Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Mountain Mel]

Boy, it's just been wet, cold & fugly here all day! My chickens have finally figured out that it is to their benefit to go inside when the weather is like this...only took 'em a week to figure it out!
I think I know what it was....THE POLISH ROOSTER!!!! He was their leader and he didn't have sense enough to come in out of the rain! I got rid of him and now all the REAL chickens (Wellies & Marans) are thinking for themselves! They might even roost in the coop tonight!

Now that I have "thrown the rascals out" of my small flock it feels like a load has been lifted....

 

[Kenshan1]

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My cockoo marans are hatchery quality, I have 5. They are all together with Wyandotte's, RIR & EE's. Out of 6 nest boxes they tend to lay in only 3. I am getting 1 or 2 rich hot chocolate looking eggs & a couple lighter with dark spots. The rest are light cream, of course the 1 green egg from 1 of the EE's (other EE isn't laying yet). My Maran's were the first to start laying, it was a nice Christmas present so mine are still somewhat early in their laying. I don't have any Wellies & a couple of my eggs look like yours. Grated I don't know how pure my hatchery Marans are but this looks like something a Marans can do.

Shannon

 

[marquisella]

I have redone my blog, http://rarechickens.blogspot.com/

Thought I'd post it here with recent pics of Marans eggs.

And no, I'm not selling eggs yet, but am selling chcks hatched from a 6 or more on the Mccusa Marans egg chart.

Sue

 

[Keara]

I got a dark egg, I got a dark egg.....

I hope this means my marans have finished their winter break!

 

[rsquared]

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That is just an awesome v-day gift! Happy for you both and thanks to your son for serving!

Risa

 

[Debbi]

Ruth, Great news!! Glad he made it home!!

 

[Debbi]

Thanks Kim!! I'll be calling the Post Office tomorrow morning to make sure they got there. I'll let you know once I get home and get them set for a rest.

Today was a good day here. Nice and sunny, slight breeze. Took the two blue boys outside for the first time! They had a blast, but the older chooks were beside themselves with jealousy. Off course I have a smaller pen for the chicks, inside the big run. Blue Butt will definately have tude! He would get into staring contests with the big girls and roos, not a good sign.

Then I found a gal right up the road from me who is looking to get into the breed. She bought 50 eggs from some guy about 70 miles from us, and is totally disgusted with the results. So, it will be interesting to see what she has. I was talking to her mom today, and the gal with the Marans is out of town right now. She'll be back on the weekend, so we'll see how that goes. Her mom said she had Jeane lines, and I'm pretty sure where these came from. I have now two other people to the north of me that are now interested in eggs. Told them I'm not selling eggs until I know who is producing what. By the end of summer I should have an idea of a couple of different breedings. Who knew someone so close would have Marans out here! I'm excited!!

Then I got to look at the prospective new coop today on the inside, and a seperating of pens plan came to mind. Can't wait till that gets finished, then I can get "into it" with some kind of gusto and direction! Not to mention getting the feed out of my shop room!

 

[math ace]

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YES MA'AM! My girls started throwing me eggs with blood spots this fall 2010 when the days got shorter and I started using artificial lighting.
I am hoping when we go back to longer days that the issue will resolve itself!

 

[math ace]

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[sewandgrow]

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Don't feel bad Mel. I tried to add a picture to my avatar & couldn't even do that. I gave up in frustration.....LOL