Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Blarneyeggs]

Chicken curious, I did speak with my neighbor, he told me they are white, well, actually I am down to one. 2 of the chicks hatched at m son's school died the morning after they came home. One was a white Marans, one was an English Orp. No distress, no hunching over, running around peeping, then gone - within an hour. This prompted me to put them all with my broody and keep them away from little hands.

 

[DMRippy]

Donna
My little immigrant babies are hatching!!!


I know there is at least one Marans Baby has feathered legs!
**** they are cute!
More are hatching now.

Look at those groceries! My groceries never look like that! I would shop more often if they did! How are you going to keep them separated? The ones with spots what are they? Cuckoos or Olive Eggers? I have some barred pullets in the Olive Egger pen, so they could be sex linked Olive eggers..... hum we are going to have to guess what is what.... the chipmunk is an EE ????

I don't remember what I gave you.... Blue and Black Coppers, Blue and Reg Cuckoos, Olive Egger..... Ameraucana.... EE???? IDK

 

[gilavina]

Thanks, Pink!

You're totally right! They started laying in the last few weeks and the tinge of white wasn't there last cull (@5wks ago)
Wouldn't that be lovely, if it disappeared again!

That said - what IS it??
I guess I can always test mate and see if the offspring get it...??....

I sure hope that's what it is. I didn't remember ever seeing it when we were looking at your photos.

 

[gilavina]

Got my second birchen egg today. Its a bit darker and a tiny bit bigger (in back). There's still lots of dark dots, esp on the top, so I'm hoping they might still get darker!

 

[desertmarcy]

I read something interesting the other day on the Silkie thread, and it may very well apply here too. A breeder from Belgium states that the Silkies, and supposedly other breeds, can be sexed by the curve of their upper beak. The more rounded the arc or a curve, it's a male. The straighter the beak, female. I am going to see if that's the case with this hatch of Silkies, and if I ever get any Marans to hatch, will try it with them too. Anyone ever heard of this, or tried it??

I had a guy with a strong poultry background--grew up in a family that raised a lot of chickens and he and his wife still do raise chickens--come out to my place, helped me go through my birds and gave me a lot of tips for sexing. I traded him chicks for his time and expertise, which was fine with me since I was overloaded with chicks. He looks at the beak as one clue to figuring out their sex. He was looking at the beak in relationship to the front of the head. The females supposedly have a straight line, so as you look at them from a side view, it is continuous with no dips. In the males, there is a bit of a dip, right at the forehead, I guess you could interpret that to mean curve. That being said, he was not at all familiar with Russian Orloffs, told me 4 or 5 of my almost 20 month old pullets were males--I moved them into the male pen and about a week after that, moved them right back again! And I have Orloff/Ameraucana crosses, at least 3 of those that he sexed and said female turned out to be male, (culled and confirmed when I processed them), plus a black copper Marans that he said was female turned out to be male. So even the people who are said to be experts at sexing don't have it all right.

 

[Cadeau]

I sure hope that's what it is. I didn't remember ever seeing it when we were looking at your photos.

Remember when I found it on that super nice cockerel and was totally bummed??

I looked everyone else over with a fine toothed comb and noone had even a hint of white.

Unfortunately, I sent that cockerel to freezer camp, so I'll just put the pullet in the layer pen and see if it disappears...

think single mating is okay or just take her out of the equation???

 

[Debbi]

Pink, anything happening?

Debbi, what about yours?

I found another bad egg. So I didn't even candle it, it was ozzing and smelled. So it was not going in my hatcher

Nope, nothing here yet..

 

[gilavina]

Kim, I blame you....you know what for! They're coming soon! Can't wait to see pics of yours when you get them!

 

[Debbi]

Kim, I blame you....you know what for! They're coming soon! Can't wait to see pics of yours when you get them!

Kim must have very long arms to be able to reach all the way to NE, to twist yours, eh??

 

[gilavina]

Kim must have very long arms to be able to reach all the way to NE, to twist yours, eh??

hahaha...I think my arm snapped off! hahah nah....it wasn't hard at all! haha I'll try to pm you....I'll see if I can show you