Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

pics are coming Debbi! just loading them now!

 

[gilavina]

Ok...here's the stinkers out of Gigantor and Big Boy. There were 8 from that pen that didn't have any cuckoo markings, and based on how they are growing out they look a lot like their papas when they were young. They are 2 1/2 weeks today. I gotta emphasize the fact that they are butterballs!

Ok...the first two....and blues. Cockerels are what I'm going with. If I had to guess I would say they are out of Big Boy...but we'll see as they grow. One of my main clues is that Big Boy is a splash and has a paler slate leg color that looked totally flesh colored when he was young like this...so I'm hoping they will darken up a bit, only time will tell



The other 2 blues from this pen's hatch. I'm going with pullets. These feathered in waay before any of the others and have thinner shanks, so I'm holding out hope!



Here's the blue girl on the left from above, check out the lacing already coming in! And bonus...all have really nice clean combs...so far

the next two are black cockerels I believe. It is possible one of them might be a really dark blue...still waiting to see how the feathering continues to come in



don't let that one squatting down in that last photo fool ya...he's the beefiest of them all. Little lead weight turd. He might kinda be my fave! He hangs out perched on my hand or shoulder a lot while I work on stuff. Comb's lookin nice so far!



here's the other boy in that pairing....love how wide they all stand even at this age. They all have on size 7 spiral bands already.

Last 2....a cockerel on the left and a pullet on the right is my guess. I could be wrong on them, but the one on the right was the first to feather out their wings and start getting a tail....also the biggest chick in the lot of 33. See the copper spot above the left eye on the right one. Anyone else have that? They were born with it.



and the last photo...a side view of the right one...just huge!

 

[Arielle]

To all those chicken loving, stew loving cooks, how much meat is on a marans? ANd does anyone select for the meat qualities? Having raised a few broad breasted turkeys, nothing is as meaty, so I'm at a loss about the meatiness of the marans.

 

[gilavina]

To all those chicken loving, stew loving cooks, how much meat is on a marans? ANd does anyone select for the meat qualities? Having raised a few broad breasted turkeys, nothing is as meaty, so I'm at a loss about the meatiness of the marans.

I don't know about anyone else on here, but I select my Marans for their width and heft, so now that I'm a couple years into it, the boys have some nice meat on them when processed. I don't weigh them, but when I process the first lot of culls at about 16 weeks or so, they average about 4 lbs give or take I'd say, which is great for that age. Others I leave longer and use as roasters or etc are 6lbs or so I'd say. I don't tend to keep many boys around I'm not real serious about much past 6 months...so I can't really tell ya too much about them past what I have.

 

[Debbi]

Cute little, big biggers! Just a suggestion, but I would mark the blue pullet as a possible carnation comb. At 2.5 weeks, it's almost impossible to tell anything in the cockerels, let alone the pullets; but I see something there in the pic I've seen before! It's the pullet with the top shot I'm talking about. I sure hope I'm wrong here in my seeings...

 

[gilavina]

Cute little, big biggers! Just a suggestion, but I would mark the blue pullet as a possible carnation comb. At 2.5 weeks, it's almost impossible to tell anything in the cockerels, let alone the pullets; but I see something there in the pic I've seen before! It's the pullet with the top shot I'm talking about. I sure hope I'm wrong here in my seeings...

I've checked them all over really carefully and all I found when I was taking pics of her was just the leader...I'll see if I can snag her up again and see if I can get another shot that isn't blurry from holding her and trying to take a shot of her

 

[gilavina]

Ok...here is three of the non fuzzy photos I could get. I love the how the photos progress...calm, telling me off and finally havin to hold her still. Looks clean to me so far.

 

[Spitman]

Quoteeru , It was awesome , this is my second year going there to feed and minister to the peruvian people . We are involved with a street ministry that finally after 3 years we can go into the worst areas were there is massive Drug use , theft , murder , prostitution , adult and Child , and love them . It's simple food , bread , and giving them time , consistantly feeding them 3 times a week and praying with them . Its working , the safe house is now holding 36 men from ages 14 to 50 years of age. The first day we got to go and feed and pray with them another young man decided to come and live at the safe house. On a sad note , there was also a 17 year old girl that let us pray for her and then about 30 min. later came back to the area and asked us if we had a place for her she wanted out . But there is no place yet for the girls , It broke my hart , they are looking at property but need more funding hopefully within the next month they will also have a place for the woman as well . Anyway thats not why i got on but you asked LOL . Here are some pictures of my marans I think they are birchen except the one pullet with the copper showing in the neck would she be a BCM then ? Any feed back would be awesome also they6 are only 5 1/2 weeks not 8 . I will post them in a min

 

[Debbi]

I've checked them all over really carefully and all I found when I was taking pics of her was just the leader...I'll see if I can snag her up again and see if I can get another shot that isn't blurry from holding her and trying to take a shot of her

Vicki ~ I sure hope you know I didn't mean to rain on your parade!? They are lovely babies, but that one needs a closer look. All of the pullets/hens I have here with the funky combs started out the way that one looks in the pic. May be just my old eyes and monitor, yeh, let's blame it on my monitor and not my eyes! Just mark her some way and watch her. It really should be too early to tell anything.

 

[gilavina]

Vicki ~ I sure hope you know I didn't mean to rain on your parade!? They are lovely babies, but that one needs a closer look. All of the pullets/hens I have here with the funky combs started out the way that one looks in the pic. May be just my old eyes and monitor, yeh, let's blame it on my monitor and not my eyes! Just mark her some way and watch her. It really should be too early to tell anything.

I have a feeling it was the angle I took the photo at...but I did post some more pics above for ya to look at