Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Vicki~ I would love to see the BLRW girls....my Splash BLR girl is my favorite.

eta: My Blue Laced Red girl that just hatched out those Marans chicks a few weeks ago started laying again about a week ago...she has given me 3 lovely little eggies.

Also got another Marans egg yesterday so hopefully they are all picking up again. If only the Barnevelders would follow suit as well.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
I dont have any BLR at the moment...but will in the spring. I sold the last one to a friend for her laying flock as I had to thin down for the winter and had no cockerel to go with them. She said when she grows up some more, she would be willing to trade her back to me for another layer for her pen if she turns out well. She was my favorite and kept her the longest, but with all the younguns growing out I needed the space for sure. Next spring should mark the arrival of black, BLR, and silver penciled wyandottes and those chicks we both are getting! I'm so excited. I am so stinking excited and cannot wait for spring. did I mention I was excited?

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I dont have any BLR at the moment...but will in the spring. I sold the last one to a friend for her laying flock as I had to thin down for the winter and had no cockerel to go with them. She said when she grows up some more, she would be willing to trade her back to me for another layer for her pen if she turns out well. She was my favorite and kept her the longest, but with all the younguns growing out I needed the space for sure. Next spring should mark the arrival of black, BLR, and silver penciled wyandottes and those chicks we both are getting! I'm so excited. I am so stinking excited and cannot wait for spring. did I mention I was excited?

LOL! I know you are excited about spring! I am too! I have been thinking non-stop about those new chicks that are coming. I have been re-arranging pens and birds to make room for a Birchen Only pen.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
I dont have any BLR at the moment...but will in the spring. I sold the last one to a friend for her laying flock as I had to thin down for the winter and had no cockerel to go with them. She said when she grows up some more, she would be willing to trade her back to me for another layer for her pen if she turns out well. She was my favorite and kept her the longest, but with all the younguns growing out I needed the space for sure. Next spring should mark the arrival of black, BLR, and silver penciled wyandottes and those chicks we both are getting! I'm so excited. I am so stinking excited and cannot wait for spring. did I mention I was excited?

LOL! I know you are excited about spring! I am too! I have been thinking non-stop about those new chicks that are coming. I have been re-arranging pens and birds to make room for a Birchen Only pen.

Same here! I'm also awaiting pics too....I think its going to be a really good year. I'm glad you are rearranging in prep for the birchen project!! I'm excited about building my new pens this next spring too. I've been refining my plans on them a bit here and there to make them better and think that they should assemble fairly easily...only thing is that I should have asked for a new drill for christmas....that would have come in handy! haha All said and done I should gain about 13 new sizable breeding pens and some individual pairing pens as well as raised chick grow out hutches too. That will significantly help me with my organization and keeping my varieities happy

 

[pinkchick]

Sounds like you are going to be busy!

Hope you have some help with all that work.

If you lived closer my shop would be open for you to use any tool you would ever need.....DH laughs everytime I call the shop....."the hardware store"....for crying out loud everything I ever need is in there.

After 30 years of being a general contractor my DH has quite the collection of sh-tuff, it's a chicken addicted wifes dream in there, there's always something to build for the chooks.

I have a 8"x 16" pen that DH and I started building summer before last and finished last summer, I am going to divide it into 2 smaller coop areas so that I can have 2 cockerels and a few girls in with each cockerel....well that's my plan anyway.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
yeah I'm gonna be busy and a half. I'm gonna start work on the hutches in the garage while its so cold and move them down to their homes as I finish them off. I do have some occasional help, but most of it will be on my own....my mom is good at hammering in nails and holding things while I secure them and such, but I just don't want her working too hard. My uncle is around too from time to time. He rewired the whole barn for me this last summer and its been amazing. My oldest brother also comes occasionally to help and my neighbor runs his own landscaping company, so he'll level out the ground just right for me and then be bringing in loads of gravel/sand/rock to build a nice base for the pens and a nice path bed down so I can put down pavers. This way I can wheel my dad's wheelchair down there and he can enjoy the animals more.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
yeah I'm gonna be busy and a half. I'm gonna start work on the hutches in the garage while its so cold and move them down to their homes as I finish them off. I do have some occasional help, but most of it will be on my own....my mom is good at hammering in nails and holding things while I secure them and such, but I just don't want her working too hard. My uncle is around too from time to time. He rewired the whole barn for me this last summer and its been amazing. My oldest brother also comes occasionally to help and my neighbor runs his own landscaping company, so he'll level out the ground just right for me and then be bringing in loads of gravel/sand/rock to build a nice base for the pens and a nice path bed down so I can put down pavers. This way I can wheel my dad's wheelchair down there and he can enjoy the animals more.

Sounds like you have it all worked out and I love that you are installing pavers for your dad.....that will be AWESOME for him to be able to visit them chooks! He will love it for sure! You are a good daughter!

 

[DMRippy]

Pinkchick... I am going to try and sex my FBCM chickies.... some have 1 row of feathers and some 2 rows. So I wanted to double check with you, I think you said that the ones with 1 row were pullets and 2 rows roos? Is that right? This is just a test. I was told through another person that the guy I bought my Marans from could sex them at hatch. Might explain why I got 6 roos

and since you breed that way... maybe I can have some that are feather sexable

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
yeah I'm gonna be busy and a half. I'm gonna start work on the hutches in the garage while its so cold and move them down to their homes as I finish them off. I do have some occasional help, but most of it will be on my own....my mom is good at hammering in nails and holding things while I secure them and such, but I just don't want her working too hard. My uncle is around too from time to time. He rewired the whole barn for me this last summer and its been amazing. My oldest brother also comes occasionally to help and my neighbor runs his own landscaping company, so he'll level out the ground just right for me and then be bringing in loads of gravel/sand/rock to build a nice base for the pens and a nice path bed down so I can put down pavers. This way I can wheel my dad's wheelchair down there and he can enjoy the animals more.

Sounds like you have it all worked out and I love that you are installing pavers for your dad.....that will be AWESOME for him to be able to visit them chooks! He will love it for sure! You are a good daughter!

haha sometimes I don't feel like it...sometimes he drives me nuts! What is it about getting older that makes him so crabby and bossy? That's what I wonder all the time haha

 

[Debbi]

Vicki ~ Don't forget to take some pics of Gigantor!!!