Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

villageChicken - they look normal to me....although that one on the far righ in the group shot almost looks rumpless...anyone else? They won't feather in at exactly the same rate. Should be close, though.

Snowbird - wait til you see the pics of my 3-week old experiment chicks I'm downloading now...you will get a good laugh at THAT mossiness! Stay tuned!

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Gorgeous Pink.............I can only dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

 

[chasehope]

I was finally able to get a half way decent photo of my blue copper rooster. he is about 6 months old, and is still molting (hence the fuzz). He has good eye color and feathering on his legs. What do you all think of him?

 

[Wynette]

Okay, results of my experiment thus far.

I mated THIS Black Copper rooster (who is too dark):

With THIS hen (who is too light):

Why??? Because this is a typical egg I've been getting, after EIGHT FULL MONTHS of her laying (taken with flash) - they have lightened up a bit:

Well, only 3 eggs hatched, and one died as a day old. The other two are cockerels - BLAST IT ALL! Both are SUPER SUPER mossy, so there's no way I'll be able to keep them. They are pictured with one of my typical hatchlings...I have NEVER hatched one this red before. Even as day olds you could see how red they were overall. Even their heads were red! Sigh.....why I even bothered to tag them is beyond me! HA! Anyway, just thought you all might enjoy the results. They are 3 weeks in these pics, and will make a new stew some day, I'm sure.

Even his eye looks off - greenish:

Sigh.....my little usual ones are black & white...see the guy to the right?

I'm really, really bummed that I didn't get a little pullet for comparison. It may have been that a pullet may have been a good cross...I doubt it, but one never knows.

 

[math ace]

So after you get done with CHASEHOPE's Blue copper maran critique . . .

MY QUESTION is this . . . . .

I have been getting eggs with blood spots in them recently. I have 12 laying hens and only my marans are giving me the blood spots.
It started about the time I hooked up a fluorescent light in their coop for a couple of extra hours of lighting. . .

So, if any of you have additional lighting hooked up - - have you ever experienced this ?

If you aren't using additional lighting and have had this problem before, what do you think caused it.

These hens are almost a year old and have never had blood spots before.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
Copied from the "blood spot" topic

Blood spots occur in less than one percent of all eggs laid. They may appear in a pullet's first few eggs, but are more likely to occur as hens get older, indicating that it's time to cull. Blood spots may be triggered by too little vitamin A in a hen's diet, or they may be hereditary - if you hatch replacement pullets from a hen that characteristically lays spotted eggs, your new flock will likely do the same.

or a link http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/28/blood-spots

mine are on lights and I don't have any spots....

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Well...I am personally opposed to extending the natural daylight...so can't speak to this issue from experience, but if you just noticed this happening after adding additional light....seems entirely possible that the forced laying is the cause. I've not heard of this before now, though!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Thanks lotsapaints. I read this too, but I have a hard time believing that less than a year it too old to keep and should be culled.

I could buy the vitamin A, but none of the other hens are producing eggs with bloodspots - - just the marans.
Hereditary - - but we never had any until just the last few weeks and they are almost a year old. . .

The only thing that I have changed and the blood spots started at the same time was increasing the light artificially . . .

 

[Lotsapaints]

Math Ace your hens must not like the lights......they want a dark house

 

[math ace]

I read somewhere that it could be from the sudden change in lighting. So, we stop the additional lighting at night and kept the additional lighting in the morning. . .

I thought we had fixed the problem because the hens stopped with the blood spots for a few days, but THEY ARE BACK . . .
Not as big this time . .

I started the lighting because of those two duh duh marans that still haven't started laying - - - they took all summer of (I am sure of it). I increased the protein (slightly) and increased the lighting since we are in fall and shorter days. We have the lights coming on for a couple of hours in the morning and that is it . . . .

Supposedly some breeds are more sensitive to the artificial lighting than others . .

JUST WONdering if anyone had experience with this issue