Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Charlcie]

Glad to see that the focus of this group is to exchange information and provide insight for those of us who are interested in Marans - no matter what the focus.

I have yet to obtain this facinating breed (I'm particularly interested in Black Copper Marans). I was hoping to receive some chicks last week, but was informed by the breeder that the hatch was a bust, so I guess I'll just have to remain patient.

I'm not particularly interested in showing (though I have shown poultry in the past), but I AM interested in obtaining and breeding towards the best representatives of the breed that I can. And who knows...perhaps I will at some point want to participate in a show at some time in the future.

Charlcie
www.riopasodesign.com

 

[flgardengirl]

Hi Vicki, How do you tell a Black Marans chick from a BC Marans chick.

Don, I have found that the pure/solid blacks seem to have less white on their faces than my BCM chicks. I wouldn't think its 100% on all black Marans chicks because different lines probably end up with subtle variations just like all the other varieties of Marans do lol.

Some of my solid blacks do have a few bits of white on their faces at hatch but it falls out very quickly, way faster than the bcm chicks even. By 5-6 wks my blacks are completely black feathered. Their beaks generally seem to also have more black in them than the bcms at hatch. The legs are also a bit darker. It can be subtle differences though because BCM does have variations as well...
I put up a few pics of the black males I just hatched out at a month of age a few pages back. That was a week ago and now they have already lost all the whitish areas on their chests that they had left since that pic. They are 5 wks now. They still do have the white primary feather which should molt out with their first true molt. Least their parents' did.

On the Marans chicken club website they have some pics showing black chicks.
If you look at other solid black breeds like Orpingtons etc you can see they also have a tiny bit of white on their faces and on their chests etc. as chicks. So I would suggest that if you were hatching a lot of varieties of chicks like bcm, birchen, and solid blacks or any variation of bbs then they should be hatched in separate incubators or sectioned off and marked/banded if need be as well.

Marans Chicken Club black chicks examples:
http://maranschickenclubusa.com/Blackvariety.html

Here is some black orpington chicks on feathersite (Just an example of other black chicks): Scroll way down, almost to the bottom of the page, where they have day old black orp chicks.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Orps/BRKOrps.html

 

[Keara]

never tried the nettles, would have to work up the courage for that. Too many childhood days spent being miserable getting into nettles. They make my skin react horribly!

when they are tender in the spring we pick them... a lot like spinach. Alway cook them, or at least wilt! cooking Takes the sting out.

 

[gilavina]

when they are tender in the spring we pick them... a lot like spinach. Alway cook them, or at least wilt! cooking Takes the sting out.

interesting. I know it has several good properties, just never came across someone that actually uses them haha

 

[Ray from PA]

Thanks Ray! I hope you have a great hatch too!

What humidity levels do the ducks incubate at? My sister just did her first ever incubation with ducks and hatched out 3 of 6. The 3rd one was failing to thrive so was culled, but she said she had to keep the humidity extremely high for the ducks.

Did some research and opinions differ,,, this will be my first call duck hatch,,,of course many say they can be the most difficult of all ducks. Many run higher humidity, 60 % and mist and cool from day 4 to day 21 or so, call ducks supposedly hatch around day 25. I hope try a smaller hatch and run himidity levels around 40 and monitor the air cells. Seems the misting serves the same function as the lower levels, definitely going to be an experiment. I had success with 4 eggs the same way earlier, but gave them to a broody the last week, unfortunately only 2 of the 4 made it out. Just like marans, many have their own way that works for them, trial and error, here we come !

 

[Runawaylobster]

Do you have a good receipe?

well my mom and my sister live in wales so i should have a good recipe, but no, i've
always eaten someone elses. It's hard to get good leeks down here..

 

[gilavina]

Got more chicks fussing and pipping, so is looking like it is possible it will be a great hatch. None of the black birchens have hatched yet, but they are pipping like crazy. The start of day 21 isn't til about 11pm tonight, so they are doing really well!

 

[maryhysong]

Got more chicks fussing and pipping, so is looking like it is possible it will be a great hatch. None of the black birchens have hatched yet, but they are pipping like crazy. The start of day 21 isn't til about 11pm tonight, so they are doing really well!

oh exciting! I can't wait for my girls to start laying this summer! Four months old now,..... the anticipation is killing me!

 

[gilavina]

oh exciting! I can't wait for my girls to start laying this summer! Four months old now,..... the anticipation is killing me!

it will pass before you know it! I've been hatching eggs since I was very young (family of poultry breeders) and I still get very excited over hatches.

 

[SIMZ]

Here are 2 chicks from my first "big" marans hatch from my own chickens. It's amazing how cute and fluffy they get when I actually leave the incubator closed until the end of the hatch.

The first chick is really black and doesn't have a lot of white on it. Do I remember that being mentioned as an indicator of something with adult coloring?