Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

He has very detailed instructions, 1-2 pp as I remember. A great read on dry hatching and how he stumbled into that method. Chookscick also has her page on dry incubating and details in sucessful use of the LG (need 2 : incubator and hatcher). Both well worth reading.

Maybe I'm not thinking about the same story? Was Worrell's the one where he was a boy hatching, and kept drowning the chicks, then an old timer came by to tell him about the dry hatch method? If that's the same one, it's somewhere here on BYC. I've got an LG too, that I keep as a backup unit. Does ok for drying off chicks, can't say much else about it goodwise!

 

[stoopid]

I always wondered why I hatched out more before I got the turner.
That's because I was constantly opening it to turn the eggs, I never even looked at humidity until I joined BYC!

 

[Debbi]

I always wondered why I hatched out more before I got the turner.
That's because I was constantly opening it to turn the eggs, I never even looked at humidity until I joined BYC!

Oh my! I see what you mean! Sometimes I think, the more you learn, the dumber you get! The last time I looked, none of the hens had a hygrometer hanging on their bellies!

ETA: When I used the word "you" above, I was referring to ME! Just so no one gets the wrong idea!

 

[gilavina]

Ok...here is the first round of chicker pics. I will start with my, um, surprises. These are from the same pen as Gigantor, Big Boy, and Genghis....but none of them are the papa of these tykes. I didn't even mention that I had a young cuckoo cockerel growing out in with them....well...lets just say, he's been busy! 7 babies are his! The bonus is that some of them have really nice feathering! I'm really hoping he stuck to the black or blue girls that are solids in there. If so, I'll be on my way





Here's a couple of loners so far. I only have one splash out of the hatcher yet, and the other is a blue cuckoo...we'll see how it turns out. Every once and a while I get a cuckoo with a bit of a rust colored fuzz, I have yet to see them come out with bad coloring, but we'll see



nice leg feathering...I just hate waiting for the yellow to go away on the legs from the yolk. This little splash is from my birchens....leg feathered birchen baby!!!

Here's some more birchens. I had to break them up into two groups. They wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get shots without them all spreading out.

group 1 - that turd in the front is not cross beaked...he has a piece of feed in his mouth and kept puttin it in his mouth and dropping it over and over...I caught him in action so he looks like a doof.


notice the leg feathering....on another birchen!!



group 2 birchens....almost all feather legged again. One has a couple of feathers on middle toes, but most of my birchen girls are clean legged, so can probably work with it, if they turn out ok



check out these birchen street sweepers!!!



I have three more surprises....marans/wyandotte crosses. They are super cute, but will not stay here. I have two with feathering, one without.


three from gigantor or big boy..... no fuzzy am. faces yet...

 

[Ayman-hazeb]

nice

 

[Arielle]

Oh my! I see what you mean! Sometimes I think, the more you learn, the dumber you get! The last time I looked, none of the hens had a hygrometer hanging on their bellies!

ETA: When I used the word "you" above, I was referring to ME! Just so no one gets the wrong idea!

KISS seems to often apply!

Once I started to say this to the new boss, a really nice guy, and fortunately wisedom stopped my mouth just before the last word.

We often make things harder than needs be. My broodies are off the nests everyday having a mini vaca. Rather shocking to see the first few times, when I think she should be on duty 24/7. Stroll, stretch, preen like she's at a spa.

 

[DMRippy]

Ok, just have to make my presence know

I am back from Newnan.... Came home with some Golden Cuckoo Marans eggs by accident.... 2 doz German NH eggs and 4 chicks too and Wheaten Am eggs and Partridge Rock eggs and 2 little Good Shepard Barred Rock roos. I think that was all I got..... OH a Blue Wheaten Am Roo too.

I put my eggs in lockdown yesterday... I still have some of Pinkchicks eggs in there too, but I don't have any real hope for them at this point. But they are not hurting anything so they stay till this hatch is over.

Raven1 Marans are still laying like crazy... I have tons of eggs for the new bator. They broke one today and started to devour it and in my rush to save the other 2 I dropped 1

so I looked to see if they were fertile and they still are... I have had them 14 days now and still fertile... the science project continues.

The new bator is up and running to get to temp. I don't think it is going to have any problem getting to temp or staying there. Tomorrow I will start to fill it..... SLOWLY.... I can't handle all the chicks hatching at one time. Not really sure I can handle it over several weeks either

But I need so many of these babies. I bet with the eggs I took to Newnan and didn't get to sell and the ones I was saving and the ones I am still collecting, I have over 12 doz eggs

I just can't do that many. AND I have 17 SLW eggs to be shipped on Tuesday.

 

[DMRippy]

Ok...here is the first round of chicker pics. I will start with my, um, surprises. These are from the same pen as Gigantor, Big Boy, and Genghis....but none of them are the papa of these tykes. I didn't even mention that I had a young cuckoo cockerel growing out in with them....well...lets just say, he's been busy! 7 babies are his! The bonus is that some of them have really nice feathering! I'm really hoping he stuck to the black or blue girls that are solids in there. If so, I'll be on my way





Here's a couple of loners so far. I only have one splash out of the hatcher yet, and the other is a blue cuckoo...we'll see how it turns out. Every once and a while I get a cuckoo with a bit of a rust colored fuzz, I have yet to see them come out with bad coloring, but we'll see



nice leg feathering...I just hate waiting for the yellow to go away on the legs from the yolk. This little splash is from my birchens....leg feathered birchen baby!!!

Here's some more birchens. I had to break them up into two groups. They wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get shots without them all spreading out.

group 1 - that turd in the front is not cross beaked...he has a piece of feed in his mouth and kept puttin it in his mouth and dropping it over and over...I caught him in action so he looks like a doof.


notice the leg feathering....on another birchen!!



group 2 birchens....almost all feather legged again. One has a couple of feathers on middle toes, but most of my birchen girls are clean legged, so can probably work with it, if they turn out ok



check out these birchen street sweepers!!!



I have three more surprises....marans/wyandotte crosses. They are super cute, but will not stay here. I have two with feathering, one without.


three from gigantor or big boy..... no fuzzy am. faces yet...

Too cute! I hope you get lots of good accidents! 40 chicks seems manageable to me now....

 

[gilavina]

Ok, just have to make my presence know

I am back from Newnan.... Came home with some Golden Cuckoo Marans eggs by accident.... 2 doz German NH eggs and 4 chicks too and Wheaten Am eggs and Partridge Rock eggs and 2 little Good Shepard Barred Rock roos. I think that was all I got..... OH a Blue Wheaten Am Roo too.

I put my eggs in lockdown yesterday... I still have some of Pinkchicks eggs in there too, but I don't have any real hope for them at this point. But they are not hurting anything so they stay till this hatch is over.

Raven1 Marans are still laying like crazy... I have tons of eggs for the new bator. They broke one today and started to devour it and in my rush to save the other 2 I dropped 1

so I looked to see if they were fertile and they still are... I have had them 14 days now and still fertile... the science project continues.

The new bator is up and running to get to temp. I don't think it is going to have any problem getting to temp or staying there. Tomorrow I will start to fill it..... SLOWLY.... I can't handle all the chicks hatching at one time. Not really sure I can handle it over several weeks either

But I need so many of these babies. I bet with the eggs I took to Newnan and didn't get to sell and the ones I was saving and the ones I am still collecting, I have over 12 doz eggs

I just can't do that many. AND I have 17 SLW eggs to be shipped on Tuesday.

holy crap Donna!! Good thing its you and not me organizing all those eggs to hatch! I can't organize my thoughts worth crap the last week or so.

 

[gilavina]

Too cute! I hope you get lots of good accidents! 40 chicks seems manageable to me now....

Haha...once I get goin in the season...the 40 isn't so bad...I'm just rusty! Good luck with the eggies!! How was Newnan? See lots of people you know from here or see lots of Marans?