Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[annabell254]

I love them all! I have Chinese geese and they are very friendly...you can see my son with one of them as my avatar all of ours hang in the yard with ducks and chickens (we also have a pond)but if you want them to come up at night you have to start them early and they do not like change...but once they get into the habit they are much like chickens...except they wait till pich black to go fully up at night and will hang right outside the door until the last possible second

but getting the habit started is much harder than chickens (in my experence) and ducks seem to be harder than geese (but geese will help the ducks learn)...Although I have raised some with chicks and they seem to learn to come in faster than when raised alone ....

 

[pinkchick]

Hi Zanna!

I love that young pullet and I think that she will molt out the white wing tips in due time.




Debbi~ I'm glad to hear that Olivia is not bad anymore, that makes me happy.
These guys are so friendly....except to Bill. Bill has not made any friends in them. This morning they are following me around like they have lived here all their lives, they were this guys pets and hand raised. Too bad the move interrupted the family circle. The babies are all doing great this morning.

Hatch day tomorrow for some Marans in the 'bator. If all of them hatch along with all of the Barnies.........I'm going to have lots of babies running around here. DH and I are going to go check out a poultry auction place up north to see about selling some birds. I have heard good things about it so figured I better finally check it out. The thing that scares me is going and seeing something I can't come home without.

 

[Keara]

A few problems here. First you have 3 roo and 5 hens, this is not a happy ratio. A rooster will fight for and defend his hens from other roosters. I would have 8-10 hens per rooster if you want to keep the peace. Also No run is large enough if a rooster wants to fight. I have 20 hens and two roosters, the older rooster keeps 16-19 of the hens for himself and the younger roo has one main girl and keeps trying for a few more. But because they freerange if the older rooster goes after the younger one than the younger one can keep running till the older one looses interest, or feels he has trully chashed off the younger one. I expect soon the youngerone will try to challenge the older and we may have a real fight.... but knowing that.... I will put the older rosster in the pot soon and start growing up another young cockerel.

The best solution is to get rid of 2 roos .....or..... get more hens and let them free range. I know free ranging is not always an option.

roosters make good soup..... so consider that too!

good luck,
Keara

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/659064/fighting-roosters#post_9155314

originally posted in the thread "Fighting Roosters"

but realized that thread really does get much traffic and after a bit of looking i realize the Rooster that is getting bullied is a Maran so here goes the post here.

the above link has more info , but the short is as follows ...

i have a huge Rooster (Booster) and 2 other Maran Roosters (Clyde and Rocky) anyhow. Booster the Rooster has been attacking Clyde for about 2 weeks now, relentlessly. it is so bad that in the morning when i let them out of their coop those are the only two (8 others chickens total) that bolt into the LARGE run (about 31 feet by about 21 feet and about the average of 6 feet tall) , they fight non-stop for about 20 minutes . then the others chickens will join them outside. i realize after reading this is a normal cycle of establihing the pecking order.
my question is ... Will this continue until death or damage to the loser?

We currently have 5 hens and the roosters. didnt plan on it . we didnt have much luck on the "sexed" chicks when we bought them. we set out to have one maybe two Roosters.

We can hear them inside of the coop fighting it out as well. Would putting two feeders and watering containers help put their aggression to the way-side ?

just fearing the worse as from what i have read once there is blood the rest of the birds will peck until death. and if we have to seperate them for healing ... the others will not accept the exhiled rooster back after healing.

 

[NuAgePaulBunyun]

Awww so sad, but Roo Soup sounds like the best deal for me. i have dumped over 300 into coop and huge run. if these roos cant get along then i think for the greater good the smallest of the two will get the short end of the rebar and a good stripping. not for sure ... of coarse i have to get the okay from Mommy hen (my GF) cause we all know if SHE ISN'T at peace that no roos (me or them) are safe.

and he (Rocky) is the most tame of them too. should i keep the bigger of the Roos. he is the more aggressive, but he drawfs the others. thinking he would be best for mating ?

o the drama of Battling Birds.
-cant we all just get along-

 

[Debbi]

Keara ~ You're right there, more hens may help. It's not always the case though. I have 4 roos, and 9 hens. The only two roos that definately don't get along are the two brothers, Clyde and Roy. Clyde has to spend the night in his "night pen", all the others are housed together in the same coop with no problems. Even if I let the two brothers out to free range, there is no peace. As soon as they see each other, hens be darned, they want to fight, and it would go on all day if I let it. Clyde gets along with the younger cockerel, whose about 8 months old and a breeding fool, but not with Pip any more or Roy. So Clyde has sealed his own fate, and stays in the run with a lady or two. My Splash pullet, Dopey, seems very devoted to Clyde, and she would rather spend the day in the run with him than to free range. I sure wish I knew what I was getting into prior to building my coop! Had I known I would end up breeding, this would've been a whole different set up! At the time, I just wanted some pretty eggs...

When I win the lottery, LOOK OUT!

 

[Debbi]

Awww so sad, but Roo Soup sounds like the best deal for me. i have dumped over 300 into coop and huge run. if these roos cant get along then i think for the greater good the smallest of the two will get the short end of the rebar and a good stripping. not for sure ... of coarse i have to get the okay from Mommy hen (my GF) cause we all know if SHE ISN'T at peace that no roos (me or them) are safe.

and he (Rocky) is the most tame of them too. should i keep the bigger of the Roos. he is the more aggressive, but he drawfs the others. thinking he would be best for mating ?

o the drama of Battling Birds.
-cant we all just get along-

Is that $300.00 or chickens?? If it was the money, you got off CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Debbi]

Hi Zanna!

I love that young pullet and I think that she will molt out the white wing tips in due time.




Debbi~ I'm glad to hear that Olivia is not bad anymore, that makes me happy.
These guys are so friendly....except to Bill. Bill has not made any friends in them. This morning they are following me around like they have lived here all their lives, they were this guys pets and hand raised. Too bad the move interrupted the family circle. The babies are all doing great this morning.

Hatch day tomorrow for some Marans in the 'bator. If all of them hatch along with all of the Barnies.........I'm going to have lots of babies running around here. DH and I are going to go check out a poultry auction place up north to see about selling some birds. I have heard good things about it so figured I better finally check it out. The thing that scares me is going and seeing something I can't come home without.

Poor Bill, he's used to being the biggest bird on the place! He's just checking to see what the funny looking chickens are eating to get sooooooo big!

Hope your auction place is a winner for you. The sale barn here is mainly for cattle, so if I were to take chickens there, I might get a few bucks each for them. Not happening!

 

[desertmarcy]

I got my pinless peepers in but haven't had time to put them on the pullets yet. So far, since I separated the two that got their rear ends all bloodied, I haven't seen any more problems and there are a couple pullets in the pen that look like they are growing their tail feathers back in. We had a huge early season monsoon storm here day before yesterday--had to spend all day yesterday cleaning up. Seems I can never get caught up with my chicken pen projects, stuff like this keeps getting in the way:







That is my fenced in, bird-proof vegetable and fruit tree garden you are seeing. Saguaro fell through the aviary wire on the top and bent two of the cross rails. I am glad it didn't bring a post down. What a mess. We managed to get the cactus off the fence by cutting it in pieces (those things can weigh several tons) but there is still a big gaping hole in the top. There are lots of ripe peaches, plums, and raspberries in the garden right now: won't be long before the wild birds figure out they have free passage, so that needs fixing ASAP.

In the meantime, yesterday I witnessed my oldest blue copper cockerel, about 3 to 3-1/2 months old, running around the pen pulling the tail feathers out of the other cockerels and eating them. He was being a little terror. He would run and grab feathers from one bird and then do the same thing to another bird. I immediately put one of those peepers on him. They don't seem to be made for big-combed chickens, but I managed to get it on him anyway even though it pushes down on the front part of his comb a bit. I hope it works.

 

[NuAgePaulBunyun]

Is that $300.00 or chickens?? If it was the money, you got off CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!

well played ... well played ,

just seems like i can only laugh at the situation i have put myself and my feathered friends into. but as i am learning the money is minimal compared to seeing my significant other happy. the most interesting thing is ...

she wanted this little fowl farm and now being pregnant ... i want her no-where close to them so i am doing all the work. before she loved to get out and do the chores, we both shared them. BUT NOW ... O NOW its all me.

glad i could put a smile on my BYC friends at my frustration, but i have to laugh as well. i feel as if the learning and spending is no-where close to ending. but the Roo Soup will be a nice reflection of rules now that i am n charge (while she is not looking that is). just hope she doesnt check the forum and see what i have put or Clyde wont be the only Roos in hater water.

 

[Flowerbh]

No to yellow legs. Greyish with black scales.