Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[DMRippy]

One guess about what's on my mind tonight! Yup, strutting penguin babies! Just wondering what everyone's plans for starting hatching are. I know some down south are doing winter hatching. I'm not planning on starting til Feb.

Who really quit besides you?????

I am thinking I am going to have a problem..... I need your self control. I had to move my young guinea back inside after they were out for over a week. 1 died in the pen with the big guinea so we moved them in with the chickens, found one dead yesterday and 2 died today .... one is not looking good.... the cold and wet got them. I have 2 that look healthy and I may be keeping them inside all winter

It is going to warm up a little later in the week and I am hoping it will stay that way for a little while longer so I can move as many BIGGER birds outside as I can

I have all those Marans eggs in the bator and I snagged some FREE CCL and SFH hatching eggs so those are going to make this next batch BIGGER than I expected.....

 

[gilavina]

Who really quit besides you?????

I am thinking I am going to have a problem..... I need your self control. I had to move my young guinea back inside after they were out for over a week. 1 died in the pen with the big guinea so we moved them in with the chickens, found one dead yesterday and 2 died today .... one is not looking good.... the cold and wet got them. I have 2 that look healthy and I may be keeping them inside all winter

It is going to warm up a little later in the week and I am hoping it will stay that way for a little while longer so I can move as many BIGGER birds outside as I can

I have all those Marans eggs in the bator and I snagged some FREE CCL and SFH hatching eggs so those are going to make this next batch BIGGER than I expected.....

CCL and SFH?

 

[DMRippy]

Cute goatie Donna. I've been under the weather with whatever it is going around town, so all pen sorting has been put on hold as I've been home from work three days . I sound rather like someone that's got a 10 pack a day habit at the moment, but hoping I'll get over this asap. Got any more pics for me to look at of what you are holding back lady? I'm gonna be working on them here once I get to feeling a bit better. Thinking I'm going to cull out a couple more females than I had originally thought, but am wanting to get down to just the best of the best here.

Get better soon! We have all had some of that here too. The babies had it pretty bad, dad and I got a small dose and it didn't put either one of us down so we got lucky.

Not holding back. I am SLOWLY feeling better about my culling skills.... every cull I get better.... or I just have better choices

I am going to move my iffy ones out to make Olive Eggers. That way I have not committed to my culls really

I think like you said you can really tell the good ones when you remove the so so ones. When I first started culling these pullets, if they had 3 things I didn't want to work with AGAIN they hit the road. So all the pullets at this point have 1 or 2 KNOWN issues.... like combs or darker eyes. BUT some of these girls are laying not the greatest eggs... and some REALLY great eggs, so that might be the 3rd thing to make some of them go to. I am just too busy right now to keep catching them to check egg color. We will see what this thinning down will do for the not great eggs too. HOPEFULLY the ones with REALLY great eggs are left in the pen.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
Crested Cream Legbars and Swedish Flower Hens.

 

[gilavina]

Get better soon! We have all had some of that here too. The babies had it pretty bad, dad and I got a small dose and it didn't put either one of us down so we got lucky.

Not holding back. I am SLOWLY feeling better about my culling skills.... every cull I get better.... or I just have better choices

I am going to move my iffy ones out to make Olive Eggers. That way I have not committed to my culls really

I think like you said you can really tell the good ones when you remove the so so ones. When I first started culling these pullets, if they had 3 things I didn't want to work with AGAIN they hit the road. So all the pullets at this point have 1 or 2 KNOWN issues.... like combs or darker eyes. BUT some of these girls are laying not the greatest eggs... and some REALLY great eggs, so that might be the 3rd thing to make some of them go to. I am just too busy right now to keep catching them to check egg color. We will see what this thinning down will do for the not great eggs too. HOPEFULLY the ones with REALLY great eggs are left in the pen.

I firmly believe if culling is taken seriously and well thought out, that each culling process will get easier. I look forward to seeing what your birds look like after you are all done

 

[gilavina]

Crested Cream Legbars and Swedish Flower Hens.

haha yeah at this stage I would never have guessed that haha

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: Well you have to remember I had slim pickings last time. These are my first pullets really. They are an improvement over what I started with and I guess that is the goal really every year..... right?

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I could not pass up FREE could I?

 

[gilavina]

Well you have to remember I had slim pickings last time. These are my first pullets really. They are an improvement over what I started with and I guess that is the goal really every year..... right?

yup....it is step by step....and different for everyone and the stock they have and the stage they are at.

 

[gilavina]

I could not pass up FREE could I?

haha nope