Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[UnionMan]

Got my second BCM egg today. Looks a little lighter but has more and darker speckles. The first egg she laid in the coop floor. This time she laid it on the poop board. Hopefully third times a charm in the nesting boxes.

 

[UnionMan]

The eggs I used for Comparison in the above picture are from a EE, RIR, and Polish.

 

[DMRippy]

Nice Job Vicki!

 

[Turkeytruff]

I have five beautiful Black copper Marans Roosters. Sadly I need to get rid of them. I don't want to have to put them in the pot as they are great breeding stock. I have tried to sell them on Craigslist but not luck. What other options do I have besides the killing cone?

Where are you? I could be interested in a roo or two!

 

[BibleMan]

Thank you for that link to your farm and chickens. I love the beautiful blue roo you show on your site.The Black Copper Maran is also very impressive and their expression shows the love you have for your birds.

 

[BibleMan]

Love your sign.

 

[Runawaylobster]

Well, I didn't end up getting any real great shots today, its been really windy, so hard to catch them without feathers blowing everywhere. Some are rougher looking than others, but will be divided out after I finish moving all the males to where I want them.

This Splash is a beast and a half, probably about 8 1/2 to 9 pounds. I'll be using her to add size onto the blue coppers.




Luella on the far left facing away from the camera, and other blue and black coppers. Lobo, the teensy tiny buck decided to get in on the shot too



One of Luella's sisters in the background, looks just like her except with very little copper. More blue and black coppers in the front.




Some of the girls on the lawn




A first generation blue copper in the background. She has the same nice tone of copper as Luella, but not as much

They are really lovely.. and the splashes are terrific , i'm excited to make some of my own splashes before the end of the year depending
on one little hatchee that came out 2 weeks ago.. i'm hoping he is a blue boy. So.. I noticed you have something down that looks like
hay? or is is really spindly straw. do you just rake it out and replace? it looks so clean and nice!

 

[gilavina]

They are really lovely.. and the splashes are terrific , i'm excited to make some of my own splashes before the end of the year depending
on one little hatchee that came out 2 weeks ago.. i'm hoping he is a blue boy. So.. I noticed you have something down that looks like
hay? or is is really spindly straw. do you just rake it out and replace? it looks so clean and nice!

That's prairie hay we feed to the goats. The decorating is compliments of them. They like to rip it out of the feeder and spread it everywhere right along with the chickens. I leave it and let it start breaking down and then use it for mulch in the garden. If I have tons of it, I'll mix some in with the compost as well. Works well. Just can't break the goats of the spreading habit, so decided to work with it instead and use it to the garden's advantage.

I'm hoping to make some more improvements on the Marans this year for sure!

 

[Runawaylobster]

That's prairie hay we feed to the goats. The decorating is compliments of them. They like to rip it out of the feeder and spread it everywhere right along with the chickens. I leave it and let it start breaking down and then use it for mulch in the garden. If I have tons of it, I'll mix some in with the compost as well. Works well. Just can't break the goats of the spreading habit, so decided to work with it instead and use it to the garden's advantage.

I'm hoping to make some more improvements on the Marans this year for sure!

Ahhh no wonder i had no clue what it was ...... I am going to try lychee leaves for same purpose to see if they compost nicely in the coop.. my grove gets buried in them.

looking forward to seeing pics of your improvements

 

[gilavina]

The leaves sound like interesting bedding, we don't have anything like that here, but would be curious to hear if It works. Hoping by the end of the day to have the eggs in the incubator. Had a bit of excitement this morn at work tho, an armed man was on the loose in town, so town was swarming with cops, planes and helicopters looking for him. All I know is that I'm ready to go home