Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

Good morning guys!

I knew I smelled Splash! Cute babes there Pink, congrats! It's been storming here for the last couple of days, so I've been computerless. Temps are dropping this morning, and the wind has been howling here. Good test for the new heater in this old, leaky house. Heater is set at 66* and so far, it's keeping it very comfy in here. I can see right now I'll need another one for the shop room when the real cold stuff gets here. Now, to see how my electric bill looks next month...

Vicki, did you get some snow up your way?? We had a brief flurry last week. Was outside with the dogs, thought I saw a flake, then another, then it was like a cloud sprung a leak and the snow was falling!

Only lasted about 5 minutes. My phone rang, and is was my friend to the east asking me if I was getting a blizzard!?

Then it got up to 60 something that day. Crazy weather here.

Still NO luck culling down, I can't give the roos away! Guess now is the time to find a big enough cage and haul the little roasters off to the Amish for processing. One of my little Blue chicks, roo of course, is going to be a stinker, I think. He acts just like Blue Butt did at that age, I sure hope I'm wrong! BB is way worse than Pip ever thought of being.

This little guy will come to the front of the brooder, put his beak up in the air, and just stare right into my face! Stink eyes at 4 weeks, ain't a good sign!

One of my Silkie roos has decided he really wants to kick the Marans cockerels arse! OMG, talk about funny!! There is a huge Clyde son in there, that just looks at this little guy throwing himself at the fence, and he just looks very puzzled by it all. "Can't we all just get along??" Peanut replies, "no way you big lunk, I'm gonna kick your arse!!!"

Clyde will stroll by seeing this going on, and you can swear you see him rolling his eyes; he just walks on. The Marans don't seem to see the Silkies as "chickens", and who can blame them?

 

[Debbi]

Yes Lynette, get some Nubians! I had a small milk herd about 20 years ago, great milkers and stupidly sweet. Perfect if you don't have a great demand for milk in large quantities, but I used to get a gallon from each girl, each day. Neither the kids or my husband at the time, would entertain the thought of drinking goat's milk, EWWWWW!

So, I went to the store and bought a gallon of cow's milk, saved the container, and added the goat's milk to it daily. By the end of the week, we were all drinking goat's milk, and no one knew it!

After about a month went by, I broke the news to them. They all had to concede they saw no difference, and drank it from then on out. Sneaky mommy....

 

[flgardengirl]

Hi Debbi!! Good to see ya. I'm glad your heater is doing the job for ya. Haha your naughty roos keep getting naughtier with each generation, it sounds like me lol.
I'm afraid to let Storm (my darkest bl copper roo) father babies as pretty as he is. He is a bad bad boy. Whistle is a much better boy and not as near as pretty though. Whatcha gonna do LOL!
OMG the Marans hate the silkies. You are so right, they look at them like they are freak shows! If my Marans hens get into the silkie coop they will really try to hurt them.

 

[flgardengirl]

Haha that's so funny about the goat milk. My dh thinks he doesn't eat yogurt. He hates the stuff, says it is sour and nasty! He doesn't realize that I have been substituting it for sour cream in recipes for years LOL! I would like to make cheese and some goat milk soaps too.

 

[Debbi]

That's weird, mine seem to be just the opposite. Let me try to introduce a new Marans to the flock, and the girls are horrible bullies! I've had a couple of the Marans sneak into the Silkie pen a few times, and they just seem to ignore them. That Clyde son, Jeff, had found a way to sneak under the netting that goes up to the roof of the run, that seperates the two pens. Three mornings in a row, I found him in with the Silkies. After I freaked and got him out of the pen, I'd do Silkie inventory, and all were fine. The third morning I watched him for awhile with them, and he looked very happy to be in there with the little ones. Definately a Clyde son, he even looks so much like him, except he has way less feathers on his shanks.

I think too, he is going to tower over his daddy, he's about the same size now and he's only about 5 months old. He also has a nice comb!!

 

[flgardengirl]

The silkies already got a house in the 6/slot breeding coop. They got a new nestbox so of course one of the blue copper marans girls wanted to go in there and see it. She is usually very sweet even to the key west hen that are as small as the silkies. So when I was opening the silkie door she hops right up in there and goes to thier nest box. I think okay she will just lay her egg and then I will let her out....but NOOO she sits in box for a while and then tries the next nest box, then jumps down and starts pecking all the silkies on the heads....so I have to snatch her out real quick.
Lol reminds me of the bunny foo foo song...little marans foo foo hopping through the silkie coop...picking up the silkies and bopping them on the head!! Arrrggg I need more sleep or more coffee now that dumb song will go through my head all day

 

[Debbi]

 

[Hens and Roos]

Morning

just started snowing big flakes, I see that noone is brave enough to come out of the coop yet!

 

[Debbi]

I love the ugly looks you get from the chooks when there is snow on the ground! Mine all stand in the pop doorway and scold me!

 

[kari_dawn]

you know, there are not NEARLY enough pictures on this thread