Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

geebs she's adorable! I would love to have some that looked like her. Awww too bad she has to be a cannibal...Annabelle the Cannibal is pretty funny though!

 

[geebs]

Come and get her... she is up for grabs.. she lays a steady 5 always...nice for a splash... she is a Davis from Cree's blue line. She has issues.

She is my daughter's bird... If there is a chicken show around here we would show her... she is real nice to handle etc.. Just worthless for a hen. I wouldn't dare sell her... I don't need enemies that bad!!!

 

[flgardengirl]

Here are some pics I took today of one of my mama hens and some chicks. I think this is probably one of cheepas siblings. I have 4 hens that look very similar. This one has the worst leg feathering, her chicks all seem to have real nice leg feathering though.
She is a good mom. All the 4 chicks are hers except one black olive egger baby I put under her. I let my blue coppers and black coppers run around together so a couple of hers are blue.

Here she is really ticked because one of the freeranging leghorns came up to the pen.
She's saying' "Go ahead and TRY IT SISTER" lol

Here are some other blue and blue copper chicks I hatched out in the bator...they sure are growing fast!

 

[chasehope]

I have a question for all of you. I purchased my golden cuckoo marans 3 weeks ago. I brought them home and they are just now starting to lay again. The egg color is very dissapointing, but they have been laying for almost a year straight, and have only had about a 2 week break when we brought them home. Is that long enough for their egg color to restart? Or how long do they have to stop laying and then start again before I can truly judge their egg color? These are my first marans that I have had laying, so I am trying to figure out if this is as good as it will get!?!

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Honestly, I think it is as good as you can get. These days, Golden Cuckoos are often from Gabbard Farms, which has pretty terrible stock, really. There are some good ones out there, but both Golden and Silver are generally poor in egg color.

Of course, you can still try though, and give them, I'd say a month break. Letting a hen go broody is always a really good option in restarting the cycle.

 

[chasehope]

they did not come from Gabbard farms. I know that. they were from Bill Braden. I am hoping to find a new rooster to use on them, but at this point my search is not going very well!

 

[berkeleysprings]

.

 

[geebs]

Been there done that ... No help... She like mustard and it give her the nices poo!!!

Berkelysprings

 

[flgardengirl]

You could always try to get Annabelle to lay in a roll out nest and incubate her eggs yourself or get another broody to do it. Maybe her babies will be pretty like her and not be cannibals...

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Oh my gosh - how awful. Poor little chickies. I guess she was really hungry from being broody so long.

Which, all joking aside, is a serious issue with some of my broodies. They sit for so long, I can't break them up, and then they get so run down because they won't get off the nest to eat or drink. I've lost a couple of broodys this way. I just find them dead on the nest and when you pick them up they are skin and bones. So now I go in each pen every day and pick them up and toss them off the nest when I scattering food around and it snaps them out of it long enough to eat. If I didn't, they would just sit there and starve, so afraid to get up because the others might take their spot.

For sure a good broody is worth her weight in gold, but some of them definitely do take it too far! I use my "broody buster" that my hubby built for me - it's got a wire bottom, and no access to the nest box. 3 full days in there, and they are broken of being broody. Works like a charm!

Thanks Wynette - I'll have to try something like that to break them up.

When I do want them to try and hatch their own eggs I do use a dog kennel or cage inside the coop and move the hen and her nest at night. I've found they relax a lot more if locked in their own cage and will then get up to eat and drink once they realize the other hens can't get to their nest. Once the chicks hatch, I open the cage door and let them come and go as they please. I've also discovered the hatch rate is great this way - whereas if left to just sit on a nest that they never get off of causes the eggs to rot and break and she'll still be sitting there in that foul smelling goop refusing to budge.