Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Ivywoods]

Well, I'll be darn. I've been waiting for my boys to grow a longer tail...Guess I can quit worrying about that!

Pink, I think your rooster is very PROUD of his tail. He's a very pretty boy. Nice comb, too. All my roos have frostbitten combs right now.

On another issue, I read on another thread that you should not feed oyster shell to marans. She said it causes the dark eggs to loose some of their color, and that you should give them eggshell instead.

I am curious if any of you have actually experienced this.... I mean, not just "heard" of it, but actually seen the difference.

 

[marquisella]

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Thats a good idea to ask Bev. As I stated before, I think, and that does't make it written in stone, that as long as all the feathers end in about the same place, its ok. Since judges don't actually measure the feathers, its more of a visual accounting taking place.

Since there is no perfect bird, I wouldnt toss that rooster because he has a few long tail feathers. Use him & see what he throws on hens with really short tails. Its always a balancing act, and frustrating at most as we are all finding out with these birds..

Sue

 

[Debbi]

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Wow, never heard that one before. Who was the breeder that said that? And does she give them Marans egg shells, or do any color of egg shells do?

 

[Illia]

I feed mine their shells back on an occasional schedule.

I in fact have never and will never feed oyster shell. . . Too much money, too much calcium.

 

[Debbi]

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Must be a geographical thing then. I pay $8.00 for a 50lb sack that seems to last forever. I mix mine in with the feed. I've been saving up some egg shells to bake and crumble up, but with only 3 layers, it's taking a while

I used to feed it free choice, but since have found they do just as well with it in the feed, and waste way less of it. The first one to the free feed bowl was my oldest cockerel, and he would gorge himself on it, and one of the pullets wouldn't touch it. Wonder what that means??

 

[Ivywoods]

To all of you with snow:

I just got off the phone with a friend in Nebraska. She said it has been snowing all day and all last night, and the snow is about waist deep. The temp is near zero and the north wind is blowing.

All her husband has done all day is look through the kitchen window. She says if it gets much worse she may have to let him in.

 

[pinkchick]

Ivy~ Thanks, he is a good boy.
I don't feed oyster shell either, it's not good for the roosters, something to do with their kidneys, they get enough calcium for other things that they are supplemented with in their diet. I have never seen it or heard about the decrease in egg color from it though. Interesting.





Sue~
I won't be tossing him....he is one of my 2 all time favorite roosters I've ever had, could never part with him. Heck he even comes with 2 white tail feathers now that he also didn't have until after his molt. Good thing the standard states not more than 2 white feathers in the tail.

I have crossed this bird over almost every Marans pullet that I have (with the exception of the youngest girls....waiting for them to lay so I can incubate some of their eggs) and the boys seem to have the same tail as he does when they are growing out......I couldn't tell you what they are like now because I don't keep that many roosters past the age of 6 mos. Chasehope from here on BYC has one of his son's that should be around 8 mos or so now, I will send her an email and see what his tail is like.

 

[marquisella]

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I know how that feels......!
Sue

 

[Debbi]

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Supposed to get down to 4* here tonight, thanks for reminding me, must turn on the heater in the well house!

 

[Debbi]

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Wow! Wonder if old Fugs is trying to commit harri-carri???