Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

I know it's in this thread somewhere, but would someone please remind me of the correct humidity level from day 1 to 18 and then to hatch? This is my first Marans incubation in a while and I can't find my notes.

hey slick, I try to keep my humidity between 25 and 40%, but prefer to keep it roughly 30 or so during the first 18 days

 

[slick4591]

Thank you very much! My mind was thinking 30% but really wasn't sure. I've been doing too many Ameraucana hatches lately, I think.

 

[gilavina]

Thank you very much! My mind was thinking 30% but really wasn't sure. I've been doing too many Ameraucana hatches lately, I think.

hhaa indeed. How's the humidity your way this time of year?

 

[slick4591]

At this moment we are at 62%. Rained a little this morning and more chances as we head into tomorrow. We sure need it because out main water reservoir is down 10'.

 

[gilavina]

Yuck, its pretty dry here as well. Wish we were getting rain, but forecast is calling for about 6" of snow this weekend.

 

[slick4591]

What's funny is our ground moisture is pretty good as we've had a few rains. They've been slow ones with little runoff.

 

[gilavina]

What's funny is our ground moisture is pretty good as we've had a few rains. They've been slow ones with little runoff.

that's good at least. I fear its gonna be another dry year here

 

[slick4591]

Heard the other day that 3 more years of drought is what's predicted. When I look at map predictions I'm on the line of serious and moderate conditions.

 

[gilavina]

Heard the other day that 3 more years of drought is what's predicted. When I look at map predictions I'm on the line of serious and moderate conditions.

boo hiss....no good!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I don't have nest boxes in these.... there is plenty of litter an they make one. I bought some rubber maid take-alongs and made little shelves for them to sit on. The pipe cleaners are holding them in place so they don't kick them all over. You can make some to fit on the door too. I am going to try that next. I like the idea of not opening the pens to feed. Hubby did make a funnel to go through the bung holes to fill the feed and water. I was thinking I needed something like that and couldn't figure out what to do and he came up with a great idea. He cut a Large plastic cup from KFC and cut about 2/3 of the bottom part sides off and the bottom. It leaves a lip that can go in the hole that has high sides to really direct it where you want it. I will get a picture if you want.

I like the idea of the barrel pens. What gallon size barrel is it and how many seem to fit comfortably in there? The dark egg is lovely.

55 Gallon barrels. I don't plan on using them normally for more than 1 large bird or 2 small birds. The ones in the picture are WL crosses for a project so smaller birds. 2 seem to be fine so far. These are NO LONG TERM PENS. They are for the odd roos, quarantining new birds, broodies, injured birds. I just love that they can be stacked. Can't wait to make more.

I like your dark pretty egg! The bucket setup is pretty cool. They would suffocate here in FL during the summer even with the front door wire due to the massive gumbo soup humidity that we get during the rainy season. I'd have to make some more windows on the sides to get away with that but it is a good base plan. I've found that even my big coops need to be practically all wire here. The ones that I made that weren't are all slowly being transformed into such.

These are inside our barn so not in direct sun. Don kinda warned me against that this far south. Most of my pens are really pretty OPEN air too. They have large fenced runs with roofs. The breeding pens have a wooden fence but there are plenty of gaps in the fencing and the top is 2/3 wire and 1/3 metal roof so it really works out to about 1/2 shade/sun.

Thanks for all the kind words on the Egg too! I just put 2-3 in lockdown and my hubby was helping me, we were in a hurry and he could not believe how dark they were. I told him what pen they came out of, but they had already been cooked for 19 days so they were REALLY dark after that. I just hope they can hatch.