Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

When I wanted to boost the humidity quickly all I had to do was get a spray bottle and mist ONE spray of water in the cooler.

A pan of water has to quick hot enough to evaporate in the air. By misting it, it gets in the air quicker. ONE squirt only or you will be at 100% humidity
before you can BLINK !

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
I am very anxious to see how these two feather out and wouldn't you know it they are taking there sweet time.

I do have a couple of questions for someone regarding the cuckoo's:

What is the standard beak and leg color??
Does one sex feather in quicker than the other?

the legs should be flesh or pink but some have a black wash on the front when young but it goes away and the beaks on mine are pink or flesh

some lines the girls get tails faster but I never could feather sex them using the wings they should all feather fast slow feathering in Marans is not good

when they are first hatched it looks yellowish but that goes away if it stays yellow again that's not good...

 

[bikechick]

Quote:
Oooh, thanx. I'll go and try it now. Will it stay higher or do I have to keep spraying?

 

[math ace]

Mine stayed high - - - once the water is in the air it stays in the air unless you open the cooler door and let dryer air in.

Needless to say, if your humidity goes up too high, that is how you can fix it. I over misted mine the first time. Fortunately, my cooler had one of those drain plugs with it. So, I left the lid off the little drain plug and the humidity would come down slowly and the temps would stay pretty constant.

 

[sewandgrow]

Well my eggs are all done & ready for Christmas Eve & I finally made a decision & ordered my incubator on line as my Christmas present from my husband.....LOL. He loves it when I choose my own gift. It makes things sooooooooooo easy for him & I get "just what I wanted".....LOL
We are in for a week of hard rains. I went & bought several bales of straw & had my son spread it out in the pens. The chickens loved it & it looks really nice. As the rains keep coming we will have to keep spreading more.
I have one lone Silky chick that is still here in the front porch with me. She thinks she lives here & my husband thinks she's ready for outside. I feel sorry for her. She was the one survivor of a hatch that the Mama didn't take care of & I rescued. Now she's all alone.
I love reading this thread & sharing all that allof you contribute. Thanks a bunch.
Karen in Caifornia

 

[Lotsapaints]

My husband was happy today we went to OSH for his Christmas stuff 25% off Craftsman tools he had a long list.....I found my gift too OMG a power tool set my size.. I would have never thought I would want something like that but his tools are just too big for me I can't use many of them so I always need to wait for him grrrr they are not very big but the saw he said will do up to 3/4 plywood and the drill has a cool light the sander is nice and a led work light came with the charger and 2 batteries and my darling fixed me up a tool box so tired of trying to find one of his tools where ever he was using them last.....now for this rain to slow down so I can see how much kindling I can make

 

[bikechick]

Quote:
Congrats! How exciting and "empowering". Now you can really tackle those chicken expansion projects.

 

[geebs]

Bikechick... I agree ... a spray of humidity will boost it... a wet towel over the top will hold it.. You can give it a jump start in the bathroom with hot water running... I don't know how low you are... but that would be with zero humidity... You only want to be around 45 percent give or take... It is really difficult to find a proper reading hydrometer.... I would rather run a little low in the beginning than a little high... Wieghing is supposed to be the best way... (Where I live I mist with water 1 time every three days and that is only in the winter with the woodstove running).... Really high tech huh????

 

[bikechick]

geebs, thanx. You would only be 45% for lock-down or do you increase a little for the hatching?
I have the eggs in a Havobator now, but wanted to switch them over tomorrow.

 

[geebs]

AAACkkkk my bad... 45 percent is for standard hatching...OOOOOOOPPPPS 65 or so for lockdown...Bev put on here what she does. Sorry....It is a little give and take depending on your hatch percentage.... I am going to go back and see what she put...

What has the humidity been at... I usually run about 45 and then go to 65... There is a lot of descrepancy....I use a hovabator 1588.