Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[AParmer]

I'm a little worried about my Blue Copper Splash Marans rooster. I've had him about five days, he's about five-months-old. I left him in his roost for the first three days so he would know where his safe haven was. I just started letting him out during the day time to free range the back yard, and of course he loves it. I picked him up and put him out on the ground day before yesterday and put him back in that evening. Yesterday when I went and opened his gate he came on out. Though when I went out late last night to check the chicks in the brooder, Stevie (my Marans rooster) was sitting beside the well house close to the back door. He didn't go back in his roost. Should I be worried?

 

[pinkchick]

I'm a little worried about my Blue Copper Splash Marans rooster. I've had him about five days, he's about five-months-old. I left him in his roost for the first three days so he would know where his safe haven was. I just started letting him out during the day time to free range the back yard, and of course he loves it. I picked him up and put him out on the ground day before yesterday and put him back in that evening. Yesterday when I went and opened his gate he came on out. Though when I went out late last night to check the chicks in the brooder, Stevie (my Marans rooster) was sitting beside the well house close to the back door. He didn't go back in his roost. Should I be worried?

If and when I am adding young birds to bigger coops or if am I moving birds around.....I will keep them locked up in their coops with coop runs and not let them out onto the grass to range until after about a week, I have to physically put them to bed or in the coop at night for the first several nights until they figure it out on their own and go in, then all I have to do is lock them in at night. After this time they know that is their coop. I would not worry too much about him.....I think he just doesn't know where to go yet and it is a new place so he is unsure. Also if you have other birds, he is probably at the bottom of the pecking order right now and is feeling out of place, this too will work itself out. You will more than likely just have to put him to bed every night for a while, but no fears, he will work it out with some time.

 

[jackdragbean]

All hens look like this.

 

[jackdragbean]

Roo. More pictures to come.

 

[pinkchick]

All hens look like this.

What color are their legs? Can't tell in the photo.

 

[jackdragbean]

Dark slate legs. Like my other Marans.

 

[AParmer]

If and when I am adding young birds to bigger coops or if am I moving birds around.....I will keep them locked up in their coops with coop runs and not let them out onto the grass to range until after about a week, I have to physically put them to bed or in the coop at night for the first several nights until they figure it out on their own and go in, then all I have to do is lock them in at night. After this time they know that is their coop. I would not worry too much about him.....I think he just doesn't know where to go yet and it is a new place so he is unsure. Also if you have other birds, he is probably at the bottom of the pecking order right now and is feeling out of place, this too will work itself out. You will more than likely just have to put him to bed every night for a while, but no fears, he will work it out with some time.

Thank you so much for your help again pinkchick. I love your avatar by the way, so cute! For the moment Stevie is the only adult I have. My oldest batch of chicks, all pullet Black Australorps are right at 6-weeks-old. They and my younger batch of Lorps and Welsummers, 4 weeks, have their own area of the yard fenced for them to play and explore during the day. He likes to play with them through the fence, as his roost is directly adjacent to the older batch of Lorps. I can't wait until my little ones are old enough to have free range in the entire back yard!! I know Stevie would love to have company out there besides the wild birds and my English Springer Spaniel, Willie Nelson. When we first finished the youngsters yard pen, we let Stevie in to play and explore for a little while. He enjoyed it greatly, but due to the age differences, I didn't feel comfortable leaving him in there with them.

 

[cieraphoto]

Hello everyone!
I'm new to Marans, which is why I'm about to ask a lot of questions. I bought a mixture of pure bred hatching eggs that weren't marked as to what breed they were. The assortment included Marans and Orpingtons. This little guy popped out. At first I thought he might be an orpington. But as he has grown I'm not so sure anymore. He kind of looks like a Blue Cuckoo Marans. Please give me your opinions! Thanks!

 

[fowlman01]

I am not sure what the disagreement was about but I am new here and I just wanted to ask a question:

At the 4-H competitions at the LSU Ag Center after a chicken is submitted and rated why do they kill the bird? I heard someone who raised a chicken, brought it to the show, they had to kill it and be examined for water content and various considerations. Anyone ever heard of that? It sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me to raise a chicken and then have to kill it. Maybe it was a lie?

There are a lot of things you will hear online that are just crazy. I don't know what LSU does, but I have never heard of a bird killed to check water content and I have been involved in 4H for many years. I would suspect there is a lot more to this story or it is just nonsense.

Walt

 

[chickee]

Congratulations on your new birds!

I can't speak for all Marans breeders, but I can speak from my own experience and why adult birds, mostly females, are so hard to get from time to time. For me, there are a couple reasons it's particularly hard to let the pullets go. Until I see what they produce by way of egg color (after all we are talking Marans here and egg color is one of the most important characteristics of the Marans that makes them special) I like to watch how they grow out and mature. This several months gives me time to study them and make notes of which one/s have the best qualities that would help in my next generational breedings.
This time also gives me an opportunity to cull for faults or things that I dislike that I do not want to breed forward in my program. After they begin laying and eggs are suitable for hatching, I like to do some test matings of birds that I have my eye on to see what they might produce, sometimes this can be time consuming, waiting time for cleaning out the hens from rooster to rooster, waiting for the girls to get over being disgruntled about a new rooster in their pen and start laying again. Some hens can be finicky about small changes in their coops and routines and take a short break from laying, once they feel things are settled they resume.

That said....it may take a up to a year or more before I will sell any adults birds that I have, infact, the majority of the time the average ages of adult females that I sell are 1.5 years to 2 years old after I have gotten to know them and ran a couple batches of their eggs in the 'bator and grown out a few of their kiddos. If after that time I do not like what they produce I will sell them as a layer.

Now.....notice I didn't even talk about what it would cost to raise a whole bunch of birds to adults just to sell them.......you just can't sell them for what it takes to feed and care for them until adulthood......this, IMHO, is why we see more chicks and or hatching eggs available on the Marans market vs. a mature bird.

Roosters are another story......

After reading your post, and being new to Marans, I am curious what the things are that you look for, good and bad in your Marans as you are growing them out. Any tips would be greatly appreciated