Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[mikefields]

Thanks! I am hesitant to do it, i don't want to torture one of my poor roo's! ;-)

 

[DMRippy]

Your rooster is BARRED.... did you know that???

 

[DMRippy]

Any guesses on the sex of these 3 chicks? They are 5-6 weeks old. Don't mind the marks on their beaks, the chick waterer is too small for them now. Changed it out today.

I only see pullets.

 

[kara1015]

I only see pullets.

How lucky would I be!?!? Those are the 3 I hatched from shipped eggs.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I was thinking the SAME thing! I usually get all roos from shipped eggs LOL.

 

[Zanna]

$3 each is a great price! Around here, you can't give away roosters for free!

Which means I have a steady supply of Marans in my diet.

Marans soup, Marans stew, Marans chicken salad, Marans burritos.....

I am super lucky. We have a local auction that sells chickens every single tuesday, year round. There is a large Asian and Russian community that buys them all for food. The younger ones usually go for $7, the older ones go for up to $18! The auction takes 35% so you don't get the selling price but if you are doing serious breeding and generating a lot of cockerals it is so nice to have this outlet, I have taken as many as 30 at a time. Drop them off Monday morning and the check comes Thursday. This was a major deciding factor for me in my choice to start breeding. DH and I butcher all we and family needs, the rest of the culls go to the auction. I am guessing they go for so much as the buyers want every part of the bird and they need to be killed a certain way. Only thing I can think of when you can buy a roasted ready to eat chicken at the local market for $5.99!

 

[Runawaylobster]

I am super lucky. We have a local auction that sells chickens every single tuesday, year round. There is a large Asian and Russian community that buys them all for food. The younger ones usually go for $7, the older ones go for up to $18! The auction takes 35% so you don't get the selling price but if you are doing serious breeding and generating a lot of cockerals it is so nice to have this outlet, I have taken as many as 30 at a time. Drop them off Monday morning and the check comes Thursday. This was a major deciding factor for me in my choice to start breeding. DH and I butcher all we and family needs, the rest of the culls go to the auction. I am guessing they go for so much as the buyers want every part of the bird and they need to be killed a certain way. Only thing I can think of when you can buy a roasted ready to eat chicken at the local market for $5.99!

local auction is a great thing.. I have one but it is 140 miles away so it's always a BIG trip to go there.. and of course the gas costs more than the sales of roos..

 

[CarolinaSkies]

I'm honestly always dismayed when I see things like this...this is part of the reason there are so many ill-bred, poor quality Marans out there.

Folks...please strongly consider putting your cull cockerels in the freezer rather than selling them. I mean no offense, and I realize many people "cannot" dispatch their own birds. However, there are PLENTY of folks out there who will do it for you.

I'm honestly always dismayed when I see a post like yours! Really?!? Are you seriously stating that you've never sold a rooster for breeding purposes? IMO- If a roo doesn't fit into my breeding plan, it certainly doesn't meant that it might not add a needed dimension to another flock. I was expecting to sell 1 of these 6 roos as a breeder....and the rest are/were freezer quality which is what made the situation seem so off. That being said, I've had an individual purchase a Marans roo from me simply because it was extremely docile and they needed a family friendly rooster...they didn't have another Marans hen on their property. In your opinion, should I not have sold them a rooster?

 

[bwalden]

I just received this nice note from a previous customer who received hatching eggs from me last summer.  It just tickled me to pieces and I wanted to share:

[COLOR=000000]Hi Wynette, I ordered hatching eggs from you last summer.  We've had such a miserable, cold winter, but the two girls I kept from your eggs have kept laying right through it with no extra heat!  Thanks to them, I've actually gotten eggs, because just about everyone else besides my Orpingtons gave up.   The eggs have also stayed very dark! Thanks again![/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]This got me to wondering how other folks' Marans have laid for them over the winter.  My hens stopped for three straight weeks, but two began laying a few of weeks ago.  Interesting to me, the two that are laying are older hens - I'd not have been surprised if it had been young hens, but 3/4 year olds?  Just find it interesting.  (I do not use artificial light in my breed pens, either, so it's not a result of added lighting.)[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000000]I often see folks talking about their Marans not being very good layers, but I sure haven't seen that in mine...anyone care to share thoughts on this from their own flocks?[/COLOR]

A good majority of my Marans did stop laying but many kept on laying right through the coldest winter we've had here on years. My Welsummers on the other had almost completely stopped. I had one pullet hen laying all the rest 18 of them stopped completely until about 3 weeks ago. I'm very happy with my BCMs as winter layers.

 

[elorraine52]

Your rooster is BARRED.... did you know that???

what do you mean?