Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Wynette]

All of my chooks get free-choice oyster shell, and I don't get blood or meat spots in my Marans pen (any longer). So...

I can't imagine oyster shell would cause it, but I'm super curious now!

Hmmm....okay, found this online:

Egg with blood spots inside
This is usually the result of blood escaping from the ovarian follicle and becoming embedded in the albumen. It can sometimes be the result of shock or stress and normally rights itself. There is some evidence that there is a hereditary tendency for this condition, so avoid breeding from such a hen.

from this site: http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/articles/egg_problems/egg_problems.php

Still looking for more info.....

 

[Illia]

Half my Black Coppers get occasional blood spots, I get a few meat spots now and then too, and none of my birds get any sort of Calcium supplement. Pretty sure it's a genetic though, honestly.

 

[Ivywoods]

I guess I don't know the difference between meat spots and blood spots. I think what I get are small blood spots. Almost all of my marans eggs have them. They are not large, but sometimes there are several small spots. I'm pretty sure they are blood spots, not meat spots. They are small and kind of reddish black looking.

 

[Wynette]

Ivy, those definitely sound like blood spots. Meat spots LITERALLY look like little pieces of meat. They're pretty gross, IMO. The one hen I had that always had HUGE ones in her eggs - they'd be like the size of half a pencil eraser, the color of.....meat, and they had a somewhat dimpled appearance on the surface.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I'm glad it's not just me. Not that I've been "in" chickens all that long but, sheesh, they ARE moulting hard this year. (We Canadians like all those extra 'u's

). My girls are moulting so hard, I can't even tell which hen is which! It looks painful ...

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Ditto that. I feel badly for them.

 

[Bravo]

I haven't paid too much attention to see if a specific hen is producing the meat spot. They aren't huge--maybe the size of a pencil eraser shaving.

I will definitely track it and see if it is happening in specific girls. The oyster shell is interesting--mine get it free choice too.

I've also heard the meat spot thing is caused by jumping up to roost or if nesting boxes are high. Unfortunately both of mine are. We've tried to customize our existing coop by adding on additional nesting boxes at ground level. That was maybe a week ago--not too sure.

 

[flgardengirl]

I usually only see meat or blood spots on the new layers. Once they have been laying awhile they don't usually show up. Sometimes if they haven't been laying in awhile and they are older, then they start laying again I will see one here or there but not too often.

 

[flgardengirl]

Quote:
They are super cool "D but super expensive

 

[babigyrl22]

Random Chick Foto:

How YOU doin?

heh heh...this picture makes me laugh.


I've never come across meat spots in my eggs. I hope I never do.