Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[ashandvine]

Who wants to pm me guidelines for 'sanding' these eggs I want to hatch.

 

[snowbird]

Ok, new to the thread, and I am sure this has been addressed multiple times (since I have heard of several people locally with the same problem I have) but this is an urgent need and I don't have time to read more than 4000 pages.
I have some very important (read expensive) GCM eggs going on lockdown. I have 1/15 BCM from my hens to hatch to date. They all seem to develop to day 18 or so and then nothing. Left the last on in until day 25 and it finally hatched. I had to help it from the shell and don't know if it will survive. Just as a note I am about 95% on my ameraucana and 98% on my bantam cochin.

Is there a trick? Some well protected trade secret? Someone told me to put bleach in the water in the incubator at lockdown. Is it perhaps a humidity problem? HELP!

What brand of incubator are you using? What do you have the temp and humidity set on ?

 

[gilavina]

Got any chicks set to hatch next week Don?

 

[cutipatooti]

Hi all. I have some wheaten marans I would like to breed. They are from a breeder themselves. I would like any input you can give me on weather these would be good specimens for breeding. In particular I have a darker roo and a lighter. I think the lighter. Would be the better choice but this will be my first time and would like a more experienced opinion. The girls are a little beat up from the boys. The extra boys will be gone this weekend. Thanks

 

[cutipatooti]

More pics

 

[huntinwidow]

I have a homemade incubator. But I've used it for 2 years now with great success. Temp stays 100* humidity in the 60% range. I've hatched ameraucana and bantam cochins without any problem. I have the BCM in the incubator at the same time as the others which hatch in the 97% range and on day 21.

 

[snowbird]

Got any chicks set to hatch next week Don?

Vicki, I have about 25-30 supposed to hatch tomorrow. I got some eggs from Lisa today that will go in incubator tomorrow making a full tray. We have about 100 chicks total off.

 

[chickhappyh]

Do these look like Blue Copper Marans chicks to you knowledgeable folks? I was sold them as blues but the coloring seems a bit dark. They were hatched March 9th I was told. Also, do you think they are both roos or did I get a pair? Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[xlboergoats]

Sue, love that first cockerel; he's a cutey!

Folks - I wanted to post a neat little snippet from a newer judge who recently judges a large poultry show in Texas. He did a really great job judging; first, he judged the Black Copper and Wheaton (both approved varieties), then he went on to other breeds, but after, came back to judge the non-approved Marans varieties, all the way to 5th spot if there were enough. He was encouraging and the breeders who spoke with him spoke very highly of him. This note is from him, and I post with permission (the black copper cockerel he mentions placed reserve champ continental). Thought y'all might enjoy:


I enjoyed very much judging the Marans group. There were some nice birds
there. The black copper male really won me over. He is a nice bird.
Perhaps it is just me, but a male Marans that is good just stands out with
great majesty. Like some other breeds where the males stand out, I think
the Marans males will stand out and win their fair share. Some of the
Black Copper females needed more prominent copper color in their hackles.
I was also impressed with so many whites in the show. They were very nice.
I would think you won't have much trouble getting them accepted. they
could us a little more work on type, but that will come. Thank you for
allowing me to judge them. All the folks in the club are a great bunch to
be around. Thanks again. Jim Crain

I saw that posted earlier and did not correct it, but there are a few corrections that should be made. Not big deals, but should be corrected. The Black Copper cockerel was named Best Continental at the South Texas State Fair. The judge judged the Wheatens and Black Coppers back to back. After naming the Best of Breed and Reserve Best of Breed, he continued on to judge the Marans varieties that he had not judged. All Marans were judged before he moved to some of the other breeds in the Continental class.

I know that nobody posted anything with bad intentions, it was just a small error. The people who were there and posted the results do a great job of recording everything. They work very hard to get everything recorded and posted for the Marans group. We are lucky to have someone who will record all of the placings and take pictures at all of the shows.

The judge spoke to those of us who were showing and explained that he would like to judge the two approved varieties back to back and select the Best of Breed and Reserve Best of Breed before moving on to the other varieties. Nobody had any objections to this method because the only two varieties that could be considered were the Black Coppers and the Wheatens. Personally, I thought that it was a wise move on the part of the judge to judge the two approved varieties back to back.

Sincerely,
Ernie Haire
Arp, Texas

 

[xlboergoats]

I have a homemade incubator. But I've used it for 2 years now with great success. Temp stays 100* humidity in the 60% range. I've hatched ameraucana and bantam cochins without any problem. I have the BCM in the incubator at the same time as the others which hatch in the 97% range and on day 21.

I can't tell someone else how to run the incubators or hatchers, but we cannot get anything to hatch with the humidity that high. We run our incubator at about 30-35% humidity and hatch at about 60%. We have to run our incubators and hatchers on lower humidity to get our eggs to evaporate correctly. We drown too many chicks if we try to run a higher humidity. Hopefully, someone else will chime in later. I know that there are other breeders in this group who are very successful at hatching Marans chicks.

Just My Experiences,
Ernie Haire