Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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Oh NO!! Sounds like you are having a heartbreaking day too

I came up to the house since my uncle came with poultry supplies we shared an order on. I have one chunk of the predator proofing done. I will head back down and do the front of the other stall...then I have one other small weak spot on one of my hog huts to repair. That won't take me long. For the night I will move my oldest chicks from this year (including Gigantor) into the main part of the barn for the night. I set up some cement blocks and 2x4s that will work as a make shift roost for the night. I only work in the morning tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to move the rest of them to the stalls in the afternoon. i have three traps and will bait them...its gonna be a mix of catfood and chicken livers, and gizzards. I'm still pretty ticked off, which is just the right amount of motivation to get things done. Hopefully I can get it all done here this afternoon since we are planning a surprise party for my mom at 7 when she gets off work since its her birthday today. So, we'll see how it all goes. I'll sleep much better when I have everything outside done and everyone is tucked in for the night.

 

[gilavina]

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haha...dually noted

I'm writing up all possible ingredients and will see how the items stack up on paper and sort out my options and go from there. Can you tell I like organization and planning? I'm such a dork!

I've had to stop putting pen to paper. Like that cause id spend all day writing my lists (they'd look pretty and neat) but I had acomplished nothing but a few lists

haha...I am so much more efficient with lists....I prioritize things and take care of things right away and polish off those first. It works pretty well for me...problem is that I never have enough time in day to get everything done I'd like to

 

[gilavina]

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that's a good idea about the adding molasses to a small portion. I'm going to do a test run in a small batch to start and see how it goes. I am just nailing down my ingredients and then will play.

How about using muffin pans to run your test batches, that way you only have a few with each molasses and honey in?

Sorry to hear about something getting a couple of your birds

friends of ours lost 21 chickens the other day to mink- they set traps but I don't know if they caught anything yet.

Thanks I'm still bummed

I don't know what I'd do with myself if I lost 21 chickens. In the two pens that got hit, I have my nearly all my sussex, wyandotte and birchen Marans growing out....They are between 3 to 5 months old....so I've culled down to a really good place where my best birds are over there...so, I'm not playing games....the sucker's gonna pay.

I was thinking the muffin pans would be a good way to do test mixes...I'll mix up my base of dry ingredients and then from there I'll mix in several different wet ingredients (ie- honey, molasses and etc to see which is best and which the birds respond to the best)

 

[flgardengirl]

Of course the predator waited till you culled before hitting the pens!!!

 

[chevgrl]

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Viki~ I'm truely sorry to hear about your pullets! That stinks! I need to start locking my guys into their indoor pens their runs are covered but I'm sure something could get it if they absolutly wanted to

 

[littlels]

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If I were you, I would use one of the pure Marans roos that you have. With the Silkie mix roo, you are looking at a reduction in the egg color from the Silkie side, plus you will end up with some chicks that may have 5 toes, weird combs, and may have some Silkie feathers still coming through. You can breed the hens to either the Black Copper or the Blue Copper, the latter breeding will give you black and blue copper chicks. As for the faults, such as eye color and such, those count only if you intend to sell chicks/hatching eggs, or want to show your birds. In these cases, you would want your stock to be as close to the "Standard of Perfection" for the Marans breed and for the color variety (black or blue). If you just want pretty, dark, eating eggs, then none of it matters but the egg color. You can improve your egg color by selecting the darkest eggs to hatch with each generation. Hope this helps?

Thanks! That helps a lot. I didn't think of the Silkie making the eggs lighter.

 

[flgardengirl]

If you let yours freerange for part of the day just make sure there are lots of places for them to take cover. We have a couple vehicles and a boat in the back that they can duck under. SOme people put those plastic dog igloo houses strategically around the yard for them to run into. Or you could make wooden boxes without a bottom and cut a large doorway in one of the sides for them to run into. Hawks will usually try and dive down on them and the roos usually will sound alert. Also leave your run open during the day if they are out freeranging but remember to check that coop before you lock them up. I've found snakes big enough to eat chickens trying to sleep in the nestboxes of the coop. I read on byc somewhere about someone accidently locking up thier coop at night and locked a racoon in with the chickens! Scary thought lol. I have to lock mine up inside a coop at night or someone dissappears each and every time! I always look inside real good now since I read about that.

 

[Patches The Hen]

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Awesome! Another person who likes Star Trek and chickens!

At least I'm not the only one....

 

[geebs]

Live long and hatch more

(or prosper....whichevs)
!!!!

 

[Duramaxgirl]

What color of marans lay the most prolific? I have a few BCM and they do not lay consistently at all! I'm lucky to get 3 eggs a week per hen and now they've all gone on strike now for about 3 weeks. I love the dark eggs! And I want more marans, also do some BCM breeder lines lay better then others?
Thanks!