Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Did these girls hear us when we said we didn't want to hatch chicks in the winter? LOL!! Now I would probably hatch the 'right chicks' meaning if I got something I really wanted to hatch right now, but I am going to choose the eggs not those silly girls haha. I think my plants and the chickens are all confused with the warm weather. My citrus are blooming.

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
haha I agree..I think this weather is throwing things off for sure! I really am excited about hatching from my individual pairings this year. I have been thinking about it quite a bit and how to most efficiently do that. I really do think this is going to be a good year despite the set backs!

 

[JazminesZoo]

Here are 6 of my chicks... I have 6 more but I thought this would be enuf for now !

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Thanks for any input !

 

[gilavina]

Hey Debbi and Kim and Donna...since I didn't get to take any good pics today because of the wind...I went back through and found the pics of Gigantor that I could find from as far back as I could. Its interesting to see how he's grown and changed and he's still a youngun' I find it particularly interesting to see how much of his over coloring he has lost on his chest and how much width he's developed in just the last couple of months.

about 2 1/2 to 3 months old

about 4 months or so

about 5 months

just from a few days ago...he's right around 8 months now and still has quite a ways to grow I think

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I'll try to PM you a write up of how I handle keeping track of who is who when I get a chance today. I'm just bundling up to go out and do chores finally.... yes...I'm having a bit of a lazy day today

Can I have that too? Since I have about 150 birds and some are very nice, I need to really keep up with what I am doing

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
I'll try to PM you a write up of how I handle keeping track of who is who when I get a chance today. I'm just bundling up to go out and do chores finally.... yes...I'm having a bit of a lazy day today

Can I have that too? Since I have about 150 birds and some are very nice, I need to really keep up with what I am doing

yeah, no problem...I'm just now sorting out how best to explain how I keep track. Some of it also depends upon what kind of mating you are wanting to do...like single matings or if you are keeping track of whole breeding pens or bloodlines and etc. I do both, and luckily I'm pretty organized so I can keep track, but it is alot of work, but does get easier the more you do it. like if someone mentions a color, I can probably tell you what bloodline, breeding group and other various details off the top of my head. My main focus is consistency in my tracking info...that makes all the difference for me

 

[Cadeau]

Thanks!

I'm hoping to do both pen matings and pair/trio breedings to figure out who is doing what.
Right now, I only have 1 trio house, so need to build a couple more before I can take much data...

Need to figure out how to test, so that I can find a reliable roo for my pens and then use the pair/trio houses to test others...

How many sets do you guys generally hatch before you can decide what a particular pairing produces?



As to the Splash girl - that's what some of the other posters here have surmised - that too many Splash to Splash breedings makes the near white girl.
I've never seen one so white, either - I was worried she was a "Sport", but she does have some very faint, tiny blue bits here and there.

 

[gilavina]

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haha how do I answer this nicely....really...it depends on how desperate I am and how much space I have ....

If I'm running just one or two matings...and thats all I have to work with, I'll do quite a few...like 20 to 30 chicks each, but if I'm doing say 5 girls from the same line to the same boy in individual matings I will to 10 t0 15 chicks each pairing. This will give me an good cross section. If one of the pairings leave me with questions, I may retest them. If some show me that they are a bad pairing, I will try the female on another male if I have it. Or if the determination is made that they produce birds that all have to be culled I know I need to look more carefully at what might be going on with that cross.

I guess I'm not phased by that light of a splash at all...I've commonly seen them in Wyandottes growing up. As long as there are visible black or blue feathers mixed in...even if you have to hunt for them, they are splash.

 

[Cadeau]

Thanks!
So one test hatch totaling @20 babies

That makes things a lot easier - I can gather, switch, hatch, gather, switch, hatch
and, as long as I take good notes, I should be able to look back and see who produced what - right??

That doesn't seem as hard as I was making it!!
Thanks for taking the time to write it out for me!


I think my Splash girl is very, very pretty - just wanted to be sure what she was!!
She's a funny, skittish girl who has a very distinct "boek boek"!

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
no problem. I know there are as many ways to keep records as their are people that raise poultry, but its what works for me and really does force me to slow down and learn the trends of a line and see them in a different way. If you have any more questions, let me know!
If you keep records like I explained, you can track who was from who along with following back through a line several generations by way of following the mating records you keep on each hatch and those specific birds that make the cut and etc if that makes sense?