Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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Thanks Debbi! I wish you all the luck and strength that is needed to stop smoking. It takes tons of will power. Sister if you need a shoulder or a friend you just holler. One morning we woke up and said.....ENUFF and that was that. You know what??? Everything tastes better now!

Glad the chickies are doing good. My little Blue Bill Jr. is quite the escape artist as well. He is now back in the grow out pen with some younger birds because he just won't stay put in the pen he is suppose to be in. Stinker! Everyday I would go down to feed and water and collect eggs the bugger would be running around in the pasture. DUMB!!!!!!!!! He is lucky my dog didn't eat him. My Lillie likes young chickens..she won't eat the big ones but if smaller or younger on is out....she thinks it's fair game. He doesn't know how lucky he is. On the other hand I was hoping that he would have correct eye color like his daddy but he has his mothers darker eye color. Bummer!
I noticed some very nice copper coming in on his hackles and his wing bow the other day when he was hanging out with my tucked under my arm just for fun. I know they love me when I do this.

Here are a couple not so good photos of him. I will get better ones someday.

Bill Jr. for sure! Maybe the eyes will lighten up later? Yes, my dogs don't bother the chickens outside, but the thought of a free, little chicken in their house would prove to be a meal in the making! And of course, it would be G Jr.! He was looking around like, "how the heck did I get here???" My Bill daughter is getting Bill's look too. Her name is "Billie". Then we have Charlotte the little blue girl, Myrtle, the BCM Gnarles girl; Olivia, another very dark BCM girl; and G Jr., my new hopeful !

The second photo he is showing off that he certainly got his daddies chest.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/11170_imgp0976.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/11170_imgp0986.jpg

 

[FireTigeris]

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That's the eye color I still have, not exactly sure how old my babies are , I posted them when I got them at the Big N-FL swap.

 

[ksf59]

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That one is a pullet egg and is about a 7, the rest are 6 & 6+.

I eat a lot of 5's, LOL

I was checking out your web page and noticed you feed a whole grain supplemnet diet. But you have not updated that ifo for a while. I knw this is not the feed page, but I wonder if the way you feed has an impact on the egg color, And also are you still feeding whole garin, supplement ect. I am very interested in this as I see you feed oats. When I was a youngster my faimly fed rooled barley and alfalfa along with free range. My dad quit with the mash because the whloe grain was home rasied(free. not realy but not out of pocket so to speak) and the egg production was simalar to mash, and higher quality. We sold some private , but most went to a small grocer and he sold the extras at a premuim. He did not tell people where they came from, but I know that we got paid for our brown eggs, what he sold white eggs for. So if he was selling white (factory eggs) for 25 cents a dozen, he paid us 25 cents a dozen for out RIR free rangers. And he had a waiting list for eggs. We ran about 200 RIR free rangers. This was baout 35 year ago or more.

 

[Debbi]

Well, I sure scrambled that response! I'm good at that, sorry.

As for the smoking battle, yes, I know how hard it is. This time it will be very tough for me. I had quit for 15 1/2 years! One day, standing next to a fellow worker that was smoking, it just smelled good to me. One drag, and that was the end of that! I had a carton in my freezer by the end of the week!

Dumbest thing I've ever done!!! Back then, when I quit, cigs were 55 cents a pack; now, about $3.79/pack. Hmmm, think of all the coops and chooks I could buy by saving all that money??

 

[pinkchick]

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Thanks and yes he is a Bill Jr. alright...but he is a couple shades lighter blue than his dad. No his eye color won't change....he is a darkie. But we will see how he grows out...mostly looking for more copper in Bill's kids and less dark. Slowly...slowly I am seeing a bit more copper in the boys and 2 Blue Copper girls that are growing out that are Bill's dtrs do have some copper but it is random at the base of the hackle and nothing toward the top.

We will see!

Love the names of your kiddos! Too sweet!

Oh and $3.79 a pack is cheap........ready for this.....$8.89 a pack in Washington State. We have noticed quite a savings in our pocketbook in just 18 days. If it is a sin....it's taxed in WA. State.....I kid you not we honestly have a sin tax and it's printed on your receipts...."Sin Tax."

 

[robnms]

Thanks Debbi, I'm trying to get a good idea of how long I have to feed culls.

 

[Debbi]

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That's just me, and I'm just starting. Many here that have been breeding their own stock for longer, will have a better grasp at probably a younger age with their own stuff.

 

[Debbi]

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Thanks and yes he is a Bill Jr. alright...but he is a couple shades lighter blue than his dad. No his eye color won't change....he is a darkie. But we will see how he grows out...mostly looking for more copper in Bill's kids and less dark. Slowly...slowly I am seeing a bit more copper in the boys and 2 Blue Copper girls that are growing out that are Bill's dtrs do have some copper but it is random at the base of the hackle and nothing toward the top.

We will see!

Love the names of your kiddos! Too sweet!

Oh and $3.79 a pack is cheap........ready for this.....$8.89 a pack in Washington State. We have noticed quite a savings in our pocketbook in just 18 days.

Holy cow!! I could've rebuilt my HOUSE for that price!!! Last time I did it cold turkey, this time, I dunno. Maybe a hypnotist??

I'm a gonna need something here!

 

[pinkchick]

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It really depends on each individual bird and what you are looking for in that bird. I have fed culls for up to a year, but I also cull very hard at an early age for very noticeable things such as tail sets, wry tail, squirrel tail, clean shanks and so on. I have noticed some of my roosters still changing even at more than 2 years old. So it is very hard to say how long one will feed the culls.

 

[gilavina]

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Thanks and yes he is a Bill Jr. alright...but he is a couple shades lighter blue than his dad. No his eye color won't change....he is a darkie. But we will see how he grows out...mostly looking for more copper in Bill's kids and less dark. Slowly...slowly I am seeing a bit more copper in the boys and 2 Blue Copper girls that are growing out that are Bill's dtrs do have some copper but it is random at the base of the hackle and nothing toward the top.

We will see!

Love the names of your kiddos! Too sweet!

Oh and $3.79 a pack is cheap........ready for this.....$8.89 a pack in Washington State. We have noticed quite a savings in our pocketbook in just 18 days. If it is a sin....it's taxed in WA. State.....I kid you not we honestly have a sin tax and it's printed on your receipts...."Sin Tax."

Wow.....$8.89 a pack??!! I bet you will love that extra money floating around in your pocket indeed!