Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
He is a Gorgeous boy!! Where did you get him?

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
LOL!! Lil Pip thinks he tough now

I have a few on the low end of the totem pole who think that I am lower than them I guess. I have a dark blue copper roo named Storm who gets picked on by the others even though he is huge, bigger than most of the other roos in his pen. Storm sometimes will come up and stamp his feet at me after the others chase him around lol. Maybe it is to 'save face' and show the others that he isn't a total wuss.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
He is a Gorgeous boy!! Where did you get him?

He is!!!!! I agree, can't wait to see more of him!

 

[Ivywoods]

It's always something. I've been sick with headcold/flu so the other day hubby fed the chickens for me. The next day when I went out I noticed the coop was SOAKED.

We had a storm with sleet, ice and snow, and when it melted it all ran in the coop. He didn't even notice that it was wet in there. When we moved this coop in, part of the roofing blew off, so we fixed it. Evidently we didn't fix it well enough because it had to have leaked quite a bit. Anyway, it was sunny today and just warm enough to get some tar patch on the roof. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. In the meantime the girls got their pen totally cleaned out and all new bedding. One good thing about it was they all learned how to use the roosts. I guess they would rather roost than sit in that wet shavings.

I think I am doing everything backwards.

Right now I have too many roosters running around the yard (even though I love watching them run around.) I have my hens penned up, away from the boys. As I get my breeding pens set up I think what I need to do is have what roosters I want to keep penned up and let all the layers run loose and then lock them in the coop at night. The roosters are starting to scrap with each other a little more, and one of them took a pretty good beating the other day. I hate that. I'd like to send a few of them to freezer camp, but I can't butcher a chicken. No, it's not what you think. I hunt and can shoot, field dress, skin and process a deer. But when it comes to chickens, the feather plucking makes me sick to my stomach. I think it goes back to when I was a kid and we used to process 50-100 chickens at a time. I remember dipping them in scalding water beforew we plucked, and it's the thought of that smell that just about makes me toss my cookies.

 

[Debbi]

Ivy ~ I know what you mean about that "smell". Everyone out here that was a kid back in the day that had chickens, still remember that smell! I found a number of glasses of wine got me through the last time I butchered!

Seems like the happier I got, the faster it went. May be a different story these days. Even after all the deer I've gotten and dressed out, nowadays, it seems to be the killing part that gets me the most. A butcher block and an axe is a lot different than a bullet...way more personal? I'm getting soft in my old age

Hmmm, maybe I can take the boys for a ride to the Amish?? I know Daniel wouldn't have any problem with it!

 

[aussieheelr]

Quote:
He is a Gorgeous boy!! Where did you get him?

He is!!!!! I agree, can't wait to see more of him!

I hatched him from eggs I ordered from little_grey_bantam

I'm very happy with the birds I've hatched from her... 3 hens and Adam Henry. I had 1 other pullet that vanished at about 2.5 months old. Out free ranging and never returned. That was ok I guess she wasn't going to be bred... I had a malfunction with the bator when she was still in her eggie and she came out rumpless and a goofy eye.

Adam's sister before she started laying, about 4mo old:

The BCMs on the left are what they hatched from:

 

[Ivywoods]

I wish I could just talk myself into getting over it. Hubby always says he will do it, but then he never gets around to it. Maybe it's a good thing with these marans as I have changed my mind about which ones to keep at least a half a dozen times. None of them are perfect, but of the two I'm thinking about one has way too much coppering, and the other one I discovered has a white wing feather!

I'm thinking I will use the one with too much coppering to get a little more coppering in my girls.

 

[crazyforchicks]

These are my babies I just wanted to know what people think of them, this is my first shot at doing bcm chickens so I have no idea how these guys and gals rate. Feel free to be honest, I dont want to show them or anything but was looking for good egg color. I have not had great egg color so far should I get different hens or roos?

 

[geebs]

Aussieheeler: That is a great example of the breed... No joke...Nice looking birds.

 

[poularde]

Hopefully not a stupid question... If she bred these birds back to each other. Would that darken the eggs? I like how the roo is looking.