Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Lotsapaints]

So I've been watching chick TV and it's been very entertaining. I had all the eggs I was going to hatch in the incubator and first it was just one hen who insisted on being broody then another then another and I didn't care as I just boil the eggs and feed them back or feed them to the dogs I cannot eat 2 dozen eggs a day from all my chickens and turkeys.....I've only had one Marans be a mom the others were slackers and gave it up....well they are hatching and I hope not all of the eggs they had in there will either. A week ago my favorite hen decided she wanted to join in the fun and I was leaving on my horseless trail ride so I didn't try to break her my husband is a saint and he'll feed and water the pens but a caged one is asking a bit much....Well those young girls just want to set on the eggs when the chicks started to hatch the fight was on why I don't know but at least the hatching waited for me to be home my favorite girl was getting all bloodied up trying to save the chicks so now as they hatch I'm giving them to her. She has her own coop and what a good mama she is teaching them to eat earwigs and rolly pollys. I know what ever ones make it are tough little chicks..

 

[syble]

Quote:
she has a couple stray blue feathers, and more that are just comming in. but she is very white at this point. i think as she grows and moults she will spot up haha. I like the beefy birds too, i look forward to seeing how they all fill out

Thanks
Sib

 

[Debbi]

Good morning all

Lynette, Sorry to hear of your blue boy! Sounds to me like a coyote or dog there. An eagle may be able to get one of those honkers off the ground, but no hawk would. Or...an alligator?? Alligators dig, don't they? If that were the case, I'd be making a purse and some spiffy boots!

I don't know WTH is going on here with my hatches. 7 eggs, by day 20 all were rocking hard. Two hatched, then nothing. Day 24 here and I am so disgusted with these small hatches! This one went perfectly, and the chicks that did hatch are big and strong.

On the plus side, my Silkie eggs should (better be!) be here today. Guess I'll find out if my hatching woes only pertain to Marans or not.

Coffee maker decided to die on me yesterday

Lucky for me, I have my campfire coffee pot, but man, I'm used to getting my coffee FAST! Seems like this takes forever!

Stood out in the run with a critical eye yesterday, and made my culling choices. My 6 week olds are starting to look good to me. Very uniform in type. Wish they all had feathered shanks, but only two do. I'm thinking one roo, 3 pullets thus far. Little 3 week old Solo is looking good too, but alas, another roo I'm thinking. The two that just hatched are both feathered, but for some reason, I'm already feeling roo vibes.

ROOS-R-US!

 

[AyeUpChuck]

I'm sure someone has previously but I can't seem to find a post.... Can anyone recommend a good LED flashlight for candling these Marans eggs? My head lamp is bright but just not doing the trick.....

 

[seabreeze]

Well, our three broody hens have now hatched over 20 chicks! I think the incubators can go on Craig's List

About 10 of those are blues

 

[Debbi]

Well Seabreeze, those are my senitments too! Give those Mommas a kissy for me, great job! My Silkie eggs came in today, so I'm hoping to get some broodies out of them. Paid for 8 eggs, got 20!

Now that's what I call extras!! Either that, or she is on BYC and read of my crappy hatches?

At least this go I'll be able to candle the eggs and watch the progress. I'm so used to getting those big ole jumbo eggs from my Marans gals, that these eggs looked soooooo tiny. Time to start planning and building a Silkie coop. Seeing as how they don't roost or fly, I can save space and wood by keeping the ceiling much lower. Will help to keep them warmer in the winter too. Can't wait for these itty bittys to hatch!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Geebs has one, forgot the name, Ultra Mag, or SureFire? Anyway, you want something that puts out about 800-1200 lumens. I've got a 120 lumens LED flashlight. Worked on one light colored pullet egg, but when the darker ones were candled, I couldn't see SQUAT! Get ready to loosen your purse strings for those lights, the cheapest I've seen were about 50 bucks, and went upward. It would be worth it though to be able to see something!

 

[flgardengirl]

A lot of times silkie eggs aren't fertile or I should say have the silkies will have low fertility. I had bought 38 eggs from good breeders and not even half developed and I ended up with 10 chicks. I read that the silkies have so much fluff going on down there that sometimes it is hard to get fertilized eggs lol. Some breeders will cut the fluff if they aren't showing the birds or anything. Some also use artificial insemination.

 

[AyeUpChuck]

Quote:
Geebs has one, forgot the name, Ultra Mag, or SureFire? Anyway, you want something that puts out about 800-1200 lumens. I've got a 120 lumens LED flashlight. Worked on one light colored pullet egg, but when the darker ones were candled, I couldn't see SQUAT! Get ready to loosen your purse strings for those lights, the cheapest I've seen were about 50 bucks, and went upward. It would be worth it though to be able to see something!

Thanks Debbi! Geebs and I are supposed to get together with her crazy powerful light so

on fertility of these shipped egg!

 

[Goose and Fig]

Hi All!
Thanks to some help from members on another thread and several links they posted, I believe I might have a (sport?) blue tailed buff marans. And it also appears that he is passing this color onto most of his offspring. He showed a large amount of red within 2 weeks of hatch, and several chicks are doing the same. I haven't had any splash copper hatch here yet, so I don't know about that color.

it is in this way easier to understand that from a small breeding pen of Brown-Red birds (when there is a certain genetic impurities present) it is possible to get Wheaten, Black-tailed Buff, or Golden Salmon coloured birds, certainly not always to Standard, however which are often useful in your breeding program.

Has anyone else had these pop up in thier blue or black copper flocks? They are supposedly jeane/Davis lines.​