Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

morning all. Just setting up a brooder for the new babies I'm gonna take out of the hatcher. I always get so excited, I just can't help it! Not lets hope I can move fast enough putting them in their dividers to keep from getting them mixed up! haha

 

[gilavina]

Alright, emptied the hatcher of all but 2 fuzzies drying off. Here's the count so far:
(out of 71 eggs)

12 eggs are still in the incubator
13 birchen chicks (4 or 5 splashes included this time)
16 chicks from Gigantor and Big Boy's girls
30 chicks from the pen with my alternate BCM roo and most of my best b/b/s copper hens.

I'm very happy with the results so far and am holding out hope to get a few more chicks out of those last dozen

They are busy stuffing their faces and drinking, but I'll get some pics of them in a bit when they've settled down some. I was having a hard time keeping them contained in their dividers since they are so lively! Right now I'm sitting at an 83% hatch rate if those remaining eggs don't hatch. Not too shabby for Marans!

 

[flgardengirl]

Congrats on your new babies!

My BCM broody has 2 silver sussex chicks running around in the nest box this morning. I can't get in there to look for any others lest she takes a finger off...she is a finger eating zombie lol. She also has some silkie eggs and a guinea egg in there with her. I didn't even know what the Silver Sussex chicks were supposed to look like lol, and had to google it. I took some pics but am having trouble uploading them because our stupid cable box keeps going on and off again today grrrr.

My paint and lav silkie eggs go into lockdown tomorrow and the silver marans and cuckoo marans go into lockdown the day after that. I just happen to have a broody buff orp hen (the fluffy buffinator bator lol). She just went broody a few days ago so I am debating on whether to slip chicks under her or not once they hatch

 

[gilavina]

Congrats on your new babies!

My BCM broody has 2 silver sussex chicks running around in the nest box this morning. I can't get in there to look for any others lest she takes a finger off...she is a finger eating zombie lol. She also has some silkie eggs and a guinea egg in there with her. I didn't even know what the Silver Sussex chicks were supposed to look like lol, and had to google it. I took some pics but am having trouble uploading them because our stupid cable box keeps going on and off again today grrrr.

My paint and lav silkie eggs go into lockdown tomorrow and the silver marans and cuckoo marans go into lockdown the day after that. I just happen to have a broody buff orp hen (the fluffy buffinator bator lol). She just went broody a few days ago so I am debating on whether to slip chicks under her or not once they hatch

nice! You've got lots of activity going on over there then too! The chicks are settling down slowly over here. They are just so stinking lively...which I'm grateful for.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I'm a pretty novice chicken person and have a question for you... are Marans really much bigger than other varieties; are my BCM babies gargantuan, or are the new baby Welsummers I just got runts??? My BCM's were hatched on Feb 1st and I got them when they were 3 weeks old. Just looking at them they compare nearly in size to my adult Red Stars. Today I picked up two Welsummer pullets supposedly 8 weeks old, and they are barely one-third the size of the BCM's. The BCM's are normally pretty flighty and scaredy-cat, and at first ran from the Welsummers, but once they (finally) realized how much bigger they were I think they took it as license to peck at the young ones. So, now I have the Welsummers caged inside the run to protect them from the BCM's. The guy I got them from said these babies were free-ranged since one month old and he would only give them a little food in the evenings (they do act starved, they IMMEDIATELY headed for the food and ate til their little crops were bulging). Sorry it's not a great picture, but it gives some idea of the size difference. I just can't believe there's only a month difference in their ages!

 

[pinkchick]

I'm a pretty novice chicken person and have a question for you... are Marans really much bigger than other varieties; are my BCM babies gargantuan, or are the new baby Welsummers I just got runts??? My BCM's were hatched on Feb 1st and I got them when they were 3 weeks old. Just looking at them they compare nearly in size to my adult Red Stars. Today I picked up two Welsummer pullets supposedly 8 weeks old, and they are barely one-third the size of the BCM's. The BCM's are normally pretty flighty and scaredy-cat, and at first ran from the Welsummers, but once they (finally) realized how much bigger they were I think they took it as license to peck at the young ones. So, now I have the Welsummers caged inside the run to protect them from the BCM's. The guy I got them from said these babies were free-ranged since one month old and he would only give them a little food in the evenings (they do act starved, they IMMEDIATELY headed for the food and ate til their little crops were bulging). Sorry it's not a great picture, but it gives some idea of the size difference. I just can't believe there's only a month difference in their ages!

Hi! Welcome to the Marans thread! Your Wellie chicks at 8 weeks old are probably right on track or very close to being right on track, soon you should see them starting to bulk up. They do not grow at the same rate as the Marans and if the Marans were the same age you would still see a sizeable difference between the 2 breeds. In my opinion I would leave free choice food out for them so they can eat when ever they want to.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Christie -

sending a hug your way. Would LOVE to share a glass of wine with you in Hawaii .... <sigh>

Debbi - I'd like to join you in Greece/Italy.

And congratulations on the showgirls. That IS good news!! (And your own Silkies, of course.)

Also, just wanted to let y'all know I may be producing silkied BCMs soon. My young Elliot is ambitious, apparently, and my Marans, it seems, are loose.

(At least he's getting a chance to practice!)

(23 lavender Ameraucanas loaded in the incubator today .... just can't stop the hatching. I was wandering around my house the past couple of weeks actually missing the purring sound of the Brinsea humidity pump so I re-loaded!)

 

[pinkchick]

ChickChick~ I forgot to mention that the 2 breeds should be just fine together...they will work out their differences, even at this young age they are establishing a pecking order. If you notice someone being vicious then I would remove the offender.

 

[pinkchick]

Hi Everyone!

Congrats on all the good news about the eggies in the bators and hatchers! Sounds great!


Hope everyone is doing okay and to those that are not feeling well I am sending get better very soon vibes to you all.



Little bad news here.....my dog killed my one and only Birchen pullet that showed Silver yesterday. I'm crushed.....now I have this rooster and no hens to breed to him except a pullet that is suppose to be silver, but is copper instead.

6 mos. down the drain.

On the flip side I have decided not to get chicks from Tom Culpepper and purchase Ecoglow brooders instead. I can't wait to see the savings in my power bill as they only use 18 watts vs. the 250 watt and 150 watt lamps.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Thanks for the quick answers on those Wellie babies, pinkchick. They weren't getting bullied too bad, but since it's pouring down rain here and I don't feel like standing outside to keep an eye on them, I just put them in the cage (with it's door propped open enough so they can get in and out but the lardbutt BCM's can't), and will try tomorrow to do a better introduction. I'm just scared that with the huge size difference that the Welsummers wouldn't have a chance if things got viscious. Right now the wee babies are in their cage sleeping off their breakfast, but around these parts EVERYONE always has plenty to eat (although you'd think none of the critters had eaten in MONTHS when treat time arrives!).