Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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Cute Goat....is she one of those that runs a few feet and then falls over dead? What breed of sheep do I buy if I'm raising them strictly for meat?
Marans, Marans, Marans... Blu Copper. Black Copper & Wheaten Marans!

No she's not a fainting goat. I don't ever want one of those. She's a pygmy...a true one, with little short legs and solid frame. Don't be fooled by how petite she is....tryin to pick her up is like trying to pick up a keg of beer. haha
you're wanting meat sheep or meat goats?

meat sheep would be ones like Katahdin, Dorper, Leicester, Hampshire, Norfolk, Shropshire and the like. Oh...and I forgot my favorite one...the barbados blackbelly. I think they are pretty.
meat goats would be boer and kiko mainly... there are more, but those are the two most popular

You forgot the best one, Suffolk! I raised Suffolks for years, also Corriedales are a good dual purpose sheep. I've been wanting to get some sheep again myself. Too crippled up these days to do the shearing any more, so was looking at the Katahdins. The problems with the Hamps, Shrops, and some of the Leicesters is there are birthing problems, due to their huge roman type noses. The Barbados, I have found around here, are far too squirrely! We were training a young Border Collie some years ago with a small flock of them, and as soon as the dog gave them the "eye", those fool things jumped the cattle panels and ran off!

Those Babydoll Southdowns are cute, but they don't convert feed to body weight fast enough for me. Best rate of gain breed of sheep, is the Suffolk.

 

[snowbird]

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Kim, why not do a couple of test matings with these. One with lil'bill and one with the gnarles son. Just make sure the male you use has good shank and toe feathers

 

[txmel]

i dont post much on this thread but have been a lurker for a while. not sure how well they will adhere but have you thought of using butterfly bandaids to hold the wound closed? i know here you can find them in walmart in the first aide section. hope this is of some help and you little one pulls though
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yeah...I was wondering about that myself...where it has attached and stuck has been in the corners and looks like it was a little more closed this morning...I was just hoping if it were at least covered while it does its healing thing it would keep out infection and foreign matter.

I just really like her alot and she is doing so stinkin well...I'd hate to lose her after all she went through to an infection

 

[SD_Paulo]

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thanks! I do enjoy raising all the different colors of Marans I have here, but the birchens top that list by far. I see you've been edited to "grump" on the birchen comment, but I know what you mean

They are getting there...got some more work to do, but I enjoy the process.

When I read your comment of moving out of SD to find more land, I immediately thought South Dakota being from the midwest. I did a double take and checked your location, cause I was wondering who was filling up all the land in South Dakota that you had to move out of it to find more space haha

the pygmies are excellent pets for kids to learn responsibility with and they are efficient with use of space and their conversion of food.

LOL.....GRUMP? Not sure what I was thinking...maybe plump? Regardless, the BIRCHEN color is grump'

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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OMG!!! I

LOVE

your avatar! I just took pictures of one of my fertile chicken eggs and posted it to my facebook page just for grins. Your avatar pretty much fits with the comments I'm getting from my NON-poultry friends ....

 

[desertmarcy]

I've been mostly lurking here, but finally got around to taking some pics and downloading so I can post them.

This is my black copper cockerel, he's about 9 months old, I picked him out of 10 that I raised from hatching eggs:

Here he is again:

And here he is with his girls:

Only one of the hens has coppery on the neck, the rest all look solid black, far as I can see.

Here is a splash hen from Davis bloodline that I have in with my blacks:

And here are my blue coppers:

I had a really hard time with the blue hatching eggs that I bought, only ended up with this one boy and 3 girls. I've just put quite a few eggs of both the blacks and the blues in the incubator, so hopefully I'll have a lot to choose from this time around. Oh, and this chick was fromm my first hatch from the blues, is this what a splash chick will look like? Taken inside under fluorescents, so color is a bit off, but he/she is buff colored with the chipmunk stripe down the back:

I would love to get opinions on my birds, gentle critiques are welcome! Since I've just started with Marans, I know I have a lot to learn yet.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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I'd be MORE than happy to take your BCM cockerel off your hands and your Splash girl. I LOVE them.

 

[SD_Paulo]

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thanks! I do enjoy raising all the different colors of Marans I have here, but the birchens top that list by far. I see you've been edited to "grump" on the birchen comment, but I know what you mean

They are getting there...got some more work to do, but I enjoy the process.

When I read your comment of moving out of SD to find more land, I immediately thought South Dakota being from the midwest. I did a double take and checked your location, cause I was wondering who was filling up all the land in South Dakota that you had to move out of it to find more space haha

the pygmies are excellent pets for kids to learn responsibility with and they are efficient with use of space and their conversion of food.

LOL.....GRUMP? Not sure what I was thinking...maybe plump? Regardless, the BIRCHEN color is grump'

I GOT IT!
The forum mods or word filters swapped my original word for GRUMP. The word I used sounds like BIRCHEN..but you have to substitute the "R" for a "T". B-i-t-c-h-e-n-!!!!!!! LOL

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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I think that your Black Copper Cockerel looks very nice. Is his comb dis-colored, or just dirty? I have not seen that in a comb before. But I think your birds look very nice and I would love to have them!
Oh...and since I'm helping myself to your birds, I want that Royal Palm in your avatar

 

[txmel]

thanks my hubby found that for me

Quote:
OMG!!! I

LOVE

your avatar! I just took pictures of one of my fertile chicken eggs and posted it to my facebook page just for grins. Your avatar pretty much fits with the comments I'm getting from my NON-poultry friends ....