Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Marans hens = contagious broody syndrome. Just saying.... 5 out of 6 have gone broody this spring. The sixth hen has been away from the other five recovering from bumblefoot, so she has not been influenced by it..... she may live in the garage forever lol

Haha i hear that on the broodies, I'm good so far, but collecting as many eggs as I can to set just in case they decide to stop laying on me

 

[Runawaylobster]

Arrrrgghh!!!!

I had a batch of Black Tailed Buff Chicks and somehow i wound up with only one rooster. But i've been ok with it because he was turning out to be quite nice. at least good enough for a beginner like me.. and he is a big boy..

i was away for the weekend and last night i went out to say hello to my birdies when got home... and then I saw it... there it was....!!!
He has grown a sprig ...

I'm sure it wasnt there last week.. and he has taken 4 months to decide to grow one..

So i am wondering if I do one hatch with this boy with my nice BTB girls and then see if i get a boy with no sprigs.. ?? is this a bad idea.

my other option is to try to find someone with a nice BTB roo who would like to swap their roo with me for something else...

 

[heath_elisha]

I am getting one marans egg a day - from the one on meds, so I can't even cook it up for us to eat! She gets it.... didn't realize they had such a strong instinct to brood- but it could come in handy for chicken addicts.

 

[gilavina]

I am getting one marans egg a day - from the one on meds, so I can't even cook it up for us to eat! She gets it.... didn't realize they had such a strong instinct to brood- but it could come in handy for chicken addicts.

Haha, yeah, as long as they have some eggs to brood. I have a few that go broody, and promptly quit laying, and end up setting nothing. Crazy birds.

 

[gilavina]

Arrrrgghh!!!!

I had a batch of Black Tailed Buff Chicks and somehow i wound up with only one rooster. But i've been ok with it because he was turning out to be quite nice. at least good enough for a beginner like me.. and he is a big boy..

i was away for the weekend and last night i went out to say hello to my birdies when got home... and then I saw it... there it was....!!!
He has grown a sprig ...

I'm sure it wasnt there last week.. and he has taken 4 months to decide to grow one..

So i am wondering if I do one hatch with this boy with my nice BTB girls and then see if i get a boy with no sprigs.. ?? is this a bad idea.

my other option is to try to find someone with a nice BTB roo who would like to swap their roo with me for something else...

Sprigs are a beast to deal with because more than likely you have some carriers of sprigs, even if they are not expressing. So, if you cross this male onto some of the females, if they are from the same breedings, you have a strong likelyhood of ending up with even more sprig birds. The catch with sprigs is that is spreads like wildfire and once you have it in your flock, you aren't getting rid of it. I would recommend getting a non related male with no sprigs and test mating carefully with him.

 

[pawtraitart]

Arrrrgghh!!!!

I had a batch of Black Tailed Buff Chicks and somehow i wound up with only one rooster. But i've been ok with it because he was turning out to be quite nice. at least good enough for a beginner like me.. and he is a big boy..

i was away for the weekend and last night i went out to say hello to my birdies when got home... and then I saw it... there it was....!!!
He has grown a sprig ...

I'm sure it wasnt there last week.. and he has taken 4 months to decide to grow one..

So i am wondering if I do one hatch with this boy with my nice BTB girls and then see if i get a boy with no sprigs.. ?? is this a bad idea.

my other option is to try to find someone with a nice BTB roo who would like to swap their roo with me for something else...

If he is related to the pullets, chances are that they carry the potential for sprigs, so if you mate him to them you could end up with a sprig fest or at the very least, you would be moving the possibility forward into future generations. I'd find a rooster from a different line and hope the females don't pass on sprigs. Too bad you aren't closer. I have a pen full of BTB cockerals.

 

[pawtraitart]

Sprigs are a beast to deal with because more than likely you have some carriers of sprigs, even if they are not expressing. So, if you cross this male onto some of the females, if they are from the same breedings, you have a strong likelyhood of ending up with even more sprig birds. The catch with sprigs is that is spreads like wildfire and once you have it in your flock, you aren't getting rid of it. I would recommend getting a non related male with no sprigs and test mating carefully with him.

Hey! I must have been typing at the same time. I had the same thoughts. LOL

 

[Runawaylobster]

Sprigs are a beast to deal with because more than likely you have some carriers of sprigs, even if they are not expressing. So, if you cross this male onto some of the females, if they are from the same breedings, you have a strong likelyhood of ending up with even more sprig birds. The catch with sprigs is that is spreads like wildfire and once you have it in your flock, you aren't getting rid of it. I would recommend getting a non related male with no sprigs and test mating carefully with him.

Sigh.... I know you are right.. the wise voice of reason I just didn't know how bad sprigs really are.

It's a shame because i really liked him, I even nursed him back to health when he got an infection from being pecked in the eye... I was going to call him Harold (you know harold, with the arrow in his eye.. )

I really don't know how i managed to get just one roo in a batch of 10 chicks, just my luck.

 

[gilavina]

Hey! I must have been typing at the same time. I had the same thoughts. LOL

haha indeed. I was just thinking it might not be a bad idea to hold onto the sprig cockerel and test mate which combo of hens gives sprigs in the offspring, and cull those females as well. That would take some time, and would allow for hunting down a good non sprig male, but wasn't sure what kind of set up there was for something like that as it would take several months once they are old enough.

 

[Runawaylobster]

If he is related to the pullets, chances are that they carry the potential for sprigs, so if you mate him to them you could end up with a sprig fest or at the very least, you would be moving the possibility forward into future generations. I'd find a rooster from a different line and hope the females don't pass on sprigs. Too bad you aren't closer. I have a pen full of BTB cockerals.

Yes the hens are from the same source....

so i'm open to swapping a really nice birchen marans pullet for a nice BTB roo if anyone has one.. I just don't want to start over with a chick again..

on the bright side i might be a good idea to get a roo from a different line since i am starting at the ground floor so to speak..