Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

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Sent you an pm

 

[math ace]

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I hatched my one and only splash this Spring and had to move her in with a younger group because her hatch mates did not accept her and she was the lowest on the todem pole too. I am really beginning to believe that birds are happiest with those similiar to themselves. The weird ones will normally not be accepted as well..... Sad, but it is what I am seeing. I never noticed it before because my original flock was a hodge podge of this and that ..... Now that I am specializing in three breeds and just a few colors.... anything different is recognized immediately.

 

[Blueberry Hill]

I got some 18 month old cuckoo marans from a fellow who is moving out of state. I know they were using nesting boxes, but, dang, if they don't lay all over the ground here. I have tried putting a wooden egg in each box, and of the 14 hens, only 3 are laying in the boxes. Any suggestions?

 

[berkeleysprings]

hears a roo from last year

and a few hens free rangeing

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[math ace]

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Lock them up for a couple of weeks until they figure out that the nesting box is the right spot.

If you have them locked up.... then where is the nesting box located ??

Is it in the coop? Is it above or below the roosts? How far off the ground is it?



FYI: I have a couple of hens who lay on the ground whenever there is a dominant hen or broody hen in the box running them of from the nesting area.

 

[susanbird]

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Yeah Randy, What beautiful colors on that Roo. I really like the gold/orange/mahogany blending of colors. Kind of like a shimmering sunset His feathers look iridescent !

The girls are purty Are the neck feathers a mahogany color? In the front hen they look like it but the back pic looks more brown.

Lucky ladies out in the woods. Thanks for sharing, Susan

 

[Debbi]

Good morning all

Randy ~ Did you feel that earthquake out your way yesterday?? I had to laugh when I heard about it, 5.8 pfftt. We used to sleep through those when I lived in CA!

Then started thinking, back there is pretty much a granite base, so the shake is more of a hard jarring as apposed to a rolling like the last 7.1 quake I was in, up in the High Desert. That was my last hurrah, and we shortly moved to MO. Of course, at the time I didn't know about the New Madrid fault here!

Vicki ~ Those are nice runs they have, but they wouldn't work here. That also looks like a lot of cement, and as expensive as that is today, that would not be possible for me. Mine would have to be enclosed at one end like you and Susie said, and the vinyl covered chicken wire wouldn't be enough to keep predators out here! I wish I had an old barn I could convert, but alas, I'm stuck with "Uncle Tom's Cabin", yes, a man named Tom did live in it years ago!

For the coop I have now, we dug the post holes and cemented the ground contact wooden posts in. Two foot wire apron all around, way cheaper than the cement. Plastic covering wouldn't work here with my wind either. We primarily get a wicked west wind, and in the winter a North-west wind. I left the west side of the coop solid, put automatic vents on the north and east sides up near the top, and cover the north one in the winter, window and pop door on the south side.

Found another project for me today, or this evening. Went to town and noticed on my little road that heads out to the main road, what I first thought looked like a huge catapiller tent. Upon closer inspection, and I was so glad I was in my truck, it is a HUGE hornet's nest! About the size of a soccer ball!

It is also hanging pretty low, and it occured to me that my UPS man's truck roof would probably touch it. I really like him, so I guess I'll have to spray that thing this evening so he doesn't get attacked! Gees, glad I saw it first! Had two huge storms last night, with any luck at all, maybe the storms knocked it down?? Low hanging nests like that are supposed to be an indication of a mild winter...let's hope!

 

[gilavina]

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Eek!! That sounds like a huge nest you found! I had never heard that low hanging nests are an indication of a mild winter. I'll take it tho. I'm getting nervous about winter for some reason this year....who knows why?

Those pens are gonna take some pretty decent alterations for me to work, but the way I'm positioning them and such they should work out ok. I have nearly all of the materials including the wire, metal roofing, wood, etc...so I figured the expense of the cement would not be too bad for me. I live in a bit of a valley so I need to have a way to keep the posts from contacting the ground if possible. So the cement ledge...modified a bit for my needs will fit the bill. I guess I must luck out some with the plastic here...It gets really windy but with the barn on the north side of where these pens will go must get enough protection that it doesn't get messed up in winter at all. I've used it on other pens I have down in that same area and I can use it for a couple of season no problem. I plan to only need it for part of the doors, and on the fronts which will face away from the wind and the one part that will face the wind faces the barn, so it should work for me. I guess maybe I'm luckier than I thought with the weather here.

alright...off to work for a bit, then home! Hopefully it goes fast so I can come home and work on stuff. I have a few more pics to load too....but for the most part...I have a ton of bird sorting to do haha...and then freezer camp time!

 

[Blueberry Hill]

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Lock them up for a couple of weeks until they figure out that the nesting box is the right spot.

If you have them locked up.... then where is the nesting box located ??

Is it in the coop? Is it above or below the roosts? How far off the ground is it?



FYI: I have a couple of hens who lay on the ground whenever there is a dominant hen or broody hen in the box running them of from the nesting area.

they have a coop with a large fenced area, the nesting boxes are in the coop. There is a broody hen who is sitting on 6 eggs (not laid by her) and I have seen one of the other hens try to join her in that particular nest box. There are 4 other boxes available. Because we have coyotes next door and a hawk which lives in a tree in the middle of our blueberry farm, I cannot let them roam totally free. So, should I just lock them in the coop?

 

[pinkchick]

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I hatched my one and only splash this Spring and had to move her in with a younger group because her hatch mates did not accept her and she was the lowest on the todem pole too. I am really beginning to believe that birds are happiest with those similiar to themselves. The weird ones will normally not be accepted as well..... Sad, but it is what I am seeing. I never noticed it before because my original flock was a hodge podge of this and that ..... Now that I am specializing in three breeds and just a few colors.... anything different is recognized immediately.

Yes...sometimes they like to stick with their own..colors that is. At present I only have the one Splash hen and though she was low man at one point she is pretty high up on the pole now...she is not the head hen, but also not willing to be bullied. It just takes time and they will work it out....or you can always add more Splash.