Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I had this Coopers Hawk hiding under my chickens' favourite bush by my barn door last weekend when I went out. The Coopers are definitely bold and will even fly into and under bushes chasing prey, unlike most larger hawks. However, these guys aren't typically a huge threat to fully grown large fowl chickens that have a chance of defending themselves. (Mine free-range and have lots of opportunity for cover.) At my place, this guy is after the sparrows, junkos, chickadees, etc. Quickest thing to scare him off is ALWAYS my camera. I only ever get one chance at a shot ....

 

[heath_elisha]

I had this Coopers Hawk hiding under my chickens' favourite bush by my barn door last weekend when I went out. The Coopers are definitely bold and will even fly into and under bushes chasing prey, unlike most larger hawks. However, these guys aren't typically a huge threat to fully grown large fowl chickens that have a chance of defending themselves. (Mine free-range and have lots of opportunity for cover.) At my place, this guy is after the sparrows, junkos, chickadees, etc. Quickest thing to scare him off is ALWAYS my camera. I only ever get one chance at a shot ....

I've had to chase off several hawks recently. They roost right above my pens..... not impressed. I never grab the camera lol rather the closest rake or something to bang on things and make tons of noise. Slippers get whipped at them too

They frustrate me...... the neighbor lost a bantam roo to one before and I am not in the game to see if one can take one of my littles......

 

[Debbi]

Kim, I finally got a decent pic, well for me anyway, of Bad Charlotte. She and Olivia will be 2 years on March 12, 2013. She had none of this lacing before she finally molted out! Me thinks I am seeing a hint of copper tinge in her hackles, so maybe with her next molt some will come it? She is kind of in an awkward pose, but trying to get any pic of her is nearly impossible! At least the zoom feature on this camera works well! I have my doubts as to using her as a breeder, I'm not fond of her comb and dark eyes, but I may try to hatch a few just to see what pops out. She is a Gnarles x GFF BCM girl, sooooooo....At least she lays a very distinctive egg, so I will know what is hers!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I HIGHLY recommend aiming a camera at them. They'll be gone in an instant and not so quick to return!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Kim, I finally got a decent pic, well for me anyway, of Bad Charlotte. She and Olivia will be 2 years on March 12, 2013. She had none of this lacing before she finally molted out! Me thinks I am seeing a hint of copper tinge in her hackles, so maybe with her next molt some will come it? She is kind of in an awkward pose, but trying to get any pic of her is nearly impossible! At least the zoom feature on this camera works well! I have my doubts as to using her as a breeder, I'm not fond of her comb and dark eyes, but I may try to hatch a few just to see what pops out. She is a Gnarles x GFF BCM girl, sooooooo....At least she lays a very distinctive egg, so I will know what is hers!

Lovely girl! (And just an FYI, that isn't lacing but rather "edging" which has a different genetic base. If it were truly lacing, the edges would be black rather than dark blue, as is seen on good quality Andalusian Blues who set the Standard. "Lacing" is an issue with MANY blue varieties.)

 

[gilavina]

well, sorting and culling is on hold at the moment on account of rain. I did manage to get a couple of shots of some girls (with some bribery) before it got too bad tho. Each has work they need done, but they are of good type and throw really nice offspring. They will make their way to the breeding pens again this year

close up of one of the solid blue girls, nice open tail and her overall heft and width will do nicely in both my birchens and solid projects




One of my favorite BCMs, she has very little copper, but will cross her onto the male she was out of, that has lovely copper, and see if I can get more color. She is an absolute tank. Love the feathering on both her and the next hen. The beetle green sheen is to die for.




She has dark eyes, but when paired correctly throws mostly chicks with light eyes. She is one of my favorite birds on the place. A pleasure to watch on the lawn foraging. Love her body type, head structure, leg color, tail set, pretty much everything is lovely minus the dark eyes, but I can work on that.

 

[snowbird]

Vicki, What is the bird in second picture on top right of the page ?

I really like the female in the third picture and can see why you like her so much.

 

[gilavina]

Vicki, What is the bird in second picture on top right of the page ?

I really like the female in the third picture and can see why you like her so much.

do you mean the little one next to the one I took the photo of? Or, the bum of the one in the corner? The little one is a mixed breed and the bum is from one of the layer girls. During the winter, they get to run together since I only collect eggs for eating. Today was supposed to be sorting day, deciding who was going where, but its raining, so its getting written up on paper for now, so I know where birds will go on another day when its not so crappy weather.

I have a few more girls from that same breeding as the third photo, they are in different stages of finishing molting tho, so they look terrible at the moment. haha This type breeds forward with great consistency!

 

[snowbird]

do you mean the little one next to the one I took the photo of? Or, the bum of the one in the corner? The little one is a mixed breed and the bum is from one of the layer girls. During the winter, they get to run together since I only collect eggs for eating. Today was supposed to be sorting day, deciding who was going where, but its raining, so its getting written up on paper for now, so I know where birds will go on another day when its not so crappy weather.

I have a few more girls from that same breeding as the third photo, they are in different stages of finishing molting tho, so they look terrible at the moment. haha This type breeds forward with great consistency!

yes, was talking about the one with brown soft feathering, almost caused me to wake up.

 

[gilavina]

yes, was talking about the one with brown soft feathering, almost caused me to wake up.

haha too funny. I bet. She is a mix and a half of who knows what to be honest. When it comes to the layers, I just keep them because they lay well and are pretty eye candy. That's about as far as that goes for me. Every year I rotate out some of the older ones and then bring in a few young new ones to keep the production up and works well.