Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[chickendeal]

splash and baby blue looking pretty

 

[ellymayRans]

My blue girl started bowing to me yesterday! I'm so looking forward to her first egg!

Dec hatch still young yet but filling out nice.

 

[ellymayRans]

Sorry took quite a few pics today! Just sharing the love. This is a few of my BCM pullets and GCM pullet.

 

[gilavina]

Haven't seen ya around for a few days Ray, how are the birds coming along? Any hatches coming up? Just finished my first of the year over the weekend and posted photos a few pages back. Am happy with what I got, but am already looking forward to the next hatch!

 

[Weasleymum]

Question-- I have two Marans, one Black Copper (who is beautiful) and one Cuckoo (who is sweet). But the eggs they lay don't have that famously dark, chocolate-y color. They're just a nice, serviceable brown egg like you'd get from any brown-egg-laying breed. Is there anything I should be doing to encouraging the dark eggs, because I thought that was all genetics... maybe these girls were bred more for other features. The BCM, I could believe to be bred for looks alone... I should take her picture for you guys.

 

[Ray from PA]

Hey Vicki,

Been very busy around here,,,, had a hatch over the weekend myself,,, went fairly well, some were shipped eggs, got about 10 from 14 viable eggs, not bad for shipped eggs.
Have another 12 from my own eggs.
Between moving birds from brooders to barn and running others off to sale, guess I've been running on empty last day or two.

I did see the photos of your mini-tanks.....LOL.... I just love how wide they are at birth, it's easy to see in the photos, because their legs are set so far apart in comparison to many others. You've definitely got a good thing going on there !

I had a few Roos here from last fall that I was growing out and had high hopes for, but found too much wrong with them as they matured to keep them any longer,,, so my hopes are that something nice comes from what is still here,,,, more of the waiting game. Luckily, I still have great fascination in watching them grow and mature, even when those faults pop out,,,, guess I just love the learning experience of it all.

Glad to see you had such a good hatch,,, looking forward to photos as they grow,,, it's a great learning tool for many of us !

Keep on hatching !

 

[gilavina]

Hey Vicki,

Been very busy around here,,,, had a hatch over the weekend myself,,, went fairly well, some were shipped eggs, got about 10 from 14 viable eggs, not bad for shipped eggs.
Have another 12 from my own eggs.
Between moving birds from brooders to barn and running others off to sale, guess I've been running on empty last day or two.

I did see the photos of your mini-tanks.....LOL.... I just love how wide they are at birth, it's easy to see in the photos, because their legs are set so far apart in comparison to many others. You've definitely got a good thing going on there !

I had a few Roos here from last fall that I was growing out and had high hopes for, but found too much wrong with them as they matured to keep them any longer,,, so my hopes are that something nice comes from what is still here,,,, more of the waiting game. Luckily, I still have great fascination in watching them grow and mature, even when those faults pop out,,,, guess I just love the learning experience of it all.

Glad to see you had such a good hatch,,, looking forward to photos as they grow,,, it's a great learning tool for many of us !

Keep on hatching !

What did you end up hatching for breed and variety on the shipped eggs? How are you liking what you are seeing overall from your hatch, both shipped and yours? I can totally relate to the feeling on empty, spring is always that way for me, and have a wee case of insomnia at present, I think from wearing too thin. Hopefully things will get more manageable for all of us that push too hard too often haha

Haha, I suppose they are little tanks, they sure do have some weight behind them at birth. My heart just about stopped when I pulled out the first tray and started picking them up. Its so very good to see the progress, particularly because I almost sold out twice, and when I would go spend time in the pens debating, I just couldn't bear the thought of giving up on them, no matter how frustrating.

What all did you end up holding back then for breeding stock? I am going to continue culling in my original stock through hatching/grow out season as I see what is being produced.

 

[chickendeal]

Copper on the chest is not a good thing on pullets or cockerel, on a male less than 10% is considered ok, but prefer mine to have none. On a cockerel, they will get color on the hackles, saddle feathers and wing bows, and can be a solid copper, but more than likely on the hackle and saddles, they will have an edging of black. If you can post a photo that would help to determine what you have. There are also issues such as mossiness and etc to consider, so without a photo, it makes it harder to know exactly what you have.

 

[chickendeal]

 

[gilavina]

Well, I've determined in one of my brooders that I have a feisty one. I was separating them with my hand to be able to take a better look at them and one chick was not having it. He was rushing right up to my hand and flapping is wings with all his might and pecking me, little turd. I'll have to keep my eye on him, he's a lovely blue but won't be keeping him if he's going to be mean as he gets some more weight behind him.