Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

That is a turkey egg. We have a pair of broad breasted bronze turkey hens that started laying right around Thanksgiving lol. I think they were trying to get out of being eaten lol. It worked...plus they follow us around like puppy dogs and are way too sweet to send to freezer camp so now I'm keeping them. I just gotta find them a Tom turkey in the spring. Dh was playing turkey gobble calls on his cell phone that he downloaded and those two hens ran right over were trying to get romantic with him LOL! Then one spotted a blue copper Marans rooster next to dh's lawn chair and ran over to romance him. That rooster didn't know what to do with this giant turkey squatting and purring at him. He tried to run away and she went chasing him lololol. Now whenever she sees him she tries to run over to him and the roo runs away. Its pretty funny. I am gonna try and find a slate blue turkey male for them.

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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Lady, I loved your plant video

...How close are you to Daytona Beach?

 

[flgardengirl]

Thank you. I think we are about 100 miles from Daytona here.

 

[slick4591]

Looks kinda dead in here tonight. Took the camera out to the pen and got some PICS of my girls so I thought I'd throw 'em out here.

Yes, I know the blue has nothing but fuzz on her shanks.

There's that dreaded "sparse" shank feathering. lol

 

[Chinchilla2]

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This Red Rock is over in the middle of Texas so no elk. Got a couple of cougars running around and plenty of possums and dillos you can hunt tho

The egg blowing trick is actually complements of a brief stint doing egg art. When you blow out 4-5 dozen eggs in one sitting, you either look like a smurf or you find an easier way to get the job done. In my case, a thin floral wire folded in half to make a "loop" along with a large bore needle stuck on the end of some aquarium tubing saved my DH from busting a gut finding me passed out on the kitchen floor.

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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Dude, sparse feathering should be the least of your worries...You can breed them to a Roo with heavy shank feathering and have offspring that you are very happy with...

 

[Mountain Mel 22]

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This Red Rock is over in the middle of Texas so no elk. Got a couple of cougars running around and plenty of possums and dillos you can hunt tho

The egg blowing trick is actually complements of a brief stint doing egg art. When you blow out 4-5 dozen eggs in one sitting, you either look like a smurf or you find an easier way to get the job done. In my case, a thin floral wire folded in half to make a "loop" along with a large bore needle stuck on the end of some aquarium tubing saved my DH from busting a gut finding me passed out on the kitchen floor.

Eggcelent!

 

[aceschix]

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[pinkchick]

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In most cases this is true, but I have seen some birds start out laying pretty light and the longer they lay, their eggs get a little darker.("longer" being like over a couple to few weeks....not longer as in over several months of lay) That said, I also have noticed in my birds, the birds that start out laying light, (but still a Marans egg) may lay a few darker decent eggs during her lay cycle but always revert back or near close to their less desired original color. I want birds that can lay nicely colored eggs from start to finish or as close as they can throughout their lay cycle.
Oh and I will use a girl that lays lighter (not lighter than a #4 though) for breeding if she have something else of good quality that they can lend to the next generation.

About egg color... what is the thought on spotted eggs? I have a Black Copper hen who's eggs are medium to dark and are always spotted. Similar to my Barnevelder eggs. I am thinking I do not want to pass that on...? Thoughts?

I love the speckly eggds .....they are some of my favorites

but agrea with flgarden about them having to be atleast a speckly #4, if they are.....GOod to go!!!!!!!

 

[gilavina]

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About egg color... what is the thought on spotted eggs? I have a Black Copper hen who's eggs are medium to dark and are always spotted. Similar to my Barnevelder eggs. I am thinking I do not want to pass that on...? Thoughts?

I love the speckly eggds .....they are some of my favorites

but agrea with flgarden about them having to be atleast a speckly #4, if they are.....GOod to go!!!!!!!

seriously Kim...you are crackin me up with your spelling and "artistic" use of the space bar

by the way....that little Bantam BCM girl of mine is healing up well...she still has a ways to go, but the hole in the back of her neck is definitely smaller! I'm starting to breathe a little easier now. She is having "freerange time" good thing I don't have carpet.