Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

you will get all kinds of opinions on that. I do think you need to wait till the eggs are big enough for a chick to be good size.

I hatch pullet eggs all the time. I have never seen any health issues with them. I do wait till the eggs are big enough to hatch.

How big is that? egg wise...

 

[DMRippy]

you will get all kinds of opinions on that. I do think you need to wait till the eggs are big enough for a chick to be good size.


I hatch pullet eggs all the time. I have never seen any health issues with them. I do wait till the eggs are big enough to hatch.

How big is that? egg wise...

if they are LF at least a med size egg. that is just me and like I said you will get all kinds of opinions. I personally can't keep birds till they are a year old to hatch from them.

 

[KsKingBee]

I was trying out my antique incubator last summer and put some pullet eggs in and the difference between them and the full sized eggs are quite noticeable. They are around eight weeks old now and the pullet hatchlings are about a third the size of the birds that were hatched from full sized eggs. I am hoping that a waiting a couple of extra months will make a difference in chick size.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

if they are LF at least a med size egg. that is just me and like I said you will get all kinds of opinions. I personally can't keep birds till they are a year old to hatch from them.

Mahalo Donna. I've heard many opinions on this. In my test hatch (first ever!) I am on Day 16 with 6/7 BBS Marans pullet eggs still in there along with 10 barnyard mix. They are medium-plus but not full hen size. I figure the chicks will be a little smaller but they will catch up.

 

[Zanna]

if they are LF at least a med size egg. that is just me and like I said you will get all kinds of opinions. I personally can't keep birds till they are a year old to hatch from them.

I am with Donna. Generally I would like them to be laying at least 3 mos. first so I know all the kinks are worked out, know the egg colour and at least a medium size egg.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

if they are LF at least a med size egg. that is just me and like I said you will get all kinds of opinions. I personally can't keep birds till they are a year old to hatch from them.

Just getting started.. Thanks for the tips....

 

[chrissyr]

I need help with feet feather picking. My cockerel had amazing feathering and his hens keep picking them out. Any ideas?

 

[DMRippy]

I need help with feet feather picking. My cockerel had amazing feathering and his hens keep picking them out. Any ideas?

Anti pick it smells and tastes bad. Higher protein will help too.

 

[chrissyr]

Anti pick it smells and tastes bad. Higher protein will help too.

Thank you DMRippy. Is there another one besides the Rooster Booster brand? I've had issues with these birds from the get go. This cockerel STILL gets his tail picked out. I put the rooster booster brand no pick on his tail, and he preens it all out himself! I give the flock a mix of organic no med chick start and organic layer pellets. so (22/16) about 19 +/- percent protein. Was on straight layer pellets up until about 3 months ago, and they seem to lay better now. Plus every 2-3 days I give live mealworms. Like a handful to 14 birds. Seems when I give more worms than that, my hatchery bird gets egg bound every time.
Not sure what else I could do. I'll put the anti pick on his feet, and if i do it regularly maybe they'll learn to quit. I'm just admiring these nice birds with nice feet feathers, which he used to have. He just lets his hens do whatever they want.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
There probably is.... I don't know what it would be called. Keep applying it on the leg and tail. They really don't like it. Try to give them some entertainment...... hang a cabbage in the pen or get a flock block or make one... there is a thread that was a riot to read about making them..... I would still like the "Crock-pot Flock Block" recipe I don't think they every found one though.