Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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congrats! where did ya score such a deal at? the nice thing is that with that cheap of a price, even if you end up having to replacing parts eventually, it will still be a good deal.

by the way....I found some pygmy kids...went and got them yesterday....my doe is so happy to have little friends to hang out with again. All three of them match my doe so well you would never know they weren't from the same stock. And they all get along so well...about 20 minutes after they were here, they were totally relaxed!

I'm glad you found some companions for your doe. I know how they hate to be alone.

I'm buying the GQF on the guys word that it works great. After talking with them, I am confident that this is true. My sister sent me a link on craigslist so I called them, and now it's just a matter of getting it home. In the meantime, I will set some more eggs in my rinkydinkubator.

Wow Susie, you got a deal there! Even if it needs parts, it's still a great deal. The last one I looked at needed everything replaced, extreme cleaning and disenfecting, and they only wanted $400.00 for it!

I think...NOT!!

 

[Hens and Roos]

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We have a boy like that, he was taken out of the rooster group around 6 months old, as he was the lowest and put into a pen with 1 girl to start a separate line and as he has gotten older-now 1 year old he has gotten full of himself. He decided that he needed to start attacking DH, when DH would feed the birds. We tried reintroducing him into the main group so he could be in the outside coop, as soon as he walked into the pen he started in and once again became the lowest! He went back to his pen and has been much nicer to DH since-DH was the one who picked his sorry butt up out of the other bigger group

Good luck to the chickies!!!

 

[pinkchick]

Gnarles got froggy this morning as I was letting them out to the freerange area and attacked my boot. DUMB!!!!!!! I don't think he realized that his stupidity bought him a few days of very special treatment from the Momma. Here he is taking a break on my lap directly after our very very stupid moment.

While we were taking a time out we had to endure the most humilating treatment from Oatmeal the cat too

. I love my Oatmeal kitty...he sleeps in the nest box in the Welsummer coop.

 

[Debbi]

That look on his face is priceless! I can hear him saying to himself, (in his best Scooby Doo voice), "Ruh-Roh, not such a good move". Got to love the Oatmeal too!

 

[Harris5]

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Glad to know I'm not the only one who plays with their chickens in a cozy robe!

Gotta love Oatmeal the kitty!

 

[pinkchick]

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Glad to know I'm not the only one who plays with their chickens in a cozy robe!

Gotta love Oatmeal the kitty!

Don't tell my DH .......it was his robe!

 

[SueMuffin]

Hello all,

I haven't posted much here as I am pretty new to chickens. Well, I need some feed back now!! I bought a breeding flock of what was supposed to be 4 BCM hens and 1 roo, also BCM. I ended up with 1 Olive egger Hen and 3 BCM hens and of course the BCM roo. Well I hatched out some of the Olive eggs and got 1 roo that looks like a BCM hen with its coloring (this roo is only 3 months old approx.) but its hatch mate is pure white. They both have feathered shanks which the hen that layed these 2 eggs did not have, and they all have pea combs. MY first question is: are there pure white Marans of any kind? my second question is: I crossed a pure BCM with the olive egger to get these 2 eggs that I hatched. Will the pure white one still lay olive eggs or might she lay the dark brown of the Maran? I am assuming that my first olive egger hen was crossed with an americauna but I have no Idea really.
And another question off the genetics topic. Can you feed chickens meat scraps and fat scraps from meat? and do you have to cook it or give it to them raw? Thanks for any help you all can give me. I am truly a newbie still!!

 

[poularde]

That naughty Gnarles! I am glad he got the special treatment.

Sad news today. I really want to have my birds free-range. I have had great luck so far. Have yet to lose a bird to a predator yet. Well that changed yesterday. I have been letting my 6 week old Pink chicks out with the big birds when I am home. They have been having a great time. A Falcon took one of my Gnarles babies.

I believe he was a cockerel. I am now keeping them in a covered run until they get bigger. I am still new to letting the young birds out. Six weeks appears to be a little to young at my place. I wish it had not been one of my Marans that I had to learn this with. My other six are doing great. I am sorry little Gnarles baby.

 

[huf]

One of our 5 week old Blue Birchen Marans has started to develop some silver/whitish feathers on "her" hackle area. She has also always had gold highlights on the end of her wing feathers. Do the silverish feathers on her hackle suggest rooster? We have 2 of them, both hatched at the same time, the second one seems all blue right now. Their combs both looks basically the same, neither pink at all.

Any thoughts? By what age can you generally be pretty sure of gender for this breed/variety? Does anyone know what the one with the silver feathers will look like when grown, she is the one I think we will end up keeping (assuming she is a girl) since she is more affectionate to us than the other. The only photos I've seen of Blue Birchen Marans hens have been all blue with slightly darker shading in the hackle area.

I've haven't had time to take photos to post, but hope to soon!

Thanks! Trying to figure out gender so we can rehome one of them appropriately!

Jeannie.
Palo Alto, CA
8 chicks (6-5 weeks old), will be downsizing to 5 once we are sure of gender. Mottled Javas, Blue Wheaten/Wheaten Ameraucanas, Blue Birchen Marans, Barred Plymouth Rock, Easter Egger.

A Mindful Life (http://blog.amindfullife.us/)
Articles on our adventures and discoveries including parenthood, food (eating, cooking, tools), travel and striving to live more sustainably. Stories about our little urban backyard full of fruit plants, herbs and a micro-flock of hens for eggs - Hawthorne Urban Farm.

 

[pinkchick]

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Yes there is pure White Marans...how the white bird that you speak of happened I have no clue...hopefully someone else comes along to give their opinions.
The feathered shanks happened because you crossed the clean legged bird to a bird that has feather shanks and it is dominant so it passed on to his offspring. If they have peacombs (even the white one) they will lay an olive egg. There is something like only a 3% chance that a peacomb bird from this type of cross will lay a brown egg.

I can't help you out with the meat question as I do not feed them meat scraps, but I do toss them frogs if I can catch them, and my breeding flock is always munching on a very unlucky Robin or small bird. Gnarles is very adept at bird catching. I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw him jump in the air and catch a Robin. I was floored as I stood there watching a puff of feathers slowly fall to the ground the girls go gung ho on their meal that their provider protector caught for them.