Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

Quote:
you and debbi are killin me with all these beautiful blue photos... sigh.. gorgeous! Can't wait til Kim's waiting list gets to me! Blues are such fantastic eye candy!

 

[syble]

I know because of their dark shells marans are hard to see through for candeling, but is there a ballpark before hatch date preferably, that i should be able to see whos growing and whos not?
I set them on monday, i don't expect miracles, just looking to figure out when i should check them.
Thanks
sib

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Go Chickies! Go!!!!!!

The only way I find to definately figure out who hatched from which shell is if I am sitting right next to incubator and I watch them hatch..(usually they hatch in 2's or 3's, so I have time to peek in and out and see who progresses and most of the time I get to see them hatch. I keep a box in the brooder with a towel in the bottom and move the chicks to it as quickly as possible from the 'bator and band them. I am not a stickler about "not opening" the 'bator to get them out. I like the box because the older chicks can't tromp all over them. This morning 3 chicks had hatched and I had to leave for work..so I put them in the box and left them there all day. They were able to figure out how to get up and around and I knew they would be ok without food or water until I got home. I took them out soon as I walked in the door and one of the little buggers took off running across the brooder with the rest like no-ones business.

Bill's babies are pretty easy to tell because the are marked differently than the pure Davis birds and they are bigger and some of them may come out clean legged if they are directly from Bill's coop and Bill is Daddy/Grand-Daddy. Did I send you Bill eggs?

Are you candling upon lockdown?

Good luck!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
It's been my experience that the only thing I can see for absolutely sure is if I candle on day 18 and see a clear or a not clear egg. Anything not clear goes into lockdown.

Good hatching vibes coming atcha!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
you and debbi are killin me with all these beautiful blue photos... sigh.. gorgeous! Can't wait til Kim's waiting list gets to me! Blues are such fantastic eye candy!

The girls seem like they are picking up after a short little break or egg color loss, must have been all the rain and gray days got to them too....I am about 2 weeks behind in my list as family matters and such put a damper on confirmed and pre-scheduled shipping dates. Harris5's eggs are up to be shipped on Monday and resting comfortably in the turner until Sunday night when they will be all packed up for their journey.

Thanks everyone for the congrats! Good luck to all that are setting or hatching or very soon to be hatching!

This hatch I believe has ended with a total of 15 chicks. I haven't had 15 Marans hatch at once in a while now. Usually it is less than 10. All of the chicks that hatched hatched on day 21 and the morning of day 22. No assists! Only fetch and retrieve and everyone is doing great.
Barnies are set for tomorrow and seperated from the remaining Marans eggs, so I will leave the Marans eggs until the Barnies are done. They are shipped eggs from Conneticut and I didn't candle once............O the suspense is going to just get at me all day tomorrow as I won't be here.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

My marans are hatching! My marans are hatching! It's going very slowly but we definitely have some splash marans from our blue roo and blue hen and some blacks and blues too. This is our first hatch of our own pure marans eggs. I have some that might be mixed with orp that are 2 1/2 weeks older and they are HUGE already! I love that you can sex the marans at a few weeks of age and the roos get nice and meaty We will free range the males and let them grow all summer. The boys that we don't keep for next year will make wonderful soup and I don't think we will have problems selling extra pullets
My temps were a bit low and they are taking 22-23 days but I'd rather have that than cooking them in my LG!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
you and debbi are killin me with all these beautiful blue photos... sigh.. gorgeous! Can't wait til Kim's waiting list gets to me! Blues are such fantastic eye candy!

The girls seem like they are picking up after a short little break or egg color loss, must have been all the rain and gray days got to them too....I am about 2 weeks behind in my list as family matters and such put a damper on confirmed and pre-scheduled shipping dates. Harris5's eggs are up to be shipped on Monday and resting comfortably in the turner until Sunday night when they will be all packed up for their journey.

Thanks everyone for the congrats! Good luck to all that are setting or hatching or very soon to be hatching!

This hatch I believe has ended with a total of 15 chicks. I haven't had 15 Marans hatch at once in a while now. Usually it is less than 10. All of the chicks that hatched hatched on day 21 and the morning of day 22. No assists! Only fetch and retrieve and everyone is doing great.
Barnies are set for tomorrow and seperated from the remaining Marans eggs, so I will leave the Marans eggs until the Barnies are done. They are shipped eggs from Conneticut and I didn't candle once............O the suspense is going to just get at me all day tomorrow as I won't be here.

I so get how it is with hens deciding they do and don't want to lay. I've got a couple of small orders for some chicks and with the weather going warm to cold and back again, I think they are just on strike at the moment. I'm hoping with the weather now seeming to be moving more steadily towards warm, that they will just start laying regularly.

I'm more than willing to wait for eggs from you Kim! I love what I'm seeing...especially in some of those little chunks that are pullets that people are posting pics of. i just love blues...i can't help it. I'll have to get a couple of snap shots of the blue girls I've got that are now two months old...they are a stunning color with dark lacing. I'm really liking the progress on the darker color of blue I'm getting!

Congrats on the hatch Kim!! I have some eggs hatching sometime this weekend. I seem to have misplaced the info page for this hatch. When I set them I was in a week long sleep deprived stupor, so I'm sure I'll find the info somewhere soon, but I candled them on Monday and based on my best guess they were right around 2 weeks old...so I moved them to the hatching tray today...so I'm definitely crossing my fingers now...

 

[enggass]

Pink~
Can you let me know what you think of my possible roos at 3 weeks...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=383387&p=1412
Post #14120

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Keara]

Quote:
I am curious about that also. Mathace's chicks developed much faster than mine also. Faster than any of my chicks even other breeds.

I am going to guess it is the FL sunshine that makes them grow! New marketing technique for marans..... The worlds first "GREEN" chicken, solar grown baby!

No really Math, what are you feeding those birds!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I check mine at 7 and 14 days. When you look at them when they are 14 days - - - Most of the egg should be dark EXCEPT a small air sack at one end of the egg.
I think the 14 day candling is MORE IMPORTANT because sometimes they start developing BUT stop before lock down. So, sometime I see development at day 7, that has fizzled, stopped, reversed by day 14.

I like to candle at day 7 because I am looking for CRACKS in the shell OR DUD's. If it is a maybe . .. I will mark it and LOOK at it AGAIN on Day 14.