Debbie,
my family and I are praying for you and your family!
my family and I are praying for you and your family!
Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!
- Thread starter Wynette
- Start date
- May 19, 2009
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Maybe the LARGER shavings would be better in the beginning so that they wouldn't eat it ? ? ?
==========================
Hi,
Back in 2004, we got a small flock of Cuckoo and Black Marans chicks from Kelly Cratty who lived, at that tme, about 1 1/2 hours away. I was all hot to raise them on newspaper or shavings. Kelly told me if I wanted to keep from getting twisted toes on my chicks I should : , put down hardwood shavings like one gets at Tractor Supply or Agway in bales. Then make a platform from 1 /4 inch hardware cloth that was just higher than the shavings. Put the platform on top the shavings so the chicks walked on the hardware cloth but the droppings fell thru into the shavings. Change the shavings when they got smelly. At 2 weeks old , switch out the platform for another one made of 1/2 inch hardware cloth for the duration of their time in the brooder. I did that with good success and no twisted toes. After a year or so in Marans , I placed the chickens and spent more time on the collie kennel. In 2009, we retired the kennel after 15 yrs. and went back to Marans. This time, I figured I knew better than Kelly and raised a flock of chicks on newspaper. All had twisted toes.
. Then we built two brooders for the next flock. ( an article about building them is in an MOAC Newsletter for last year " Brooder In A Day".)
A smaller one with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and a bigger one with 1/2 inch hardware cloth floors. Both had removable bins underneath filled with hardwood shavings. Viola! No more twisted toes.
No more removing the wire platform to change the shavings!! Just remove and dump the bins, sanitize and refill, easy as pie!
I'm a believer.
Best Regards,
Karen Tewart
Waterford French Marans
in western PA
==========================
Hi,
Back in 2004, we got a small flock of Cuckoo and Black Marans chicks from Kelly Cratty who lived, at that tme, about 1 1/2 hours away. I was all hot to raise them on newspaper or shavings. Kelly told me if I wanted to keep from getting twisted toes on my chicks I should : , put down hardwood shavings like one gets at Tractor Supply or Agway in bales. Then make a platform from 1 /4 inch hardware cloth that was just higher than the shavings. Put the platform on top the shavings so the chicks walked on the hardware cloth but the droppings fell thru into the shavings. Change the shavings when they got smelly. At 2 weeks old , switch out the platform for another one made of 1/2 inch hardware cloth for the duration of their time in the brooder. I did that with good success and no twisted toes. After a year or so in Marans , I placed the chickens and spent more time on the collie kennel. In 2009, we retired the kennel after 15 yrs. and went back to Marans. This time, I figured I knew better than Kelly and raised a flock of chicks on newspaper. All had twisted toes.
A smaller one with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and a bigger one with 1/2 inch hardware cloth floors. Both had removable bins underneath filled with hardwood shavings. Viola! No more twisted toes.
Best Regards,
Karen Tewart
Waterford French Marans
in western PA
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Justed wanted a chance to say thanks again for all that great info you sent me . . . .
Justed wanted a chance to say thanks again for all that great info you sent me . . . .
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we hatch small time compared to others twisted toes i dont know about ????? but spralled legs on chicks is something we batttle but only in the first week of life but after that (5 to 7 days) there good ,,,,, i give them hay the second there borne ,,,,, what better could they have? , broody hens i have raise the chicks on hay ,granted i only hatch 12 to 15 chicks at a time, i hatched manymany last year the hay worked great for them , it makes them strong i do use a few paper towls around the water and food , out in the coop i have cicks days old in 20 degree wether here running around , they get cold they run to mommy no troubles but when i brood them i use the brooder lamps and totaly pamper them with stuffed animals
ps isnt twisted toes i thought was a incubation broblem ? because of being in egg to long ? im probubly wrong lol
ps isnt twisted toes i thought was a incubation broblem ? because of being in egg to long ? im probubly wrong lol
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If you can grab her, can you look under her hackles and see any new feather growth, or around her tail? Maybe she is going to start a molt, age sounds about right. Some of my Wellie girls will loose their breast feathers during molt just like a broody will, but they have never gone broody
. Is she still laying? If still laying, is she still in full production or has she slowed? Have you noticed her egg color lightening up at all or getting somewhat splotchier than normal? Has her comb lightened up or does it seem a little more pale than normal, or the skin on her face?
She stopped laying mid Dec. will have to check and see if new feathers are coming in or what... silly bird, we did move her up to the heated pen in the garage.
I'm thinking that she is in molt especially since she stopped laying in Dec. and she may be one of those birds that the molt isn't as noticeable. I have a couple of birds that when they molt I really have to take a close look because they hardly show any signs of it, I guess a person could call them easy molters, unlike a couple of my Wellie girls that are molting right now, they look horrible and pathetic, they took this first molt very seriously. Poor things. I haven't noticed any of my Marans molt that hard ever, they usually are very gradual with their molt only showing small visual signs and most of them continue to lay throughout, though egg color suffers drastically and so does production. They still lay, but they don't lay very often and I have noticed that they take a couple weeks or so to get into full egg production again after molt.
If you can grab her, can you look under her hackles and see any new feather growth, or around her tail? Maybe she is going to start a molt, age sounds about right. Some of my Wellie girls will loose their breast feathers during molt just like a broody will, but they have never gone broody
She stopped laying mid Dec. will have to check and see if new feathers are coming in or what... silly bird, we did move her up to the heated pen in the garage.
I'm thinking that she is in molt especially since she stopped laying in Dec. and she may be one of those birds that the molt isn't as noticeable. I have a couple of birds that when they molt I really have to take a close look because they hardly show any signs of it, I guess a person could call them easy molters, unlike a couple of my Wellie girls that are molting right now, they look horrible and pathetic, they took this first molt very seriously. Poor things. I haven't noticed any of my Marans molt that hard ever, they usually are very gradual with their molt only showing small visual signs and most of them continue to lay throughout, though egg color suffers drastically and so does production. They still lay, but they don't lay very often and I have noticed that they take a couple weeks or so to get into full egg production again after molt.
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If copper showed up once in a while they are splash copper and blue copper birds that do not always show the copper, so this means that they have the copper gene hiding in their background somewhere. If you don't want copper to continue to pop up in your birds and you only want Solid Blue and Splash you would continue to breed the birds that do not show any signs of copper, however, remember that the gene is in there so it can still pop up anytime. What's your goal with these birds? Dark eggs? Or are you planning on breeding for other things such as to breed standards or do you want to show some day? Just curious.
Sorry in advance for the next couple of questions and if I missed this before you can just tell me to go back and re-read
, did you post photos of the birds? Do you have photos of them to share? I would love to see them. Thanks for sharing the info that you received.
If copper showed up once in a while they are splash copper and blue copper birds that do not always show the copper, so this means that they have the copper gene hiding in their background somewhere. If you don't want copper to continue to pop up in your birds and you only want Solid Blue and Splash you would continue to breed the birds that do not show any signs of copper, however, remember that the gene is in there so it can still pop up anytime. What's your goal with these birds? Dark eggs? Or are you planning on breeding for other things such as to breed standards or do you want to show some day? Just curious.
Sorry in advance for the next couple of questions and if I missed this before you can just tell me to go back and re-read
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Yah right they are only pampered.......let's be real here and tell it how it is Berk..........your birdies are totally spoiled and and not just pampered you know it.
Yah right they are only pampered.......let's be real here and tell it how it is Berk..........your birdies are totally spoiled and and not just pampered you know it.
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So sorry...Prayers your way & I will pass it along.
So sorry...Prayers your way & I will pass it along.
- Jan 30, 2009
- 2,621
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If copper showed up once in a while they are splash copper and blue copper birds that do not always show the copper, so this means that they have the copper gene hiding in their background somewhere. If you don't want copper to continue to pop up in your birds and you only want Solid Blue and Splash you would continue to breed the birds that do not show any signs of copper, however, remember that the gene is in there so it can still pop up anytime. What's your goal with these birds? Dark eggs? Or are you planning on breeding for other things such as to breed standards or do you want to show some day? Just curious.
Sorry in advance for the next couple of questions and if I missed this before you can just tell me to go back and re-read
, did you post photos of the birds? Do you have photos of them to share? I would love to see them. Thanks for sharing the info that you received.
I'm not genetic whiz, but I was told that the reason we see "solid" blue hens,, has to do with the fact that the hen has only 1 color gene., but the males have 2. So, you can have a blue hen, but the males end up showing the 2nd color eventually.
So far, I've never seen a true Marans solid blue rooster. Another color always seeps through, either birchen or copper. I think that the only way to get a true blue male is to breed out to another breed, and then work back into the Marans. Or, maybe through a Cuckoo?
In 4 years of hatching blue copper, I've never gotten a true blue male.
If copper showed up once in a while they are splash copper and blue copper birds that do not always show the copper, so this means that they have the copper gene hiding in their background somewhere. If you don't want copper to continue to pop up in your birds and you only want Solid Blue and Splash you would continue to breed the birds that do not show any signs of copper, however, remember that the gene is in there so it can still pop up anytime. What's your goal with these birds? Dark eggs? Or are you planning on breeding for other things such as to breed standards or do you want to show some day? Just curious.
Sorry in advance for the next couple of questions and if I missed this before you can just tell me to go back and re-read
I'm not genetic whiz, but I was told that the reason we see "solid" blue hens,, has to do with the fact that the hen has only 1 color gene., but the males have 2. So, you can have a blue hen, but the males end up showing the 2nd color eventually.
So far, I've never seen a true Marans solid blue rooster. Another color always seeps through, either birchen or copper. I think that the only way to get a true blue male is to breed out to another breed, and then work back into the Marans. Or, maybe through a Cuckoo?
In 4 years of hatching blue copper, I've never gotten a true blue male.
Good morning out there,
As so many others I had to start with what I was able to get. So out of 6 chicks I bought I got 4 cockerels & 2 pullets. I kept my best rooster & both pullets so it wa slim pickin'. Niether pullet turned out to be very good layers as far as production goes. I was getting only maybe 3 or 4 eggs a week per bird at best. I haven't gotta any for quite awhile now. I tried many different high protein feeds & feed mixes & supplements. I was told my egg color was okay (5) but I hope for better. I hatched out a bunch of chicks from this trio. Does the productivity get passed on from mother to daughter??????????? So that would mean what pullets I am raising won't lay well either? I am getting new chicks this year & hoping for better layers. The ones I hatched last year were in July & nobody is laying yet but even my pullets in the layer pen shut down until just a few days ago & now the EEs & Brown Leghorns have suddenly started again.
Karen in California
As so many others I had to start with what I was able to get. So out of 6 chicks I bought I got 4 cockerels & 2 pullets. I kept my best rooster & both pullets so it wa slim pickin'. Niether pullet turned out to be very good layers as far as production goes. I was getting only maybe 3 or 4 eggs a week per bird at best. I haven't gotta any for quite awhile now. I tried many different high protein feeds & feed mixes & supplements. I was told my egg color was okay (5) but I hope for better. I hatched out a bunch of chicks from this trio. Does the productivity get passed on from mother to daughter??????????? So that would mean what pullets I am raising won't lay well either? I am getting new chicks this year & hoping for better layers. The ones I hatched last year were in July & nobody is laying yet but even my pullets in the layer pen shut down until just a few days ago & now the EEs & Brown Leghorns have suddenly started again.
Karen in California
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