Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Mountain Mel 22]

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Better than that....is bat guano....seriously!

Yes.
Call me crazy...but I am not going to raise bats.

Ya don't have to, silly....just find where they "hang out" and scoop it into a bucket! It is for this reason that the location of bat roosts - as they are known - is a closely guarded secret among gardners who are "in the know"....there are caves in Mexico where it is harvested commercially. I'm the "Lucky Dog" here, as I have about 150 bats that live in my attic and "hang out" along my chimney. Once a year I scoop up about a 5 gallon bucket of 100% bat guano! (and no, you can't smell it in the house)

 

[Spitman]

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I will check for shafting tommaro I think its just the feather not the shaft , ya both came from dark eggs. I just love his color , and his comb and wattle seems fairly good . If there is no shafting then what would you try to mate him back too, to improve on the overly red? would you mate him back to a BC with very littel or no copper ? or a Darker Blue , or Darker Blue copper . Sorry about all the Questions

I have not had a bird that ever showed that much red to experiment with, but theory is that he could be used over a female that shows very little copper to none and that possibly some better colored offspring may result. I would be curious to know if mated over a dark females, if the males produced would have less red in the breast and if indeed he would improve color in the female offsprings hackles.

That's my plan for the summer I've got I chance to get some really good FBCM eggs from a loacal farm that wins at the fair every year . Im swapping out fixing her bator for eggs. Should get them next week than I will set them and would be able to use them for mating by
July I will keep posting when the time comes. I just hope I get a really dark hackled no copper hen.

 

[flgardengirl]

I grabbed a few pics of my blue birchen cockeral. He has a few spots of brown in his wing now but none in his saddles like I thought he would get. He is such a little stinker now. He is going through the stage where he is getting protective of 'his girls'. The little black birchen girl loves to be held and he runs around giving me the stink eye whenever I hold her. Yesterday he ran up and bit me on the toe when I was holding her. Little terd!! Please excuse my messy yard. We are in the process of moving some stuff to the greenhouse and alot of my birds are molting so everything is a disaster.

"Aren't I so cute?"

"Don't look at my girl's fluffy butt!"

Black birchen girl (she has some mossiness issues grrr)

 

[SD_Paulo]

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Yes.
Call me crazy...but I am not going to raise bats.

Ya don't have to, silly....just find where they "hang out" and scoop it into a bucket! It is for this reason that the location of bat roosts - as they are known - is a closely guarded secret among gardners who are "in the know"....there are caves in Mexico where it is harvested commercially. I'm the "Lucky Dog" here, as I have about 150 bats that live in my attic and "hang out" along my chimney. Once a year I scoop up about a 5 gallon bucket of 100% bat guano! (and no, you can't smell it in the house)

Mel-
Maybe YOU cant smell it! Because you've become condidtioned to the smell but I would venture to say that others new to the smell would find the fresh smell shall we say...."intersting." LOL

All joking aside, since its had a full year to dry out it probably doesn't smell bad at all. But fresh bat poo does have an odor to it, where worm casting just smell "earthy". Actually, you're pretty lucky to have a never ending Bat Guano stash in your backyard.

 

[flgardengirl]

I was gonna take some pics of my blue birchen girl, Sassy, but she ran off in the woods with the turkeys! I found this the other day.
My turkeys are finally laying eggs!!

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

I am going to play Mythbuster on BYC today. Here we go......

Remember when - as a kid and you had been playing in the rain/mud or just jumping in mud puddles - people told you that "a chicken has a brain the size of a pea, but it has enough sense to come in out of the rain"? Well my chickens don't.

Next myth....ever heard of the phrase "madder than a wet hen"? Do these hens look mad?

 

[stoopid]

They look happy that they made you come outside with your camera!

 

[pinkchick]

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[math ace]

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This is Soooooo NOT marans realted, BUT I would KILL for some bat guano!
It is suppose to be the BOMB when it comes to poop!

 

[pinkchick]

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PRETTY BOY!!!!