in my Cuckoos. I got a blue roo, with very little pattern on his hackles and saddle feathers and he has feathered legs and he came from a darker egg

Now what? My guess is he will be like a sex link, only one copy of the barring genes..... so I am thinking of putting him with my feathered pullets/hens and keeping only the cuckoo pullets with feathered legs. Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration........ I KNOW .... NOW YOU WANT PICTURES.....

 

[DMRippy]

Hatch update..... Kim.... I only got 1 black copper. I have not looked it over yet, but I think it is a pullet. 5 BLRW (1 splash, 2 blue and 2 black) 3 Lavenders 2 splits, a blue cuckoo with feathered legs and it is a pullet...... (now if that GOLD will not show up

) EE and Olive Eggers, Wheaten Am.... and many others too. 50-70 chicks I think.

Becky got her chick back.... she thinks it is Wheaten.... I do to. It looked a lot like my Wheaten AM I hatched at the same time.

It was a good day I gave roos away, took 2 roos back home and accidentally bought 22 white guinea keets

it just happened.