Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[poularde]

Quote:
So nice to see someone else keeps those little eggs... I am not alone.

 

[Ivywoods]

Be patient with those little eggs. Mine were smaller when they started laying. They were a year old in March, and some of them are laying HUGE eggs right now. Two of the chicks I just hatched are real chunks.

As of Sunday morning I have 2 BCM's, 2 bantam partridge wyandottes and 9 golden lakenvelders in this last hatch. I was happy just to get any since these eggs were some of the ones that were in there when the power was out. There were several more pipped and some zipped. I'm going to bed soon, but I will report again in the morning how many more have made it out.

I took pictures this morning. Dang computer. I couldn't get them loaded from my camera. Some kind of glitch. I love my computer when it's working, but when it's not... I hate it! I may try again tomorrow to load the pictures. Those chicks are so cute!

 

[flgardengirl]

Do you guys blow the eggs out when you save them or just save them as is ?

 

[Debbi]

Good morning all

Sabella ~ Yeah on the first egg!!

It should get bigger and darker as she goes, mine did anyway. I've still got about a week's worth of my first eggs sitting in an egg carton in the veggie drawer in the fridge, marked "DO NOT EAT". Don't know what I'm saving them for...posterity?? I'm not a crafty type of person, so I don't know what they are going to be good for, but it's like throwing out your child's first tooth!

Friends and family all think I've flipped...maybe so?

 

[geebs]

If they are a bantam eggy... I usually would save em... but now I have a rooster for em... (project bird)...Not to make any claims about having something remotely decent... but just fun.... I was saving the little eggs up till now... but soon I hope to be able to hatch em!!! RAH!!!

 

[pinkchick]

Morning Everyone!


Sabella~ Congrats on your 1st egg!


Kathy~ Lovely little stash basket! I admit.....I'm a 1st egg keeper as well.


flgarden~ I don't blow them unless I am planning on using them for some sort of craft. I have a dozen and a half first eggies that are 2 years old that I am trying to let dry out naturally. Geesh I would have thought after 2 years there wouldn't be any substance left in them, but still they are not completely dried up, however, they do not weigh even close to what they weighed 2 years ago.

Ivy~ Congrats on your chickies!

Gilavina~ It's so.

I turned to the 'bator off this morning, no more chickies. I won't be hatching anymore until this fall.....I'm pooped out with all the chicks. Need a little break, but I will test mate him later this year........I'm thinking of using him to make some Olive Eggers. I got some very cute and chunky olive eggers this hatch (blues and splash) that will go nicely with him for sure. One of the little splash OE's that just hatched is SO big that when he was standing up in the little giant incubator his head touched the heating element

.

 

[geebs]

fine don't say good morning to me..... Pink (sniffing armpits and breath here)....

Good morning to you anyway!!!

 

[pinkchick]

Question~

What would make a hen expell her insides? Like and explosion......not just talking protruding or prolapsed vent here either folks. Literally all of her stuff was out.

I found one of my Black Copper hens dead in the nest box last night.......she has been fine, laying regularly, eating drinking and pooping normally. Just a couple hours before I was putting everyone to bed, I had gone out to collect eggs and give some treats and she was out running around with everyone else, nothing protruding....nothing out and exposed. Happily eating the worms that I had gathered and saved for them from my day spent in the garden. She laid an egg yesterday, so what gives?

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:

Morning Everyone!

Silly Girl! Read the first line in that post.

 

[geebs]

okay now I will answer your question:

If you use light in the winter and it causes early maturity
if the hen is overwieght, if the hen has insuffiecient calcium
If the hen gets too much light.. It is usually this time of year when hens are laying at the peak of their lay...

If overwieght is the problem reduce their feed amount... check you calcium ratio... make sure they are getting ENOUGH light (problem here in PNW) and make sure they are not being started to early as young uns... Usually a prolapse won't kill em.. it is the other hens that will when they see the prolapse... so be diligent in looking at them...Blood streaks on the eggs are a sign of a prolapse possibility... Isolate the hen and make adjustments and then return her.. BEFORE prolapse occurs...