Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Can you do that?? At 6 months+, my Fugs still has a minimal spur. I would think there would be blood involved with the removal of spurs?? As in dehorning a goat or cow? Is your roo attacking you or being too rough on the hens?

 

[math ace]

Debbie,

My roo is not hurting my girls, yet. I TAKE THAT BACK - - - he does hurt the combs on my small girls ( leghorns & Comets) because they don't have enough junk in their trunks for him to catch a good ride !

I ask because I just talk to a friend whose roo did tear up her hens and torn them up bad from the sounds of it.

I don't want to wait til he damages my hens.

So, I was wondering if others have this kind of issue ? ?

 

[bikechick]

I also intervened. I had two that were halfway zipped with leg sticking out for 48 hrs! I rationed that it was probably my fault and they were going to die anyway-if they don't make it. Unfortunately, I have 2-3 more eggs that have started to zipp. I hope they can pull it off. I hate this! I was soo careful when I removed the 11 wils chicks from the bator-hot steaming shower, spray bottle misting of water, wet towl over bator. I will give the ones I rescued some time, but if they are deformed and show failure to thive I will euthanize. Lesson learned for me-don't put so many eggs in the bator and use a hatcher next time. I'll make sure the one I built is fully functional so I can put in the game.
Merry Christamas! I pray everyone has safe travel.
We had a white Christmas in middle Tennessee!!!

 

[VillageChicken]

Debbi- I would have helped the big stuck guy too. Just in case it was my fault and I did something wrong!

I've read that dry hatching helps improve the hatching rate of giant eggs. It dries out the fluids more, so the "aquarium" is smaller and the chick can't grow so large.

 

[berkeleysprings]

i do not remove spir from the giant roo i have from davis lines,,,,,,, father to all , last year he did a number to a few hens back ,,,i think in a ideal world ypu can let the roo go in with the girsl 24-7 but its best to have 6 to 8 hens per roo , we had to blue coat some of the hens back. so if u want to breed hens of a certian lineage throwing them in willy nilly with a large number is ok but dont leave the roo aloan with one or two hens unless its only to do the deed than take them out of the cage,i hear alot of good things about the sadle for hens but i would be afraid the hens might get caught on the roost we put in ( our wheatens love to climb )

 

[cherylcohen]

Quote:
Don't beat yourself self up about it...for future, when removing chicks you can simply put a steaming sponge in and it raises the humidity right up.

 

[pinkchick]

Morning!

Congrats on the fuzzies Lotsa, bike and Debbi! Love the pics Deb!

 

[flgardengirl]

I have a large blue hen (Cocoa) that I had to do 5 sutures on, she probably could of used more but I hated doing it and she hated having it done so I did the minimum lol. The roo she was with at the time had several girls but she was one of his favorites. He isn't a mean roo at all, he is very sweet to his girls. She is a big girl and he is a big boy. The problem was his spurs. They are a little long but not real sharp but he still managed to get a big gaping gash down her side. Luckily it was just skin and no muscle etc. That is one of the reasons I separated all mine for the winter. I clip the roos spurs down a little now and file them with a metal file. I also made some aprons for the girls as well. They seem to work really well.

Geez, I thought some of the marans roos had big spurs until I saw the spurs on my little Key West roo. They are huge spikes!!

ETA: Here is a video on you tube on despurring. Wow this guy makes it look easy and the roo doesn't seem to mind all that much. I didn't do this I just trimmed mine down but I might do it later if it becomes an issue in the spring when I put them all together again.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Hmmm, I did the dry hatch this time and can't say I'm impressed. Ended up bumping up the humidity towards the end of lockdown, but may have been too late. Still have 8 eggs in there with no signs of life. Today is day 25, so they've got two more days to make their debut. Next hatch I will try a moderated dry hatch.

The little one I rescued is peeping her head off this morning, and is up and moving around, albeit slowly!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
So Berkley are you saying that if there are enough hens around then it is not necessary to remove the spurs ? ?