Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[chisNchickens]

Hi everyone, I have never posted here but have been reading the thread off and on for a while. I have a question...first I will share my sob story in that I ordered chicks last spring and ended up with five cockerels and one pullet - we lost a few probably all pullets. (I also have a splash pullet that was a throw in). Anyway, a couple of months ago I was thrilled to find my splash pullet laying and found a lovely dark speckled egg. She layed one the next day and then never again. What is up with that? My bcm pullet is laying too and I can't even tell her egg from my barred rocks:-( And this isn't a hatchery bird. Sigh. Is this common? And why would my splash lay two eggs and then stop? Is this common too?
Here is the cockerel I kept. I don't have a pic of the pullet, she is solid black with no copper at all and is HUGE. Should I attempt to breed the two or not bother since her eggs are so light? Should I just order more chicks and try again? I am only interested in pretty eggs at this point...not the SOP. Thanks!

 

[vebyrd36]

Hi everyone, I have never posted here but have been reading the thread off and on for a while. I have a question...first I will share my sob story in that I ordered chicks last spring and ended up with five cockerels and one pullet - we lost a few probably all pullets. (I also have a splash pullet that was a throw in). Anyway, a couple of months ago I was thrilled to find my splash pullet laying and found a lovely dark speckled egg. She layed one the next day and then never again. What is up with that? My bcm pullet is laying too and I can't even tell her egg from my barred rocks:-( And this isn't a hatchery bird. Sigh. Is this common? And why would my splash lay two eggs and then stop? Is this common too?
Here is the cockerel I kept. I don't have a pic of the pullet, she is solid black with no copper at all and is HUGE. Should I attempt to breed the two or not bother since her eggs are so light? Should I just order more chicks and try again? I am only interested in pretty eggs at this point...not the SOP. Thanks!

Sorry to hear about he bad luck. As to the color of the eggs it varies a great deal. Typically the hens will lay the darkest eggs at the start of their cycle, but this is not set in stone. The reason is the color is related to genetics and it is not totally understood yet. Some say it maybe related to diet as well. I am still on the bench on that opinion. We all struggle with color issue.

Their are some nice folks on here that have nice eggs if you would like to hatch some would have a head start come spring. VIVI

 

[vebyrd36]

Final hatch, 26 out or 30 shipped eggs. Marans BCM, blue, splash (lark Spur egggs), and heritage RIR (Rosilen Pickens eggs ). Just put eggs in the bator last night from Chickens4myfamily

VIVI

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hi everyone, I have never posted here but have been reading the thread off and on for a while. I have a question...first I will share my sob story in that I ordered chicks last spring and ended up with five cockerels and one pullet - we lost a few probably all pullets. (I also have a splash pullet that was a throw in). Anyway, a couple of months ago I was thrilled to find my splash pullet laying and found a lovely dark speckled egg. She layed one the next day and then never again. What is up with that? My bcm pullet is laying too and I can't even tell her egg from my barred rocks:-( And this isn't a hatchery bird. Sigh. Is this common? And why would my splash lay two eggs and then stop? Is this common too?
Here is the cockerel I kept. I don't have a pic of the pullet, she is solid black with no copper at all and is HUGE. Should I attempt to breed the two or not bother since her eggs are so light? Should I just order more chicks and try again? I am only interested in pretty eggs at this point...not the SOP. Thanks!

not sure if your birds free range but is there a possiblity that your splash is hiding the eggs? typically I think pullets tend to lay sporaticly until their egg laying abilities develope better. we have pullets who aren't laying very well now that the day light is shorter- we just added more light to our coop so we are hoping they start laying again. Have you noticed any change in your splash's behavior- still eating good, moving around good, poop looks good, no mites/bugs on her. Hope this helps! And welcome to the thread!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Final hatch, 26 out or 30 shipped eggs. Marans BCM, blue, splash (lark Spur egggs), and heritage RIR (Rosilen Pickens eggs ). Just put eggs in the bator last night from Chickens4myfamily

VIVI

Very cute- congrats on the hatch!!!

 

[chisNchickens]

not sure if your birds free range but is there a possiblity that your splash is hiding the eggs? typically I think pullets tend to lay sporaticly until their egg laying abilities develope better. we have pullets who aren't laying very well now that the day light is shorter- we just added more light to our coop so we are hoping they start laying again. Have you noticed any change in your splash's behavior- still eating good, moving around good, poop looks good, no mites/bugs on her. Hope this helps! And welcome to the thread!

I free range them at least a few hours every day. I really don't think she's hiding them, there are days I have not let them out. Maybe I should keep them in their pen for several days in a row...their pen is huge for the amount of birds I have. I can't go egg hunting as the property they free range is too big. She is super healthy, a nice big girl so I just don't know! I feed flock raiser and other goodies and feed their eggs back to them. As for the bcm, maybe I should take a pic and put on here - maybe she isn't even a bcm but an accident sent to me. Her eggs are THAT light. Sigh. Thanks so much for your reply and ideas and the welcome!

 

[chisNchickens]

Sorry to hear about he bad luck. As to the color of the eggs it varies a great deal. Typically the hens will lay the darkest eggs at the start of their cycle, but this is not set in stone. The reason is the color is related to genetics and it is not totally understood yet. Some say it maybe related to diet as well. I am still on the bench on that opinion. We all struggle with color issue.

Their are some nice folks on here that have nice eggs if you would like to hatch some would have a head start come spring. VIVI

Thanks for replying! Yeah, bad luck is right. I might try hatching again. I had bad luck there too. I ordered wheaton/blue wheaton ameraucana eggs and all died in the shell but one and I lost him later. The seller was awesome, offered to replace eggs for shipping cost and I didn't have one of those hatch (great fertility - all dead in shell). Had silkie eggs in at the same time (three dozen) and had three hatch. So a bit hesitant to try again. I saw that there is someone from Indianapolis on here...maybe I can talk some chicks off her in the spring;-)

 

[vebyrd36]

Thanks for replying! Yeah, bad luck is right. I might try hatching again. I had bad luck there too. I ordered wheaton/blue wheaton ameraucana eggs and all died in the shell but one and I lost him later. The seller was awesome, offered to replace eggs for shipping cost and I didn't have one of those hatch (great fertility - all dead in shell). Had silkie eggs in at the same time (three dozen) and had three hatch. So a bit hesitant to try again. I saw that there is someone from Indianapolis on here...maybe I can talk some chicks off her in the spring;-)

Ah Hon I hate to hear that. The hatch rate of shipped eggs can be tricky. What I do Is candle them when they come in. Depending how scrambled they are will depend on how long I let them settle out. Typically I'll let them settle 24 hours, then place them in an upright position. Now if they are scrambled really bad I'll let them sit in the bator with it on for 7 day with the turner off to help the air sacs settle into place. I hope this helps. VIVI

 

[Debbi]

Thanks for replying! Yeah, bad luck is right. I might try hatching again. I had bad luck there too. I ordered wheaton/blue wheaton ameraucana eggs and all died in the shell but one and I lost him later. The seller was awesome, offered to replace eggs for shipping cost and I didn't have one of those hatch (great fertility - all dead in shell). Had silkie eggs in at the same time (three dozen) and had three hatch. So a bit hesitant to try again. I saw that there is someone from Indianapolis on here...maybe I can talk some chicks off her in the spring;-)

What are you incubating in, what type of bator? What are you setting your temp and humidity at? Sounds to me that they are drowning with too high a humidity. I had that problem too, so started using much less humidity levels, and things got better!

 

[bwalden]

[/IMG]
Pic of my BCM pullet (7 months)