Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

Question - am I the only one that does not add light to my breeder coops?

 

[flgardengirl]

Ivywoods: It sounds like you have some awesome GPs! I have got to get one of those or maybe two! I wouldn't care if they were recues or whatever. I heard that some breeders will get rid of the females as soon as they aren't breeding them anymore, that is how the lady from the chicken rescue got hers which is where I first saw the GPs. Hers protects over 200 freeranging chickens as well as thier other livestock and various geese, guineas, ducks etc. They are great and adorable dogs.

Wynette I don't use any light in my coops at all but I am in FL so maybe that's why I don't need to. I am getting plenty of eggs way more than in the heat of the summer.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
This is my first winter with the hens. They were just babies last year. I had to reduce the light hours to just a couple of hours because the Marans seemed to be super sensitive to the lights and were having eggs with blood spots in them.

I am not sure if it makes any difference with the hens. . . . . . Maybe next year, I will try going without and see if the production worse.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Wynette, I have two open front buildings that have a total of 18 pens 6x10 that do not have lights and these hens in these pens are laying lots of eggs at present, no male in these pens. My pens inside of my main building have lights 24 hours seven days.

I put plastic on the open front pens for the winter. Don

 

[aceschix]

Quote:
Wynette, I have two open front buildings that have a total of 18 pens 6x10 that do not have lights and these hens in these pens are laying lots of eggs at present, no male in these pens. My pens inside of my main building have lights 24 hours seven days.

I put plastic on the open front pens for the winter. Don

I am designing a new coup/barn...do you have pictures of this?

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Wynette, I have two open front buildings that have a total of 18 pens 6x10 that do not have lights and these hens in these pens are laying lots of eggs at present, no male in these pens. My pens inside of my main building have lights 24 hours seven days.

I put plastic on the open front pens for the winter. Don

I am designing a new coup/barn...do you have pictures of this?

These two buildings are built like a barn shed with treated wood frame and metal sides, the front is all wire and is covered with plastic for the winter, door on the front for each pen, will take some pictures after the cold winter is over and the plastic is taken off. Don

 

[berkeleysprings]

amount of light plays no part in blood spots new hens will do that and old hens will to some say dark eggs are prown to blood spots but thats because factories cant candle eggs that are brown or dark as well as white eggs so many people beleaved that brown is worse for blood spots and there not ,,,,,,, its the same , they just make more mistakes candeling the store bought brown eggs so there sent threw the food chain more


Quote:
This is my first winter with the hens. They were just babies last year. I had to reduce the light hours to just a couple of hours because the Marans seemed to be super sensitive to the lights and were having eggs with blood spots in them.

I am not sure if it makes any difference with the hens. . . . . . Maybe next year, I will try going without and see if the production worse.

 

[Keara]

Quote:
I do go to chicken swaps. I do business with the BYC members that I have met on here. When I am looking for something specific, I post on the swap's thread that I am looking for these things. Then I make arrangements ahead of time to meet that person at the swap with the item - - whether it is hatching eggs, chicks, or full grown chickens.

there is a swap's thread? Looking for it now!

thanks!

I just spent some time looking at Vermont and NH swap pages.... I live in a very Marans poor area! Not to mention, not many people 'round here are very active on BYC. oh well

If anyone within 3hrs of Bristol Vt wants to trade Marans eggs this spring, I would consider a drive. I'll show you pictures of mine if you show me yours?

-Keara

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
This is my first winter with the hens. They were just babies last year. I had to reduce the light hours to just a couple of hours because the Marans seemed to be super sensitive to the lights and were having eggs with blood spots in them.

I am not sure if it makes any difference with the hens. . . . . . Maybe next year, I will try going without and see if the production worse.

Math Ace I don't think we need lights here. The only time my weren't laying was in those last dog days of summer like the end of August/Sept when it was super hot. Our electric bills are high enough here in the winter (worse than summer) heck if I'm gonna run lights LOL!

 

[berkeleysprings]

you are in the same boat as me in west virginia mountains ,,,, not any people
with marans and then to make it twice as hard people on the intrernet with marans i sell very few
eggs , only a handfull but the chicken swaps is perfect for a small time breeder like me . but money is not the objective for me , i do it to introduce wheaten marans to people who dont want anything to do with hatcheries or computers and also its a great way to get rid of unwanted birds (roosters ) and to fine tune the hens for people not as picky as me about there hens

Quote:
there is a swap's thread? Looking for it now!

thanks!

I just spent some time looking at Vermont and NH swap pages.... I live in a very Marans poor area! Not to mention, not many people 'round here are very active on BYC. oh well

If anyone within 3hrs of Bristol Vt wants to trade Marans eggs this spring, I would consider a drive. I'll show you pictures of mine if you show me yours?

-Keara