Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Viola29]

I have a splash maran who is just under a year. I went out this morning to find her vent bloody and her underfluff pointed down (but the tail was up) as if she were about to lay an egg. She's perky, eating and drinking, but I have no idea what it is. I used to raise chickens a while ago and just got back into them, but I've never seen this before. There is some tissue hanging out. It doesn't look like an egg so I don't think she's egg bound. Does anyone have any ideas? I've given her a warm bath and cleaned her a bit. I will do more so once she is dry and see if I can feel around the area a bit.

 

[OHmamma]

Nicol, The brother-sister matings can be done successful but the person doingit must be able to cull very hard. At the present time I know of no line of Marans that are strong enough to attempt this method.

If you bring any new Marans to your flock they should be test mated before including them in your breeding program. Most of the regulars on BYC know that I hatched over 400 cull BC Marans as a result of not testing the male heavy enough.

Don I culled out close to 800 the first year is that hard enough?? I only kept 30.

second year I hatched 1100+ I kept 150. Of course I have more than one variety too.

I sort of lost count the last 3 years. I am getting better at culling and can do it sooner so they move out pretty fast.

I have close to 700 chicks out right now with 600 eggs in the incubator..... Coppers, Cuckoo, Blacks, Blues and a few projects. I only plan on keeping maybe 100 this year. I only keep as many as I can comfortably winter safe in my barn.

I am the culling Queen

 

[snowbird]

Don I culled out close to 800 the first year is that hard enough?? I only kept 30.

second year I hatched 1100+ I kept 150. Of course I have more than one variety too.

I sort of lost count the last 3 years. I am getting better at culling and can do it sooner so they move out pretty fast.

I have close to 700 chicks out right now with 600 eggs in the incubator..... Coppers, Cuckoo, Blacks, Blues and a few projects. I only plan on keeping maybe 100 this year. I only keep as many as I can comfortably winter safe in my barn.

I am the culling Queen

Nicol, Culling is the only way to get some good fowl in any breed.We should end up with around 200 here this year. Good luck with your young fowl.

 

[gaitngirl]

Hi all - newer to Marans here. I just picked up 8 FBCM chicks from a gent who had to downsize. I want to tag them somehow so I can differentiate from my FBCM chicks purchased from someone else. Right now I can tell them apart because of the 1 weel age difference and the fact that some of the newbies are blue or splash. I can't find leg tags locally for small chicks - any suggestions? I thought about a bit of bluecote on their toes for now . . .

 

[maryhysong]

Hi all - newer to Marans here. I just picked up 8 FBCM chicks from a gent who had to downsize. I want to tag them somehow so I can differentiate from my FBCM chicks purchased from someone else. Right now I can tell them apart because of the 1 weel age difference and the fact that some of the newbies are blue or splash. I can't find leg tags locally for small chicks - any suggestions? I thought about a bit of bluecote on their toes for now . . .

I use colored zip ties on mine. Walmart, Target, ect sell large package containing different sizes and colors. I used a different color for each breeder I bought from. Now that they are almost 6 months and I am getting ready to do my final round of culling, at least for the time being, I am ordering numbered bands in those colors to use.

 

[loprettaerin]

Hi all - newer to Marans here. I just picked up 8 FBCM chicks from a gent who had to downsize. I want to tag them somehow so I can differentiate from my FBCM chicks purchased from someone else. Right now I can tell them apart because of the 1 weel age difference and the fact that some of the newbies are blue or splash. I can't find leg tags locally for small chicks - any suggestions? I thought about a bit of bluecote on their toes for now . . .

You can use small size zip ties. Just have to watch weekly so they don't get to snug and replace them as they go that is what I have been using latly

 

[loprettaerin]

typed almost same reponse

 

[pinkchick]

I have a splash maran who is just under a year. I went out this morning to find her vent bloody and her underfluff pointed down (but the tail was up) as if she were about to lay an egg. She's perky, eating and drinking, but I have no idea what it is. I used to raise chickens a while ago and just got back into them, but I've never seen this before. There is some tissue hanging out. It doesn't look like an egg so I don't think she's egg bound. Does anyone have any ideas? I've given her a warm bath and cleaned her a bit. I will do more so once she is dry and see if I can feel around the area a bit.

Sounds like a prolapsed vent. Do you have other hens or is she your only one? If it is a prolapsed vent sometimes other chickens see the blood or vent, they will pick and peck at the protruding parts making it even worse. This happened to hen I had a couple years ago, by the time I found the hen she was dead and the other chickens had pulled quite a bit more of the vent out. I am sure that if I had found her prolapsed early, I possibly could have been able to help her. She was a Black Copper hen that had started laying at a very young age of 4 mos. and she laid very large eggs. She died I am sure because of the other chickens picking causing hemorrhage and shock. Sometimes, the prolapse can be reversed when caught early and using a hemorrhoidal cream and keeping her isolated from others.

 

[Glory Bee]

Snowbird and Oh Big Momma and others,

What are your recommendations for a new Marans owner's management of one brooder, one broody cage, 2 (8x10)pens with 250 sq ft. secure runs with attached free range?I realize this is a small system. At most, I could add one more pen later.

Would you recommend only buying,hatching and culling to only hens for a few years before adding a rooster? Is a Marans rooster easy for a new owner to handle?

I had interest in German New Hampshires and Welsummers. It appears the Marans temperament is good for a beginner. I am interested in their beauty, meat, and eggs.SOP interests me.

 

[Charlcie]

In regards to brother/sister mating...I would class this as IN-BREEDING as opposed to LINE BREEDING (where more distantly related animals are bred to each other). Line Breeding is a recommended practice for setting good traits in one's line. IN-BREEDING (brother/sister mating) will bring to light any faults found within the line of ancestry. Occasionally (not very often), you may get an outstanding individual, but more often you will see a plethora of undesireable traits occurring in the offspring from such a mating.

A program of judicial line breeding with an occasional outcross from time to time is the best way to proceed as far as establishing a quality breeding flock in my opinion. No matter what specie I am working with, whenever I would bring in an outcross, I would do it through the FEMALE of the outsource. You never know how well a particular line (no matter how outstanding) will "click" with yours. A male is going to spread his influence at a more viral rate - good or bad. Using a female/hen will let you move more conservatively. If the pairing is not beneficial, then you are dealing with but one hen's hatch - not a huge number.