Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[scflock]

Any thoughts on this bird??? Cuckoo Maran? Pullet?? I took this pic a few weeks ago and since then her legs have turned yellow...

The yellow legs are a little concerning, but I'm 90% sure that she is a pullet, at least she would be in my pen. Marans hens have a little larger comb than some breeds, and my males feather in much lighter with a much more pronounced comb by that age. She has a small comb, dark feathers, and I don't see a hint of wattle yet, so I say pullet. Possibly crossed with a barred rock somewhere down the line, or 100% barred rock

 

[MackChick]

Here she is this morning...

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

For me, it is a bird cage. If you don't want a hen to sit on eggs, you have to break them. I put a broody in a wire bottom bird cage, set on 8 inch blocks. This gets them off the gound, and the wire bottom lets air get under them, cooling them down. Usually 2 days in the cage will break them, and I've never had to do more than 3. I use this technique to break broodies in my layers-only pen

I've had to keep determined broodies in the cage up to a week!

 

[scflock]

Here she is this morning...

Leg color is definitely wrong for a marans, but I'm not sure she is a barred rock. The curve in the comb is another sign of a pullet to me

 

[scflock]

I've had to keep determined broodies in the cage up to a week!

I know how to break a broody for my purposes, but can you explain why you would want to break one in your breeding program? Do you want them laying as much as possible so you can incubate yourself? Is it about you picking which eggs are incubated?

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I know how to break a broody for my purposes, but can you explain why you would want to break one in your breeding program? Do you want them laying as much as possible so you can incubate yourself? Is it about you picking which eggs are incubated?

We have a cabinet incubator. We don't have a setup that allows broody hens raising chicks...no way to guarantee the chicks will stay safe or the hen will continue to care for them...some broodies will sacrifice their own health to hatch/raise chicks...and Marans aren't the most productive breed to begin with. Broody hens will go out of production for months to raise a brood and we love those eggs. All our BCM have laid 7 on the Marans egg color chart, but sometimes we do single mate for a specific cross.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

So, a few months ago, I got some beautiful eggs off of eBay supposedly from a combination of the good, known lines and only one hatched (Mocha). Well, the breeder just got ahold off me yesterday and asked if I'd like a few more eggs to try again. I'm thrilled! She's sending me another 6-8 eggs! Here's Mocha now (not a great pic though). She's still in the brooder for another week so she can go out at the same time the ameraucanas do (she's about 12 weeks old now). They were her "babies" lol

 

[MagicLove]

I need black cooper maran pullets or adults! Anyone want to sell?

 

[Conchis]

Okay, so I need some help. I have what I thought were a pair of copper blue marans. I'm attaching a really bad (but the best I can do photo of them.) The chicks of this pair are nearly jet black with just the slightest touch of copper. What in the world have I got here? (This is probably the dumbest newbie question you guys will see in a while).

 

[ladycat]

That hen is mossy, no good for breeding.