Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Barb~ I was looking at a 6 mos. old male Black Copper male (clean legged

) (I just can't seem to get rid of my extra cockerels right now......come next weekend I hope to return very empty handed after going to the bird auction...keep your fingers crossed) anyway, he has purple sheen and green sheen. The purple sheen is gorgeous. I have been doing some reading regarding the purple and green and the information I am able to find is good stuff. Thanks again for sharing that.

Debbi~ I will find out about the bird auction next weekend as that is when we plan to go. I sure hope I can off load all these extra birds. I have come to really like keeping my numbers to 30 adult birds instead of 150+. Much easier.

haha what?! 150+ is overwhelming?! haha I don't know if I'll ever be down to 30 adult birds, but I do hope to get to somewhere around 50 for my stock when I finally go through all the chicks to see who makes the cut for next year's breeding season.

Speakin of which, i've got some more photos of my middle hatch to get and to start sorting through the youngest hatch to get ready for the sale here next tuesday. I also need to work on building some more if time allows today. Chicks are on the grow again, so need to get some moved once again.

 

[pinkchick]

Horrible stinky sucky hatch the last couple of days. 3 chicks zipped all the way around the shell and then died. 4 didn't even try to do anything. Still have 1 little Barnie chick working on getting out and 10 Barnie babies running around with 7 fluffy Marans.

 

[gilavina]

Horrible stinky sucky hatch the last couple of days. 3 chicks zipped all the way around the shell and then died. 4 didn't even try to do anything. Still have 1 little Barnie chick working on getting out and 10 Barnie babies running around with 7 fluffy Marans.

think it had to do with humidity?

 

[pinkchick]

Vicki~

I enjoyed having that huge number of birds to choose from when need be but I don't miss the work load they required. 30 adults and 3 brooders and 2 grow out pens for right now are good 'nuff. When the brooders and grow out pens are empty.....I will be happy.

Geese-ies are settling in great....but Mamma goat (my oldest goat and head of the herd) DOES NOT and I repeat, DOES NOT like the geese. She charges and huffs and puffs and tries to head bunt them. BAD Mamma Goat!

No signs of baby goaties yet....but think she is starting to slack up, I can see the difference in the hind quarter area and the belly is starting to look a tad droopy. Today after I get home I will be getting the nursery area finished up.

Love surprises!

 

[pinkchick]

Even now still in the shells in the 'bator...(because I still have 1 hatching, I haven't opened it yet) you can see the membrane is acceptably moist.No chickies were stuck at all, I kept humidity at 65%. Do you think I should have raised it even higher?

 

[gilavina]

Vicki~

I enjoyed having that huge number of birds to choose from when need be but I don't miss the work load they required. 30 adults and 3 brooders and 2 grow out pens for right now are good 'nuff. When the brooders and grow out pens are empty.....I will be happy.

Geese-ies are settling in great....but Mamma goat (my oldest goat and head of the herd) DOES NOT and I repeat, DOES NOT like the geese. She charges and huffs and puffs and tries to head bunt them. BAD Mamma Goat!

No signs of baby goaties yet....but think she is starting to slack up, I can see the difference in the hind quarter area and the belly is starting to look a tad droopy. Today after I get home I will be getting the nursery area finished up.

Love surprises!

haha I was just teasin ya! Birds are sure a lot of work indeed and it will be happy when the brooders and chicks are grown so I can pick from the few of each I've held back to keep over winter. More than likely I will be replacing a few of my adults with these younger ones as they have better attributes.

Has the tail on the doe started to droop yet? When it starts being more droopy and then finally when they aren't raising the tail at all, you can feel on the bone right in front of the tail periodically and feel how its totally turned to jelly...that's when you know you are are super close

 

[gilavina]

Even now still in the shells in the 'bator...(because I still have 1 hatching, I haven't opened it yet) you can see the membrane is acceptably moist.No chickies were stuck at all, I kept humidity at 65%. Do you think I should have raised it even higher?

sounds like the humidity was about right....sometimes I wonder about hatches that don't go well....what it was that caused it... just one of those things I suppose.

How's the birchen eggs coming along? I've had mine in since Monday...had a slight spike in temps on tuesday while I was gone due to the 105 heat index here...I'm hoping it won't affect the development too much since its this early in the process.

 

[Wynette]

I think hatching has a ton to do with your altitude, and that once you figure out "what works" for your area, just stock to it. I run my humidity from day 19 on at about 70, but I don't increase it until day 19. I also turn through day 19 - that works for me.

 

[gilavina]

I think hatching has a ton to do with your altitude, and that once you figure out "what works" for your area, just stock to it. I run my humidity from day 19 on at about 70, but I don't increase it until day 19. I also turn through day 19 - that works for me.

that's true enough....I live in the land of the flat...so didn't think about that haha

 

[pinkchick]

I know you were teasin'....no worries.

Birchen eggs are doing good, or were when I put the current hatch into lockdown. I candled several and could see good veining. I will re-candle when I remove this hatch and clean, also it is time to move them down to the next tray so it all works out great. I was super excited to see veining at about 5-6 days and especially in the few that I picked up. Usually with shipped eggs I don't expect to see much of anything let alone 7 or more good ones in a row. Keeping my fingers crossed for our Birchens.

Tail is not droopy, she is still carrying it pretty much normal. I just want to get the nursery area done for her so that if I have to be gone for any reason I can leave and know that she is atleast in an area where the others won't bother her.