Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[heath_elisha]

Completely not marans related- but has anyone on this thread ever dealt with symptoms caused by moldy grain? I fear I may have fed my flock some and now I have at least two birds acting/showing strange symptoms. One bird is just sounding kinda weezy. And the other looks like he is having some sort of nervous system problems- like walking in circles, slightly disoriented. And wouldn't you know they are my favorites.... both roos. Anyone deal with this before???? I read molasses will help clean them out- but what else? I sure hope I can reverse it....

 

[pinkchick]

Quick question on combs again? My neighbor & very good chicken friend has a problem in her Silver Lakenvelders and has asked me to help her narrow it down. I am asking here because I know we have discussed this inverted comb issue here with some Marans and I have no experience with the inverted combs, except very little when I dealt with the carnation comb thing where the blade of the comb was inverted until the birds matured and it started coming up and out.

What causes an inverted comb? If parents don't have it and didn't have it as developing chicks, why would it be passed on? Is it a recessive gene or is it just a defect that happens from time to time?

 

[DMRippy]

Completely not marans related- but has anyone on this thread ever dealt with symptoms caused by moldy grain? I fear I may have fed my flock some and now I have at least two birds acting/showing strange symptoms. One bird is just sounding kinda weezy. And the other looks like he is having some sort of nervous system problems- like walking in circles, slightly disoriented. And wouldn't you know they are my favorites.... both roos. Anyone deal with this before???? I read molasses will help clean them out- but what else? I sure hope I can reverse it....

My problem didn't come from eating it but from the pens when it was SO wet. I used Oxine in a vaporizor and in the water, some yogurt might help too.....

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections

If you don't have any Oxine.... order it TODAY. I would never be without it since I have had chickens..... it is just the BEST stuff. I have not price checked it in a while but this is where I get it from.

http://www.revivalanimal.com/Oxine-Fogger-and-Oxine-AH.html

 

[pinkchick]

Elisha~ I am very sorry to hear that. I hope you can get them straighten out and they recover.
I'm looking it up in my Chicken Health Handbook, but in the meantime I hope someone who knows off the top of their head comes by to help you out.

 

[mikeypalone]

My cockerel is now 8 months old and shows no sign of leakage. My problem has been finding females. Can't find them,and when I do the pictures of them are not quite what I'm looking for. I started my own silver/blue project three months ago and so far I am very happy with what I see. I'm going to go a little out on the limb here with my next statement,in all the shows I have been in i am of the opinion that no judge has a clue to the blue birchens. I can not get answers,can not get info,so I am moving forward using the s o p for the black copper and if I can breed to that I know I won't be far off. My program should come into its own around the end of summer 2013. I do have very nice blue Marans pullets. My birchen cockerel over these blue pullets has added darker blue color and great lacing,but I don't know what would be too dark,maybe just shy of black?

 

[heath_elisha]

Did some research and aspergillosis is what came up. Not sure if this is it, but seems like they have some symptoms. I REALLY hope that it just passes. I read that molasses cleans them out, so I just gave them some with yogurt and scrambled eggs- interesting looking lol - but I am hopeful that it helps. Figures we are in the middle of a winter storm right now too. The grain store is going to replace my bags and said that they will replace any birds that pass - but of course, it is my favorite mixed breed boys.... not replaceable in my eyes. We'll see what comes of it.
Thank you pink and Donna for your help- do you think electrolytes would help too? I have some that I used for my chicks who were needing help after hatch. The whole flock seems to have acquired pasty butt this week as well................... *sigh*..................

 

[DMRippy]

Did some research and aspergillosis is what came up. Not sure if this is it, but seems like they have some symptoms. I REALLY hope that it just passes. I read that molasses cleans them out, so I just gave them some with yogurt and scrambled eggs- interesting looking lol - but I am hopeful that it helps. Figures we are in the middle of a winter storm right now too. The grain store is going to replace my bags and said that they will replace any birds that pass - but of course, it is my favorite mixed breed boys.... not replaceable in my eyes. We'll see what comes of it.
Thank you pink and Donna for your help- do you think electrolytes would help too? I have some that I used for my chicks who were needing help after hatch. The whole flock seems to have acquired pasty butt this week as well................... *sigh*..................

I don't think it would hurt. Good Luck!

 

[gilavina]

My cockerel is now 8 months old and shows no sign of leakage. My problem has been finding females. Can't find them,and when I do the pictures of them are not quite what I'm looking for. I started my own silver/blue project three months ago and so far I am very happy with what I see. I'm going to go a little out on the limb here with my next statement,in all the shows I have been in i am of the opinion that no judge has a clue to the blue birchens. I can not get answers,can not get info,so I am moving forward using the s o p for the black copper and if I can breed to that I know I won't be far off. My program should come into its own around the end of summer 2013. I do have very nice blue Marans pullets. My birchen cockerel over these blue pullets has added darker blue color and great lacing,but I don't know what would be too dark,maybe just shy of black?

for showing the medium tone blues are what do best, granted since the birchens aren't accepted yet, can only place so far.

 

[mikeypalone]

For this upcoming show season I have added a black copper pullet,blue copper pullet and a blue(very nice) cockerel. All are unrelated to the birchens and blue that I have now. I find it very hard to get info from a judge on any variety of Marans,I guess because they are new to our standard,I have been using the French standard as my only guide knowing it will be very close when and if we can get blue and birchen in the books. I don't want to mislead anyone,I have not come up with the perfect Marans yet but it's a lot fun trying. I'm also not a show expert,this being my first season,but have met some great people along the way.

 

[flgardengirl]

These are the only blue birchen I've seen at shows (Newnan,GA 2-2011) The male was a DQ. The female was nice. I don't know if she was a pullet or hen. She seemed a little on the small side but a lot of the birchens seem to be right now. These aren't my birds. I didnt take any to that show.