Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[The Point]

As long as we are on the broody subject...I have a hen that is broody. I have tried all the tricks to break her of it with no luck. About 2 weeks ago I had saved 5 dozen eggs for someone that never picked them up.

I had set 2 dozen of myself on a friday and ended up setting 4 dozen of 5 I had saved on Saturday. My hatcher only holds 3 dozen. I had plans to make a new hatcher or add a hatching tray to my bator, haven't gotten either done. I have candled the two dozen and only had 2 duds. So I am thinking of putting some under this hen. I have never done the broody thing, how many can I put under her? Anyone ever put eggs under a hen this close to hatching?

 

[Debbi]

Wow Tannis, sounds like you're really in the chicken business now! I've yet to have a broody, except years ago with a bantam BR, and she always ran off and hid to hatch! I'm not much help here, but give her some eggs, 5 or 6 maybe? That just may break her of being broody, or maybe she'll really like it and be a great mom?

I would love to have a broody hen, then I could blame someone else for a bad hatch!

You should see your boys now! THEY ARE HUGE at 7 months!! It's hard to believe to look at Clyde now, and see the little guy he once was in my avatar pic!

 

[ruth]

Quote:
You can put a whole lot under a big Marans hen and yes, I do it all the time - put eggs that are about to hatch under a broody - that way she doesn't spend much time setting. It's like "oh my gosh, look everyone, my eggs hatched in only two days...." then she gets up and tends to babies. If not, they will set forever and it's almost impossible to break them so I give every broody some eggs to set - sometimes it's the eggs laid that day but more often than not, it's some that are due to hatch sometime that week or even the next day. As long as she is firmly setting and determined, she'll take to them. That's the "downside" if there is is one to have BCMs - they are the broodiest birds I've ever seen and they all go broody at the same time and will not go un-broody until they hatch something and then sometimes two weeks later while there's still baby chicks to tend to, she'll go broody again. At least that's the way it works with mine but then again mine are pretty much free-range and I alternate who goes in a breeder pen and only leave them there for short periods so they are used to being "wild".

Just slip the eggs under her at night. I also move my broodies (at night) and put them in their own cage/kennel inside the coop - that way if they are going to set for 21 days they have privacy, they calm down and eat/drink and they can have a place for their babies (first ones to hatch) to be protected till they get off the nest once everyone has hatched. Then I open the cage/kennel and let them go about their mothering. If I have to move one during the day, I cover the cage with a sheet and they calm down.

 

[seabreeze]

How do you calibrate a hygrometer? a thermometer?

 

[enggass]

Is there anyway to judge from chicks, or at what age, can you tell if they are going to have decent coppering?
ETA: When I say decent, I mean visible as opposed to some that don't have much at all...

 

[enggass]

Quote:
For humidity here is a test: http://www.stogieguys.com/2006/07/stogie-tip-salt-calibration-test.html
For temp compare it to a known good thermometer is one way...

 

[seabreeze]

Thanks Enggass!

 

[HarmonyOaks]

Seabreeze asked (and my appologies if it wasnt 'Sea'): "What do you get when you cross a Black Copper with a White?"

The short and best answer is a genetic alphabetical soup.

The Black Copper has many colors and genes at play and white typically dillutes (blues are blacks dilluted with white). You might think you will see blue or blue copper, but this is only in a handful of chicks out of many hatched. I think you will get many mottled birds, showing some feathers masked and others presenting with color. I believe you will see more pyle, which is red and white, and I heard there was one of these is Newnan. This is because white will mask colors, but red will sometimes bleed through to gold/orange (a dilluted red, right?) -- this is seen on many white sports from Black Copper-- in they end up with yellow/gold hackles, backs and sickles. Red is one of the hardest colors to mask, barred (silver) is one of the easier.

Although the sun may also yellow a white feather bird, this bleeding through of color I speak of, is very uniform, and typically located in the same areas (neck, back, saddle). I understand from Ione M, of the MCCUSA standards, that this bleed through color is not going to be permissible (a DQ) in the standards they are proposing to the APA-- eventhough it is allowed by the MCF.

When crossing varieties the subsequent offspring will not breed true, at least not in the numbers you think you will get. They are hybrids and these recessive genes get suppressed. It would be subsequent matings of the original offspring where oddities will have the potential to present... ie a genetic hybrid of a white and black copper presents as a black copper. This black copper chick grows out and is bred to another black copper (carrying its own set of recessive genes) and the get comes out splashed or blue or pyle-- or that infamous red, white and blue seen advertised by some.

I would ask, why are you thinking of mating a black copper with a white? What is your objective? With this information, I can offer you my opinion to of varieties I would use further you along in your quest.

 

[seabreeze]

Oh heavens no

, I was not thinking of mating a white with a BC, the colors fascinate me so I was asking about two extremes. I don't know enough about this breed's color genetics (or any poultry's color genetics) to dabble in it. I'd rather just have glorious quality birds that serve the original function of dual purpose while laying those gorgeous dark eggs.

 

[sewandgrow]

Quote:
Welcome aboard & good luck to you. I don't personally have the knack of sexing the chicks but there are those on this thread that do.