Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

What do the males look like if you have pictures? Nice egg color- I have some close in color from my cuckoos.

I don't have a pic that I know of. I can go look, but otherwise for description, the body is mostly white with a darker tail, including the barring on the smaller feathers leading up to the tail, and darker primaries in the wing, like on a sussex or a columbian patterned bird. I'll see what I can do for getting updated photos, but they are pretty wild since I haven't had a ton of time to work with them.

 

[math ace]

I hope you have better luck with this new set of eggs. Are they all Marans?

No... Most of my marans are not laying yet!

I have delawares and marans in the second incubator. I figured after all the buff leghorns hatch from the first incubator, I will be overloaded with those hyper birds and therefore there is no need to set anymore of those eggs. I wanted to be DONE with my hatching, but I guess I will be doing a couple of more hatches with just marans once more of them are laying...

 

[math ace]

The great white North is trying to visit the sunny South.
Burrrrrr, it is cold outside today. I don't think I am going outside today. Temps are in the 40's at lunch time...
I have a cold and just don't feel like dealing with it.... I guess if you have to be sick, it is better to be sick and duh feeling on a day that sucks, than on a day you would want to be outside working....

 

[gilavina]

The great white North is trying to visit the sunny South.
Burrrrrr, it is cold outside today. I don't think I am going outside today. Temps are in the 40's at lunch time...
I have a cold and just don't feel like dealing with it.... I guess if you have to be sick, it is better to be sick and duh feeling on a day that sucks, than on a day you would want to be outside working....

haha I would love it if it were 40 here today. When I was doing chores this morning it was 12 out. Hopefully things will warm up for you soon down your way. When do you start your garden down there?

 

[desertmarcy]

The wind is unbelievable here. Lost a 4 ft diameter glass table top that was weighted. Smashed to pieces on my deck. I will be cleaning up those tiny pieces of glass for the next year…at least. To do list for tomorrow: Find Trampoline.

Hi, where in SE PA are you? I am from there. I have a brother and mother in Kennett Square and another brother in Nottingham, with a lot of Amish neighbors.

 

[math ace]

haha I would love it if it were 40 here today. When I was doing chores this morning it was 12 out. Hopefully things will warm up for you soon down your way. When do you start your garden down there?

I stop gardening during the summer.... Otherwise, I can garden year around. I had green beans up until a couple of weeks ago. Then we had two nights of cold and I lost that crop. Now, I have mustard, lettuce, bok choy, and peas that are ready to harvest. I have spinach, collard greens and lettuce seedlings going in the garden. Plus, there are about 250 onion plants doing great out there.... I will take a look out there this weekend and see what I can plant to replace the green beans. This winter has been so mild that my crops are doing wonderful. Two years ago, it was so cold and cold so frequently that my garden did not do well.

My grass is dead, but I spread some rye grass seeds a week or so ago. They have germinated and are doing well. I plan on letting the chickens free range on the grass in a couple of weeks. They should be happy. Their current free range area is full of brown, yucky looking grass. I did see a hen munching on a plametto palm frond... I didn't know they would eat them

 

[Hens and Roos]

I don't have a pic that I know of. I can go look, but otherwise for description, the body is mostly white with a darker tail, including the barring on the smaller feathers leading up to the tail, and darker primaries in the wing, like on a sussex or a columbian patterned bird. I'll see what I can do for getting updated photos, but they are pretty wild since I haven't had a ton of time to work with them.

and these can be thrown by cuckoo? I have 1 cockeral whose got more white hackle feathers compared to the other 2 cockerals.

 

[Hens and Roos]

The great white North is trying to visit the sunny South.
Burrrrrr, it is cold outside today. I don't think I am going outside today. Temps are in the 40's at lunch time...
I have a cold and just don't feel like dealing with it.... I guess if you have to be sick, it is better to be sick and duh feeling on a day that sucks, than on a day you would want to be outside working....

Would it make you feel better if I told you it was 7 out this morning around 6:30 am and has warmed up to 21, some of the snow is starting to melt off our black top driveway!

 

[gilavina]

and these can be thrown by cuckoo? I have 1 cockeral whose got more white hackle feathers compared to the other 2 cockerals.

yeah, they are not common, but can happen. The more white hackle feathers on your bird I suspect is due to birchens being crossed in at some point to the cuckoos you have.

 

[Hens and Roos]

yeah, they are not common, but can happen. The more white hackle feathers on your bird I suspect is due to birchens being crossed in at some point to the cuckoos you have.

is that a good thing or not when breeding the cuckoo?