Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Chickengirl1304]

What do you think gender wise? Roos? I think I have 3. They're BCMs and 3 1/2 weeks old The one In the back

 

[Irishgirl]

I think the one on the bottom is a roo.

 

[DMRippy]

I just set 150 eggs today and last week I set 180 and there are another 120 (2 batches) in there now and another 60-70 hatching now

Not all marans but lots of them are.

 

[gilavina]

I just set 150 eggs today and last week I set 180 and there are another 120 (2 batches) in there now and another 60-70 hatching now

Not all marans but lots of them are.

haha, spoken like a true addict haha

 

[ellymayRans]

Wow...my DH & family think I'm a "Crazy Chicken Lady"!!! They just don't even know! LOL I love it! I just wish I had the land to accomplish such! I'm working on 57 chickens on a 1 acre lot in the suburbs! Congrats!

 

[ashandvine]

So I am officially out of my league here. I was just wondering today how many birds a person keeps and what some of the bycers keep or hatch that I do... but the numbers quell me. I am certain that even if I manage to hatch any chicks this year I certainly won't get to so many as you all. I wonder if this is the litmus test that says I am not going to be a good chicken keeper. It does hearten me to see that 'serious' keepers keep more than one breed at a time. I have been feeling like I should find a way to limit what I have (Favorelles, BC Marans, Ameraucanas, Orloffs) and I feel as if I should make apologies for not being more... focused. Its difficult to be certain I am doing as much as I can for each with this many. I really like them, but then, I like birds and would probably have a few more types and colors if I could. When it comes to keeping separate pens for cocks and hens for each breed.... oh boy.

I did get my first solid and even big Marans egg. Small joys.

 

[Zanna]

So I am officially out of my league here. I was just wondering today how many birds a person keeps and what some of the bycers keep or hatch that I do... but the numbers quell me. I am certain that even if I manage to hatch any chicks this year I certainly won't get to so many as you all. I wonder if this is the litmus test that says I am not going to be a good chicken keeper. It does hearten me to see that 'serious' keepers keep more than one breed at a time. I have been feeling like I should find a way to limit what I have (Favorelles, BC Marans, Ameraucanas, Orloffs) and I feel as if I should make apologies for not being more... focused. Its difficult to be certain I am doing as much as I can for each with this many. I really like them, but then, I like birds and would probably have a few more types and colors if I could. When it comes to keeping separate pens for cocks and hens for each breed.... oh boy.

I did get my first solid and even big Marans egg. Small joys.

Congrats on the EGG!!! Hey, I am small potatoes too! I spent all of last year breeding one pair of BCM. After 5 years of buying eggs/chicks/culling and predator loss I had only one pair by year 5 I considered breedworthy......... We all start somewhere and most of us have similar beginnings especially with the Marans! This year I have 2 roos, 1 cockeral, 2 hens and 3 pullets. The cockeral and pullets are all from last years breeding pair so lots of fun combos to play with this year.

 

[DMRippy]

So I am officially out of my league here. I was just wondering today how many birds a person keeps and what some of the bycers keep or hatch that I do... but the numbers quell me. I am certain that even if I manage to hatch any chicks this year I certainly won't get to so many as you all. I wonder if this is the litmus test that says I am not going to be a good chicken keeper. It does hearten me to see that 'serious' keepers keep more than one breed at a time. I have been feeling like I should find a way to limit what I have (Favorelles, BC Marans, Ameraucanas, Orloffs) and I feel as if I should make apologies for not being more... focused. Its difficult to be certain I am doing as much as I can for each with this many. I really like them, but then, I like birds and would probably have a few more types and colors if I could. When it comes to keeping separate pens for cocks and hens for each breed.... oh boy.

I did get my first solid and even big Marans egg. Small joys.

You would be surprised at how fast you can grow a flock with just a few chickens. Just do some math.... say a hen lays 4 eggs a week, 16 eggs a month (kinda low numbers here) If you hatch them and Half hatch that is 8 chicks a month and 4 will be pullets so 4 pullets a month for say 6 months hatching season that is 24 new pullets a year to pick from. If you cull to 25% that are breeder quality that will give you 6 good pullets to breed with.... see a WHOLE new flock from just one hen LOL

My marans I started with just 1 roo and 5-6 pullets. Added some roos and soon I had HUNDREDS of chicks to pick from. Down to just 16, but that is going to be thinned down till I find the dark egg layers... I have about 4 I think. BTW that picture the other day was not of my darkest eggs..... they are in the bator now. I don't usually breed brother and sister but she is with a decent little blue roo and I though WTH lets see what I get. If he has as dark of egg genes as she does WOW that could be a great color egg layer. Let see if they even hatch.

 

[lisascenic]

My sweet BCM laid her first egg today...I hate to say I'm disappointed, but I was expecting a much darker chocolate color. It has a thick, chalky bloom and is in the same color range as my sex-links. Pictured bellow, next to a cream silky egg (she's the only other one laying at the moment), in natural light, it looks darker...but still not what I expected. Did i expect too much? Will it darken up? Or was I "had"? The woman claimed pure Wade Jean bread to pure Bev Davis lines.

I realize this is an old posting, but I'm trying to learn more about the milky "bloom" on my marans' eggs.

I do pysanky easter egg decorating, and am wondering how suitable these milky brown eggs will be. Does the coating scrub off, or wash off, or am I stuck with it?

 

[OHmamma]

You would be surprised at how fast you can grow a flock with just a few chickens. Just do some math.... say a hen lays 4 eggs a week, 16 eggs a month (kinda low numbers here) If you hatch them and Half hatch that is 8 chicks a month and 4 will be pullets so 4 pullets a month for say 6 months hatching season that is 24 new pullets a year to pick from. If you cull to 25% that are breeder quality that will give you 6 good pullets to breed with.... see a WHOLE new flock from just one hen LOL

My marans I started with just 1 roo and 5-6 pullets. Added some roos and soon I had HUNDREDS of chicks to pick from. Down to just 16, but that is going to be thinned down till I find the dark egg layers... I have about 4 I think. BTW that picture the other day was not of my darkest eggs..... they are in the bator now. I don't usually breed brother and sister but she is with a decent little blue roo and I though WTH lets see what I get. If he has as dark of egg genes as she does WOW that could be a great color egg layer. Let see if they even hatch.

I started with two blue Marans hens. A couple weeks later I bought 8 cuckoo hens and a Blue Cuckoo rooster. Then a black copper rooster a week later, then about 250 chicks from different breeders. Oh and about 20 dozen hatching eggs form different breeders. After culling through the first lot I only kept 30.

Years later I keep between 130 and 150 Marans in 13 varieties. I have a few other breeds, just a trio each of Black Ameracauna, Dark Brahma, Bantam BLR Cornish, one Turken hen, and one OEG bantam roo, and two Asil hens but just for my kids. I keep my 3 OShamo too because I LOVE Orientals. My son has been working on his own little breed for 4 generations now too, "Gryphons" he has 9 of those. I am considering adding Brabanters too.

Thanks to the cold here I just started sitting eggs last week. After yesterday I have 18 dozen in the incubator and will likely set 9-10 dozen a week until the end of June. Some of my hens are older so their fertility is dropping, but last year I ran about 75-80% on most hatches. This year will be a little crazier since I had a mainly pullet season last year and after culling for egg color and shape the last two months, I have added 33 to my flock.

I don't think you have to go crazy with it to be a good breeder, especially if you start with very good stock. Believe me it is worth the initial investment to pay for the best you can find!! You will not get showbirds everytime no matter who you buy from, but you will be more pleased with what you do get if the breeder you buy from knows what they are doing. All of my extra breeds came from good show stock and breeders that I trust. Since they are more established older breeds it was easier to get good birds plus all were purchased or traded for as older juveniles.

Marans are always a different story since they are a relatively new breed. Plus I work on different varieties so it seems like I hatch heavy but if I broke it down it would be average for most of them. After being ripped off and disappointed the first couple years I swore off other people's LF Marans egg and chicks. This is the first time in 3 years that I am adding LF from another breeder and that is because they came directly from Bev Davis to me. There are 3 other breeders that I will be getting them from this season too, but only because I have seen their birds and eggs in person. Going to shows and meeting people is certainly the best way to go. You don't have to show but meeting good breeders from any breed can be beneficial.

Sorry, I meant to click on ASHDIVINE's post and now I can change it.

-Nicol