Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[kathyinmo]

me?chickens? :

I have my first Marans -- she's blue. She has a timid personality compared to my other pullets that I got at the same time; is this typical?. (They are Welsummer and Barnevelter.) Another question I have is that she has feathers on her legs and other Marans that I've seen do not. Is she perhaps a cross or is this normal?

I have had Blue (B/B/S) Marans (no copper) .... both with and without shank feathering. There are both kinds. My personal preference is without.​

 

[GingerZoo]

I am new to pet chickens. I am a volunteer for East Valley Wildlife in Chandler, AZ. We got a call from a guy who found 7 baby chicks in a park that were abandoned with a pile of feed. I went out and picked them up. They were to be adopted out once they were old enough to tell what gender they were, but that never happened.

Anyway, one of them was black and it took me months to identify what she was. Turns out, she's a Black Copper Moran.

I was so excited when I found out about this breed and the pretty eggs she'd be laying. She's 7 months old now and has been laying eggs for several weeks. Can somebody tell me if the eggs will get darker as she gets older? They are darker than the other girls. I have two Barred Rock and four Rhode Island Reds. Thanks.

 

[Kansaseq]

Quote:
Her eggs will not get darker than they are now. Over the laying season, they will actually get a bit lighter, then return to their original hue once she moults and takes a break.

 

[kroman]

I am new to marans but I bought 2 cuckoo marans from the hatchery this year. They should start laying in mid-September. I live in Alaska and I'm wondering if there is anyone in the Wasilla area that has marans for sale. I would really like to get my hands on the black coppers? breed.

 

[Kansaseq]

Quote:
There are several people from Alaska on here, not sure about Wasilla, though. I think there may be an AK thread and you could ask there. By the way,

from Kansas!

 

[kroman]

Thanks, I'll do some searching.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
I actually have 30 cornishx brooding in the back room right now.
Yes, they are definitely the most time/cost effective way to go.
But they're not self sustaining. It's rare for them to even live to breeding age and they don't breed true. Actually in my eyes (just my opinion) it would border on animal cruelty to try to keep the poor things around for that long. I'd like to have a flock that can still perpetuate itself and give me eggs on the side.

So while I don't think that I'll stop raising CX anytime soon (I love a roast chicken with a huuuge breast!) I'm still interested in a dual purpose breed that's actually dual purpose. Which I think means actively selecting for a good carcass. Even though you can eat any scrawny little thing it doesn't mean the bird is dual. I don't know if I'm saying this right.
OK, right now, just about every breed is for eggs (or show) and meat on the side. You eat them because what ELSE are you going to do with them?? not because they are particularly good eating.
I want a flock that's for meat, and gives me eggs on the side. I want them to grow quickly and well, forage and keep brooding chicks and give me a few extra eggs above and beyond that.
Does that make sense?

Yes it does I raise Delawares for that very reason...at 16 weeks you have good fryers and at 20+ weeks you have roasters and at 20 weeks you get eggs lots of them and they get big fast. The only birds I have that come close to the Dellies are my Cuckoos they just take another month then would come my BCMs now I didn't hatch any show stock but most of my boys are getting big but they are even slower than the Cuckoos. There are people on this board who's strain of BCMs are huge how fast they get huge I don't know. I have a meat bird pen mixed blood of what all I don't know or care the person who I got the from said they would be ready at 14 weeks they are I saved some to raise my own I think they look like Delaware/New Hampshire/Barred Rock and maybe CX mixed together the hens started laying at 16 weeks and now at 20 weeks the eggs are huge and the roo is huge too I can't wait to hatch some out later this year. My Cuckoo I processed at 22 weeks dressed out at 4.5 lbs I have more to do and they look more filled out so they should be over 5lbs now I don't count anything but the carcass no neck or innards and sometimes I cut the tail and wingtips off too...I think most chickens in the farmstead days were killed when they were going to eat them and after harvest would make for a nice fattened up bird I would think so maybe 6 months to over a year and year old roosters were prized for their flavor....and I'm sure the rooster who jumped on anyone more than once would get to go sooner. Have fun with your chickens and try some of your ideas you can go to ALBC and download chick evaluation forms and it tells you how to choose good laying hens and how to pick them out of your flock...you really only need a couple of real good hens to raise more chicks than you would ever need I say go for it.

 

[halo]

Okay, Maransamaniacs, I need some help here.

I am growing out 2 wheaten roos, which I got from a very nice flock and from very dark eggs. One is significantly larger and bulkier than the other one, just a big hefty boy. Good feathering on the legs. But he also has some obvious faults.

Roo number 2 isnt nearly as big or hefty. Has a better tail angle, maybe better hackle coloring. These are the only 2 I have to choose from. They are 5 months old. So do I build the barn first, and then paint it? Does size trump type?

Batchelor number 1:

Batchelor number 2, I couldnt get a good picture of him:

 

[RiverOtter]

Thanks Lotsapaints!
I'll go to the ALBC website and check out those forms.

Delawares, huh? I'm thinking that I'm going to order a whole bunch of chicks next year to sample some different breeds for meat and growth and then go from there. I homeschool my DD and we love genetics so chickens are great. You can see results soon enough to keep kids (lol, and adults) really excited about it. We actually study on how breeds change as people's needs change and how what is prized in one time period is lost in another and wanted again still later on.

 

[afeatherwelsh]

I would love to add 1-2 Marans hens to my flock, but the feed stores don't seem to get this breed in. I am too far from a metropolitan area to order chicks, plus I have to order too many. Still checking Craigslist!