Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[bwalden]

Oh, I so want White Marans! Wish I could find some eggs.

Sunnysideupmicrofarm.com has white marans eggs. $30/dozen I believe

 

[15littlem]

Just saw this ad for some Marans, seems a little pricey considering the original breeder of these (Bev Davis Line, they have posted this ad before) "FRENCH MARANS CHICKENS

Report​

French Black Copper Marans Chickens: 3 Pullets and one Cockerel. These are the French breed with feathered shanks. They are a very rare breed in the US, because they cannot be imported into the United States, due to changes in our importation laws . They are prized by French Chefs for their lg. chocolate colored eggs. They run free on our pasture. The Cockerel is $50 and the pullets are $150 each. For more info. please go to.... blackcoppermarans.org.... call 931-854-1320 or email [email protected]... Thank You.

This roo doesn't look that great even.

 

[Wynette]

THat's a ridiculously high amount of money if you ask me. THey don't say if they've shown, if their birds are proven, no egg pics, not female pics? This male appears to have a solid copper chest - um......most definitely not worth a dime, IMHO.

 

[flgardengirl]

Just saw this ad for some Marans, seems a little pricey considering the original breeder of these (Bev Davis Line, they have posted this ad before) "FRENCH MARANS CHICKENS

Report​

French Black Copper Marans Chickens: 3 Pullets and one Cockerel. These are the French breed with feathered shanks. They are a very rare breed in the US, because they cannot be imported into the United States, due to changes in our importation laws . They are prized by French Chefs for their lg. chocolate colored eggs. They run free on our pasture. The Cockerel is $50 and the pullets are $150 each. For more info. please go to.... blackcoppermarans.org.... call 931-854-1320 or email [email protected]... Thank You.

This roo doesn't look that great even.


That roo would be a cull if he were at my place from a dark egg or not.

 

[pmessner]

As I am new, could you please share with me what would make this fellow a cull?...

Oh, and I have a pair of owls hanging around my chicken pen as well... Barred owls. They are beautiful to look at. Hubby swears our little odd ball easter egger roo likes to try and imitate the owl calls... he's a weird fellow... I did not intend to have a mutt rooster underfoot but I ran across him in a box of chicks some local guy was trying to pass off as female partridge rock chicks... which he obviously was not but the way he was sitting up and taking notice of everything caught my eye... I couldn't believe the amount of personality packed into this little oddball fellow... I fell in love with him immediately and took him home... now that he has grown up he flies about everywhere and roosts on everything... he's the only one that leaves the electric fence area... runs to greet anyone coming or going, follows my husband in and out of the garage. My marans rooster hates him and won't let him anywhere near the girls. Lot of drama around here right now... and he never shuts up... all day long... crow, crow, crow... I do not think he is long for this world. Some one is going to eat him. So far the owls have just been watching.

 

[Wynette]

As I am new, could you please share with me what would make this fellow a cull?...

Oh, and I have a pair of owls hanging around my chicken pen as well... Barred owls. They are beautiful to look at. Hubby swears our little odd ball easter egger roo likes to try and imitate the owl calls... he's a weird fellow... I did not intend to have a mutt rooster underfoot but I ran across him in a box of chicks some local guy was trying to pass off as female partridge rock chicks... which he obviously was not but the way he was sitting up and taking notice of everything caught my eye... I couldn't believe the amount of personality packed into this little oddball fellow... I fell in love with him immediately and took him home... now that he has grown up he flies about everywhere and roosts on everything... he's the only one that leaves the electric fence area... runs to greet anyone coming or going, follows my husband in and out of the garage. My marans rooster hates him and won't let him anywhere near the girls. Lot of drama around here right now... and he never shuts up... all day long... crow, crow, crow... I do not think he is long for this world. Some one is going to eat him. So far the owls have just been watching.

He's got way too much color. Breasts should be solid black or a SMIDGEN of copper, not entirely copper like this male. You can see it goes all the way down his legs. He's got 2 too many points in his comb....if he had good type in general, that would be something you could work on, but for $50, he ought to have a correct comb, IMO. His back's too long, and his underline is more rectangular than the bowl shape it ought to be. He appears to me to almost be a RIR cross with that type. He also looks far too light - he should be "beefier." There are also gaps in his shank feathering - they should be feathered all the way down, without gaps. (Again, this is my personal opinion, I am not an expert).

ETA: if your chickens are penned, you might consider adding chicken wire or something else over your pens for airborne predator protection.

 

[15littlem]

As I am new, could you please share with me what would make this fellow a cull?...

Oh, and I have a pair of owls hanging around my chicken pen as well... Barred owls. They are beautiful to look at. Hubby swears our little odd ball easter egger roo likes to try and imitate the owl calls... he's a weird fellow... I did not intend to have a mutt rooster underfoot but I ran across him in a box of chicks some local guy was trying to pass off as female partridge rock chicks... which he obviously was not but the way he was sitting up and taking notice of everything caught my eye... I couldn't believe the amount of personality packed into this little oddball fellow... I fell in love with him immediately and took him home... now that he has grown up he flies about everywhere and roosts on everything... he's the only one that leaves the electric fence area... runs to greet anyone coming or going, follows my husband in and out of the garage. My marans rooster hates him and won't let him anywhere near the girls. Lot of drama around here right now... and he never shuts up... all day long... crow, crow, crow... I do not think he is long for this world. Some one is going to eat him. So far the owls have just been watching.

Be careful, I have 4+ owls in my woods. They have killed over 20 of my chickens. Although it may be cute, be sure to get them in before sunset, and don't let them out before sunrise.

 

[pmessner]

all your critique remarks make absolute sense once pointed out... thank you... and he does look RIRish in color to me as well... I appreciate your responding... every little bit helps.

yes, the owls are problematic. Mating season is soon and then they will be rearing a brood and more aggressive. I had a new neighbor move in and clear a huge area of land which drove them away for awhile... we had a nesting pair of red tail hawks move in instead and they did get a couple of my chickens last summer... not sure how to fix the overhead problem... we coop early and let them out late so that probably has kept the owls at bay but they were not around last year... they re-appeared this winter and seem to have relocated now to the side of the property where the chickens are... My son and I walked 50 feet into the woods yesterday and stood underneath where one of them was peacefully sleeping. I do have a dog kennel with bird netting on top for the younger birds... having a system to let chickens safely free range a bit is not easy. Seems to have been a stupid idea from the get go but the whole reason I started with the chickens was to keep the deer ticks at bay... they were so bad you could not even walk on the driveway with out picking up a tick or two... now with the chickens about the tick problem is almost non-existing. I am able to move the electric fence around so they can work over different sections of the property... but I am not sure how I can fix the overhead problem.

 

[Zanna]

all your critique remarks make absolute sense once pointed out... thank you... and he does look RIRish in color to me as well... I appreciate your responding... every little bit helps.

yes, the owls are problematic. Mating season is soon and then they will be rearing a brood and more aggressive. I had a new neighbor move in and clear a huge area of land which drove them away for awhile... we had a nesting pair of red tail hawks move in instead and they did get a couple of my chickens last summer... not sure how to fix the overhead problem... we coop early and let them out late so that probably has kept the owls at bay but they were not around last year... they re-appeared this winter and seem to have relocated now to the side of the property where the chickens are... My son and I walked 50 feet into the woods yesterday and stood underneath where one of them was peacefully sleeping. I do have a dog kennel with bird netting on top for the younger birds... having a system to let chickens safely free range a bit is not easy. Seems to have been a stupid idea from the get go but the whole reason I started with the chickens was to keep the deer ticks at bay... they were so bad you could not even walk on the driveway with out picking up a tick or two... now with the chickens about the tick problem is almost non-existing. I am able to move the electric fence around so they can work over different sections of the property... but I am not sure how I can fix the overhead problem.

Can you spread things around where they are ranging that they can hide under? Almost anything that is free standing like a large tote with part of the side cut out, old culverts, old chairs, an old truck canopy? Just throwing around ideas, stuff that would be easy to move around for you as you change their ranging areas and that you may have laying aroung anyways...............

 

[pmessner]

another request for opinions... there are some golden cuckoo pictures on ebay right now that caught my eye... I can't add any new birds right now so I am not going to bid on the eggs but I was admiring these particular birds and thinking if I were looking to add more right now I would grab these... anybody want to give a quick critique and let me know what they like and don't like about these? again, I am just trying to develop an eye... not make fun of anybody's birds... I think they are gorgeous... looks like the girls do not have much feathering on the feet... mine don't either.





s but don't know how true to type they are.