Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Stupid smileys!




Okay.......I'm over it!!!!! Just not going to try and post any more of them. LOL!

 

[marquisella]

I need help!!!

I have a whole coop of egg eaters.

All winter They were fine, and as soon as the weather got nice, the eggs started to disappear. I find a few pieces of egg shell, but not much else. I threw golf balls in their feed dishes and they all jumped in & tried to eat them. Eventhe rooster, he stayed after the hens gave up & kept trying to peck at them...For a day or so, I did find a few eggs, but then nothing again.
I'm at my witts end here. They are fed a 21% feed and have an outside pen with grass etc.

Any suggestions?

 

[pinkchick]

Finally......and I have been waiting a long time....got a Black Copper from Bill Sr.'s lineage...from Lil Bill and one of my oldest Blue Copper F1 daughters of Bill's, #96.
I haven't hatched out a Black Copper with feathed shanks and toes from Bill's blood since Jr. and I should have never culled that cockerel. One of those times were I was too impatient and didn't grow a bird out past 6-7 mos. of age to see what they would be like as adults. After growing out several more of Bill's kids and seeing how they mature.......I should have never culled Jr.
Everything I have been hatching from these above metioned matings have either been Blue or Splash or clean legged.
Anyway....couldn't be more excited to have this little Black Copper. Please be a cockerel. Please be a cockerel!

This is the other little Black Copper from my only Black Copper pullet and Lil' Bill.
Love the shank and outer toe feathering that both of these chicks have going on.

 

[pinkchick]

I need help!!!

I have a whole coop of egg eaters.

All winter They were fine, and as soon as the weather got nice, the eggs started to disappear. I find a few pieces of egg shell, but not much else. I threw golf balls in their feed dishes and they all jumped in & tried to eat them. Eventhe rooster, he stayed after the hens gave up & kept trying to peck at them...For a day or so, I did find a few eggs, but then nothing again.
I'm at my witts end here. They are fed a 21% feed and have an outside pen with grass etc.

Any suggestions?

Hi Sue!
That is terrible! Sorry to hear of this! Bad Chickens!!!!

Have you tried hanging a cabbage or something in the coop for them to peck at or to keep them distracted? Maybe up their protien even more...to say like 23%, but not over that and not for an extended period of time, maybe like a week or so...their little bodies can't handle protien content much higher than that, nor can their systems handle it for a long time.
Can they be let loose, like out to range?

Or perhaps one bad chook taught everyone else how to be bad. I had that happen once and I had to identify who was the first to always go after an egg and start the frenzy. I had to sacrifice some eggs but it was worth it. I would put and egg from the day before in the nest box or just on the floor of the coop and leave the coop. I would stand watching with the door cracked so they couldn't see me watching.....stealth chicken watching, everyone must try it. LOL! Anyway.....sure enough...one of my oldest Delaware girls came in and started the whole thing everytime. I removed her and it all stopped. Haven't had that problem now in a long time.

 

[Elie mea]

I am new to this tread I have two black copper maran roosters and 10 hens the roosters belong to my two children. Does the heat bother them more than other chickens?

 

[marquisella]

Hi Sue!
That is terrible! Sorry to hear of this! Bad Chickens!!!!

Have you tried hanging a cabbage or something in the coop for them to peck at or to keep them distracted? Maybe up their protien even more...to say like 23%, but not over that and not for an extended period of time, maybe like a week or so...their little bodies can't handle protien content much higher than that, nor can their systems handle it for a long time.
Can they be let loose, like out to range?

Or perhaps one bad chook taught everyone else how to be bad. I had that happen once and I had to identify who was the first to always go after an egg and start the frenzy. I had to sacrifice some eggs but it was worth it. I would put and egg from the day before in the nest box or just on the floor of the coop and leave the coop. I would stand watching with the door cracked so they couldn't see me watching.....stealth chicken watching, everyone must try it. LOL! Anyway.....sure enough...one of my oldest Delaware girls came in and started the whole thing everytime. I removed her and it all stopped. Haven't had that problem now in a long time.

They have a large grassy yard with 24/7 access. I have soy I could grind up & add to their feed. I tried blowing out eggs & putting in salt mixed with mustard that Bev suggested, so I'll see how that works today...its maddening....I might have to invest in a trap nest I guess if they don't stop...

 

[laughingclown]

I'll take that first boy photo'd off your hands for ya!

Yeah out of all the roos I have he is my favorite. Trying not to get to attached because I want my flock to be as good as I can get. Out of all the birds I have he is the sweetest. Love to be held. He is a lap chicken lol.

 

[pinkchick]

Sue~ I have heard of the salt and mustard trick and have heard folks have had some good success with it. Hope it works for you today. Let us know how it goes. I hope you are able to get them to stop this behavior. Few things in chickendom are as frustrating as egg eaters.

 

[Debbi]

Morning all

Late start here today, didn't sleep worth a hoot last night.

LOVE that Birchen boy Vicki!!! I'm like Donna, quit showing those pics!!

So far this morning, I have one pip in the bator, and of course, it's one of my eggs.

Still haven't got that sinking feeling yet in my gut, so will hold out hope for the Wheatens are few more days, or until they start stinking.

Sue, I had someone in my coop eating eggs too. I found with mine it was because one of the girls' eggs kept breaking when she laid it. That seemed to attract all of them over to a feeding frenzy! Put some padding in the bottom of the nest box, and the eggs quit cracking when she laid. I also try to feed mine some hard boiled eggs, at least once a month, and that seems to help with the taste for eggs, and they don't recognize them as eggs. I call them the "Legal Eggs", legal for the chooks to eat! You might try putting the golf balls in the nest boxes the next time they are all out. Put a lot of them in there, and maybe some even on the floor. Maybe if they peck enough and get nothing, after awhile they will see it's all in vain? Just a thought, and good luck! You might also try my hay bale trick too. They'll be so busy tearing that thing to shreds, they may not worry about the eggs? Can't hurt...

 

[Cadeau]

Sue - that stinks!
My one coop of young girls started eating eggs when they first started laying.

AND I did the mustard egg trick.
Only took one egg and everyone was reformed!!

Vicki - that boy is totally gorgeous - I can only hope that one of my guys turn out that nice!

Pink - congrats on your chick!!! Hoping he's a boy!!