Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Well, its looking like I might have a bit of a fight on my hands. There are now 2 very large great horned (tiger) owls getting braver by the day. Me thinks the male has found a lady. Been going out the last day or two around dusk and walking towards them, they are very people shy, so trying to use that to get them to back off some more. Luckily, Goliath sends off warning calls when they come close, so that helps as well. I know if they get one bird, it will be 100x's harder to get rid of them. I'm guessing just from when they take off, that the male has a wing span of about 4 to 5 feet, the female I would guess somewhere between 3 and 4 feet.

Wow they are probably really pretty but of course scary for the birds. I have huge owls here that come around every few weeks and sit and hoot and make barking noises up in the big live oak trees in the yard. I have an EE male that has refused to go in his coop the last 3 nights. He is a real butthead so I wouldn't be that upset to lose him. I heard owls out there last night and the EE was still around this morning so he must have a good hiding place. I wonder how long that will hold out.

 

[gilavina]

Wow they are probably really pretty but of course scary for the birds. I have huge owls here that come around every few weeks and sit and hoot and make barking noises up in the big live oak trees in the yard. I have an EE male that has refused to go in his coop the last 3 nights. He is a real butthead so I wouldn't be that upset to lose him. I heard owls out there last night and the EE was still around this morning so he must have a good hiding place. I wonder how long that will hold out.

yeah, they are just beautiful. I love birds of all kinds, but not when they are trying to make a meal out of years of hard work haha The last 4 days or so, we have had massive flocks of geese heading straight north, so I'm hoping that things are going to head towards spring earlier which will give the owls other food sources.

 

[flgardengirl]

Yeah that does suck when they get the 'good' chickens lol.
We haven't even had winter yet here. I think it froze lightly maybe twice so far this winter. Not hard enough to even kill any plants though. It is supposed to freeze the next three days but not really hard . I haven't even used the greenhouse heater this winter and have kept the door open almost every night lol.
We have some Canada geese that fly around here year around. They must not migrate at all. They get our Sebastapol geese going honk honk honk every time they fly over in the morning, then again in the evening.

 

[gilavina]

Yeah that does suck when they get the 'good' chickens lol.
We haven't even had winter yet here. I think it froze lightly maybe twice so far this winter. Not hard enough to even kill any plants though. It is supposed to freeze the next three days but not really hard . I haven't even used the greenhouse heater this winter and have kept the door open almost every night lol.
We have some Canada geese that fly around here year around. They must not migrate at all. They get our Sebastapol geese going honk honk honk every time they fly over in the morning, then again in the evening.

its been up and down with the weather so far this winter. The birds hate these cold days, which I don't blame them. Overnight its supposed to be 0 and a low of 3 tomorrow....so not looking forward to that

 

[pmessner]

Thank you... I have never seen that

 

[hairlady222]

The unknown is sure beautiful.........enjoy your pic.

 

[flgardengirl]

Sounds cold! What have you been doing with yourself this winter? Have you started hatching anything yet or are you waiting till spring? I am kinda planning my garden. I took a break and didn't really have a winter garden this year. I am planting some pepper and tomato seeds tomorrow. I got some unusual pepper seeds to try from pepperlover.com and they sent me 5 packs of free pepper seeds with my order! I am going to try and plant more stuff for the birds this year. Every year I seem to add more space to the garden just for them lol.

 

[gilavina]

Sounds cold! What have you been doing with yourself this winter? Have you started hatching anything yet or are you waiting till spring? I am kinda planning my garden. I took a break and didn't really have a winter garden this year. I am planting some pepper and tomato seeds tomorrow. I got some unusual pepper seeds to try from pepperlover.com and they sent me 5 packs of free pepper seeds with my order! I am going to try and plant more stuff for the birds this year. Every year I seem to add more space to the garden just for them lol.

It is going to be a stay inside type of day for sure. I hope it will warm back up again this week. I mostly have been working, was finishing up the show reports (22 of them) from the show and got sick for a couple of weeks. I've got cabin fever badly, so am planning my garden in great detail and will be starting seeds inside in the next few days. Shooting for a year round garden with the help of low tunnels and etc. I haven't started hatching yet. Trying to hold off a bit til I get the rest of my birds situated and can get my hatching stuff all set up again.

 

[flgardengirl]

If you go to wintersown you can get free tomato seeds (only charge 2 stamps). I get them every year and they always have good germination. Here is the link. http://wintersown.org/wseo1/Free_Seeds.html

 

[gilavina]

If you go to wintersown you can get free tomato seeds (only charge 2 stamps). I get them every year and they always have good germination. Here is the link. http://wintersown.org/wseo1/Free_Seeds.html

very good to know! I shall try that. I'm organizing my seeds, and deciding what to grow when and etc. I have the hardest time lookin through seed catalogs, I want everything!