Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[jlgoinggreen]

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But.... Hey, I'm still here. Well partly running to the bator to see the VERY slow progress of hatching, but nonetheless still here.

But honestly a hot, long bath with a GOOD book sounds more relaxing.

Good luck with your hatch...

we are in the process of making maple syrup and just waiting for it to get to temp and then into jars it goes!

Mmmmm....soooo jealous right now. LOL We've only done it once before and had so much fun. Enjoy!

 

[Debbi]

Well, so far, if those were pips, they haven't gone any further yet. I did see one egg rocking hard, so there is hope yet!

Haven't seen anything though since about 1pm. At least one showed some kinds of life. Pink, it was marked Blue Somebody?? Can't see who the daddy is though. Will keep a watch out for them tonight, and then some... Tomorrow is day 22, so we have a bit more to wait.

 

[gilavina]

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Not bad! What all did you have hatch out?

 

[gilavina]

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Haha....uh oh...you want me to actually admit to myself how crazy I am and list all my projects?

haha...just kidding. I don't mind. I also handle my parents stock, my dad is legally blind so I do all the work with him to decide what to keep, how to pair them up and etc. For my dad's stock there are wyandotte bantams in BBS and White, a couple of Seramas, and a trio of Old English. My mom always has a fresh supply of new pullets from my culls for her flock of layers.

For my stock in the bantam I have Columbian Wyandottes and White Cornish. I will keep the wyandottes, but am working also on creating some columbian bantam cornish. Its a fun experiment.

In Large fowl I have Coronation/Light Sussex, Marans in BBS, blue and black birchen, cuckoo, BCM, and I am slowly working my way toward silver blue duckwing...it will be a while...but I'm ok with the wait. I also am going to be starting an olive egger project with a few of the girls that don't pan out for my Marans breeding programs. I also have those mixed Wyandottes coming from Paul's poultry middle of next week. Those I will split with my mom for her flock of layers. I will be keeping the Silver Pencileds and depending upon what else is in the mix, maybe another color? Luckily there is plenty of pen space for my projects. Oh, and I have dorkings coming up to hatch in a couple of weeks. Most everything I have is a project at the moment, I like to work with difficult things to see what I can do to try and improve them.

I have a pretty good network developing of people that want my culls for their laying pens or for their kids for 4H and I have a fresh supply of chicken for the year as well...once I start heading towards fall, I do the hard task of selecting only a few of each that best represent the breeds I'm working with and only winter them over for the next breeding season.

Wow! Sounds like a lot of hard work, yet so much fun. We are just getting into the meat and potatoes of this now. I started last year, but then got rid of most of my chickens and now starting all over. I'm excited about it though.

Yeah...it is a lot of hard work, but I do enjoy it. The place isn't big enough for too much larger stock, so chickens are my choice. I do have three tiny pygmy goats...they just never have gotten very big. This is going into my second year of being back into poultry. I love how naturally all the things I learned and lived by when I was growing up came back. Its a challenge, but I really am working to do as much as I can in the way of sustainable living and am finding that while it takes a lot of time, it really is satisfying. I like myself better as a result of it...I lost some of that when I was living in a city. I hope to grow the majority of my own foods again this year and to make more progress around the place.

 

[gilavina]

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So totally understand!

I am on day 12 with my Ameraucanas and have yet to candle them. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I am nervous over what I'll find out. Talk about paranoid.

Haha...I just got home from work and am gonna have dinner, but I told myself that I will not go to bed tonight until I candle my eggs. I need to get it done, so I know what my hatch might look like. I am tracking a lot of info this year about what I put in the incubator, how many are clear, how many start then stop developing and what makes it to lockdown and what does and doesn't hatch for each pen I collect eggs from. I also am trying to track more info like weights and etc than last year. It's been a learning process with the Marans, so we'll see how it all ends up going....and whether I know exactly what to do with the info I am gathering. If for nothing else for reference and to find traits unique to the different lines I have.

 

[gilavina]

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Congrats on the pips! hope all goes well!

 

[gilavina]

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But.... Hey, I'm still here. Well partly running to the bator to see the VERY slow progress of hatching, but nonetheless still here.

But honestly a hot, long bath with a GOOD book sounds more relaxing.

Good luck with your hatch...

we are in the process of making maple syrup and just waiting for it to get to temp and then into jars it goes!

Nice! I've never made maple syrup, but have always wanted to learn how...does it take a long time to go through the whole process?

 

[gilavina]

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That's awesome!! I'm so happy for you! Are you going to have a hard time sleeping tonight?

How did your day going finding things to keep you busy?

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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Sounds like life to me.

 

[Debbi]

No, not really. The garden spot was way too wet to till yet, so no go there. Did some cleaning and raking in the coop/run, walked the dogs about the property, talked to a friend for awhile, and that was about it. Too windy to even enjoy sitting on the deck watching my goofy roos. I think a lot of Pip's problems are sexual frustration. I left a plastic coffee canister in the run today, and watched him peck it, attack it, and then try to breed it!

Poor guy won't even confront the ladies, but yet when another roo starts to breed, and if the pullet screams, he will attack the impudent cockerel along with the older roo, Fuglee. I had fenced off Pip and a pullet for a week or more, about a month ago, but NEVER saw him mate with her. The "lone chick" syndrome seems to affect way beyond the combining with the flock and establishing a pecking order. He has never made his "mark" yet as a roo. At 31 weeks of age, his lesser aged cockerels are surpassing him in maturity. So I guess the old adage of, "you always hurt the ones you love", comes into play here, as I am the onyl one he attacks?? Familiarity breeds contempt??

As much as I hate to have to watch my back because of him, I still feel sorry for him that he never connected himself with chickens. May just try turning him loose to free range with Fuglee, and build them a makeshift shelter for the summer. It's not that he's some great specimen of the breed or anything, but the display of his attitude, and the chicken pyschology is puzzling to me. A case study of sorts?? He won't approach a female to breed her, only to save her from another roo mating her. Odd, very odd to me. Anyone have any suggestions here??

Left coast folks, are the Tsunami threats over yet?? Any damage?? I pray you are all ok!