Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[flgardengirl]

Debbie so sorry to hear about your little roo boy and what terrible luck on the showgirl eggs grrrr. I would be mad too. I hope you at least get a pair. I have some paints and lavs cooking now. If I get pairs, I will certainly be happy to send you some eggs once I get them laying I know they aren't showgirls but prob. will still be cute lol!

About the missing chickens: The thought of a 2 legged predator has been at the back of my mind too, especially since it was a trio that was taken all at once. Yesterday, I talked with some people near us and turns out someone saw something. I won't say much else, but yes, it is a 2 legged jackal that we are dealing with!!! Security measures are now in place on every inch of our property so they will get a surprise should they return for more (if they aren't tracked down first). I am glad most of our neighbors also have livestock and back each other up.



kowgirl: You can breed him but if you do you should breed him back to a silver based bird. Pure blues, blacks or a silver based cuckoo would work. I agree that you should post pics if you want a better evaluation on him. There might be a few other things you may need to look for in a mate for him as well and photos can help with that.
Breeding a bird with gold leakage back to a BCM will give you more birds with gold leakage I would suspect.

 

[pinkchick]

Debbi~ I am so sorry to read of Boo.

Flgarden~ I am very sorry to read of your losses as well.

It's so sad when we lose them.......how come they have to be so stinkin' loveable???????

 

[DMRippy]

Debbie so sorry to hear about your little roo boy and what terrible luck on the showgirl eggs grrrr. I would be mad too. I hope you at least get a pair. I have some paints and lavs cooking now. If I get pairs, I will certainly be happy to send you some eggs once I get them laying I know they aren't showgirls but prob. will still be cute lol!

About the missing chickens: The thought of a 2 legged predator has been at the back of my mind too, especially since it was a trio that was taken all at once. Yesterday, I talked with some people near us and turns out someone saw something. I won't say much else, but yes, it is a 2 legged jackal that we are dealing with!!! Security measures are now in place on every inch of our property so they will get a surprise should they return for more (if they aren't tracked down first). I am glad most of our neighbors also have livestock and back each other up.



kowgirl: You can breed him but if you do you should breed him back to a silver based bird. Pure blues, blacks or a silver based cuckoo would work. I agree that you should post pics if you want a better evaluation on him. There might be a few other things you may need to look for in a mate for him as well and photos can help with that.
Breeding a bird with gold leakage back to a BCM will give you more birds with gold leakage I would suspect.

It must be the time of year... someone on another thread I follow had her birds stolen too...... I need to take some security mesasures. We try not to let people come to the farm. I think that is one of the best things to do, not let people know you have chickens, especially nice ones. Sorry for your loss, I hope you get them back.

 

[pinkchick]

Kowgirl~ Hey Lady good to see ya popping around in here!!!! It's been a while since we chatted. Glad you are doing well. Oh and thanks for the kind words on about my Wellies. Yep I have Wellies too....I love them. I've actually had Wellies longer than I have had Marans....just haven't been very active with them since I had to put my beloved Rooster Odin down a few months ago. Happy Chooks sent me some beautiful hatching eggs and I now have a cute little pullet and 2 cockerels to grow out. I love her Wellie boy, Moose and am hoping for a good boy from him. She has pullets from my stock so crossing her Moose boy to those pullets should yield some very nice boys.

Okay....back to Marans.

The Birchens.....girl you need to post a photo of him!

You can't come around here and tease us with general descriptions........we are a VERY visual group 'round here.

Oh and I agree with Debbi and Flgarden about breeding him to a clean silver hen that does not show leakage....but even with his small amount of leakage you will most likely see some leakage in the offspring. I also agree with them wholeheartedly about not breeding him to a Black Coppers.....this will create lots of work to breed out the leakage that will happen with crossing in the copper/red.

 

[Debbi]

Debbie so sorry to hear about your little roo boy and what terrible luck on the showgirl eggs grrrr. I would be mad too. I hope you at least get a pair. I have some paints and lavs cooking now. If I get pairs, I will certainly be happy to send you some eggs once I get them laying I know they aren't showgirls but prob. will still be cute lol!

About the missing chickens: The thought of a 2 legged predator has been at the back of my mind too, especially since it was a trio that was taken all at once. Yesterday, I talked with some people near us and turns out someone saw something. I won't say much else, but yes, it is a 2 legged jackal that we are dealing with!!! Security measures are now in place on every inch of our property so they will get a surprise should they return for more (if they aren't tracked down first). I am glad most of our neighbors also have livestock and back each other up.



kowgirl: You can breed him but if you do you should breed him back to a silver based bird. Pure blues, blacks or a silver based cuckoo would work. I agree that you should post pics if you want a better evaluation on him. There might be a few other things you may need to look for in a mate for him as well and photos can help with that.
Breeding a bird with gold leakage back to a BCM will give you more birds with gold leakage I would suspect.

Yes, the two legged variety are the worst predators!! Who knows what they will come after next? I never let people come to my home when selling eggs or chicks, unless I know them. I meet them all in town in plain sight! Game Cams in the trees?? LOL! Hope you catch the turd!

I set the SG eggs just now, but won't get my hopes up too much. I let them rest overnight as some had loose air cells, one looked porous, and the rest looked ok from what I could see. I'll candle them on day 8 and see if anything is developing. I did write to the seller, and told her of the long, hard trip. She was so sorry, and offered me more eggs for the price of shipping if I don't see anything developing. I also told her about the hang-ups in the KC hub, and to make sure if she ships to the midwest in the future, that she ship them no later than Tuesday, with Monday being even better!! She was very cooperative, and grateful for the info. So, all is not lost. Who did you get your Paints from???? Bobbi? Bren?? I don't think I have the strength to deal with the Lavendars, I'm not impressed with the color too much, but the Paints I wouldn't mind having after awhile. You must show me some pics when they hatch!!! Good luck!

 

[Debbi]

Mornin' Pink! Where's Miss Vicki this pretty day???

 

[gilavina]

It must be the time of year... someone on another thread I follow had her birds stolen too...... I need to take some security mesasures. We try not to let people come to the farm. I think that is one of the best things to do, not let people know you have chickens, especially nice ones. Sorry for your loss, I hope you get them back.

That was my first instinct when I read Lenette's original post. I hate admitting it, but on and off throughout the years I've known lost of people that have had their farms robbed of top birds here in the midwest. In particular there is one guy we know that does it, but has never been actually caught in the act, hence the reason we have a big dog that's pretty intimidating for security and we are in close enough proximity to two houses that can see our pens and yard where I let birds out to roam that keep an eye on the place for me. For a while out in western NE there were people killing off cattle in fields and would bring enough guys to get them up and over a fence into a pickup....talk about premeditated. Also, not long ago there was an article in the paper about how semis hauling cattle are hiring armed guards when they are moving cattle to and from because there have been hold ups where entire rigs are stolen, same with pigs being stolen.

 

[Debbi]

Oooo! On a Marans note; my Wheaten eggs go into lockdown tomorrow!!!!!

I can't wait to see little Wheaties!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gilavina]

Mornin' Pink! Where's Miss Vicki this pretty day???

morning! I'm here....just been kind of in and out a lot today...have a bit of time before I go to work, so trying to get a few things done. I also had a poultry meeting on sunday that was almost 4 and a 1/2 hours for the club I'm the show secretary for. Its gonna be a ton of work, since the club laptop had been wiped of most of the info that was most current. I expected it under the circumstances, but am pretty well going to be starting from scratch and working on getting a club website up too. I'll get there....just another pile of stuff added onto the other stuff I'm already doing.

 

[gilavina]

Kowgirl~ Hey Lady good to see ya popping around in here!!!! It's been a while since we chatted. Glad you are doing well. Oh and thanks for the kind words on about my Wellies. Yep I have Wellies too....I love them. I've actually had Wellies longer than I have had Marans....just haven't been very active with them since I had to put my beloved Rooster Odin down a few months ago. Happy Chooks sent me some beautiful hatching eggs and I now have a cute little pullet and 2 cockerels to grow out. I love her Wellie boy, Moose and am hoping for a good boy from him. She has pullets from my stock so crossing her Moose boy to those pullets should yield some very nice boys.

Okay....back to Marans.

The Birchens.....girl you need to post a photo of him!

You can't come around here and tease us with general descriptions........we are a VERY visual group 'round here.

Oh and I agree with Debbi and Flgarden about breeding him to a clean silver hen that does not show leakage....but even with his small amount of leakage you will most likely see some leakage in the offspring. I also agree with them wholeheartedly about not breeding him to a Black Coppers.....this will create lots of work to breed out the leakage that will happen with crossing in the copper/red.

Agreed on not breeding to black coppers as well....and you will see leakage in the offspring for a while in your breedings even if breeding to pure silver girls. This is where you have to cull ruthlessly and especially on the boys....don't keep anything that has leakage and only use silver girls. Eventually you will get there...depending on your offspring and how many you hatch, it should only take a generation or two, to find some decent prospects.