Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[math ace]

Quote:
My husband built one a couple of years ago and built the layers to wide.
He re-built it this year, but STILL no residents.
We do have bats....We see them flying at dusk, but they aren't staying in the houses DH built for them...

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
HIYA!

Hey, those of you with Black Coppers, I'd love it for anyone that can to weigh in on the issue I popped into the Black Copper thread....I hear the crickets chirping over there....THANKS, friends!

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Quote:
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.

Maybe I should have clarified that my "attic" is not in such a way that you can walk up the stairs to the attic type of thing...It is more like "use a ladder to get up to the crawl space on the outside of the house. When I first found this bat guano I didn't realize it's value & just shoveled it out. Once I became savvy to it's use, I put a metal road sign down for the guano to accumulate on. It works great, and I have asked people who I know would be honest about any odor in the house & they don't smell anything. When I got my house the orignal owners had died of old age in it and it took a long time to get that "old folks" smell out of it, but with re-sealing the walls and then painting over the sealer, new windows & trim and burning lots of scented candles, it turned out pretty well for a log house that was built in 1903.

 

[slick4591]

Happy birthday, Mel! Nice looking place!

 

[stoopid]

Sorry, Wynette. I saw the post, But WISH I had that problem....F3.
Still working on F1 for now. Only just hatched? I'd wait and see, you know when they look great, and then turn color?
Maybe this hatch will be backwards. They will get the right color later.

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

Quote:
As my friend Elvis would say..."Thank-You...Thank-You Very Much"... (did ya' notice the Marans in the pic? Trying to keep things Marans related...it keeps the Mods happy and I don't get spanked...

)

 

[flgardengirl]

Math Ace: That sucks that no bats came to your bat houses. I hope I can get some. I have read you are supposed to place them in a certain way to give good warm temperature to the baby bats. I found this article...not sure what to do if you did all this and still no bats. They must have another better spot somewhere then lol.

http://www.batconservation.org/drupal/where_to_hang

Bat house directions
http://www.floridabats.org/

U of F bathouse stories.
http://chalkboard.blogs.gainesville.com/2009/08/uf-bat-house-collapses-sends-bats-fleeing/
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/wildlife_uf/bathouse.php

 

[shesaredroan]

Quote:
HIYA!

Hey, those of you with Black Coppers, I'd love it for anyone that can to weigh in on the issue I popped into the Black Copper thread....I hear the crickets chirping over there....THANKS, friends!

Wynette, glad you're hearing crickets chirping rather than grasshoppers chomping, this past summer the hoppers came in biblical proportions and ate everything. Now all our shrubs, bushes, pastures are nothing but sticks and nubs. At least my flock had fun chasing and eating some of the marauders.
I responded to your message over on the BCM thread.
Hope all is well with you and yours.

 

[lildinkem]

I have about half dozen of my Marans left. Culled heavy.
Still my best Birchen Marans cock

Bruno

My best BCM hen. The only one I am using this year

 

[Keara]

Eggs darkening as the hen starts to lay.

I have heard many folks say to wait and see if a hens eggs get darker.

]
Here as an example are the first 3 eggs (right to left) of a BCM hen I hatched from Wynettes eggs.