Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Lotsapaints]

Great to know. Question: is the comb size of the offspring the same as the cock birds, or smaller?

Thank goodness the hen I used has a very nice comb so the comb is still large just "finer" if you can understand no list at all no wave nice big bird. I just test mated with him late spring I have a few girls picked out for him now can't wait for fall since he's from a hen who lays a 6 or 7 I'm hoping the pullets will lay nice eggs...maybe in 3-5 years I'll have some nice golden cuckoos if I can figure out how to get rid of those pesky white tail feathers that show up after they are a year old....first though I want the barn

 

[snowbird]

Single mate and trap nest breeders, will start on the trapnest with roll out egg tray tomorrow, Keep an eye out for the picture of finished product.

 

[Debbi]

Can't wait to see it Don, it may be something I will incorporate with the new coop/run!

 

[Flowerbh]

Question: When I was looking up "hatching eggs" I often found the words "project eggs". What do they mean?

 

[pinkchick]

Okay......here is that cockerel that I stole back from my best friend that I hatched on New Years Day. His comb is funky. He is a wild, wild as can be. He has not been handled since he left here at 6 weeks of age.
I love his copper color and hope that he continues to bulk up a bit more in size and gains more color in the wing bow area. .

Have at him and leave nothing out. I want to hear the good, bad and the ugly about him. These are the best photos of him I could get. The rest of them are all fuzzy and blurry because he is scared to death of me and won't stand still.

Will add photos in edited post....BYC being very funky right now.

 

[desertmarcy]

Single mate and trap nest breeders, will start on the trapnest with roll out egg tray tomorrow, Keep an eye out for the picture of finished product.

Eagerly awaiting! I hope you will share dimensions, materials used, etc. for those of us who are carpentry impaired.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
They don't strike me as Marans, so I would guess they really did send you Olive Eggers.... they just didn't get the pea comb in the cross. I would just use them for layers. They may very well lay you a dark egg or even an Olive (doubtful) I sell my straight combs as just layers. But if you didn't get ANY with pea combs..... I would think they duped you. You can see the pea comb vs straight comb at hatch. I would never sell a straight comb as an olive egger.

 

[Arielle]

Morning All

Finally got a hygro in my LG9200 - been in for about 1/2 hour and humidity is at 45%. Looks like the troughs are about 1/2 full. Arielle mentioned keeping it about 25% and pink chick mentioned about 38-40%..... so which it is ladies?

It is really humid here in MA and I can break out a dehumidifier if need be, as well as empty the water out. I am now going on day 6. Also, the digital temp says 99.3 and the thermo that came with the incubator says 99.5 exactly when placed on top of the eggs. Guess I can assume I am right where I need to be? So far no stinking coming from any eggs lol..... I do a routine sniff every morning

It is all about the development of the air cells. Many factors play a part. RH is only one. My LG is running 30-35% at times; when it runs at 35% all the time, I have insufficent air cell sizes and the dead chicks are wet. THat's why I put in the dehumidifier, as I get a better hatch rate if I can run at a lower RH. My late fall RH ranges 19-35 depending on the weather. Or if I hung the laundry in the house, or if the wood stove is going.

THe AIR CELL development will tell you what is right for your home.

Most people do well with a dry hatch method. You can start with dry and then add water if the air cells are getting too big too fast. I only dry hatch as that is what works for me in my house.

 

[Arielle]

Elisha~ I ran my humidity in the LG at 35% to 40% during the first 18 days. Then I up'd it as high as I could get it during lockdown. Usually in the LG I couldn't get it up over 50-54% during lockdown. To get that I had to add a shallow bowl of water with a rag or sponge in it and all 3 troughs were full.
Hoping someone else comes by and shares their experiences with you about how the get the humidity higher in the LG during lockdown.

In my Sportsman, I run humidity at 50% the first 18 days and then up it 65% or even slightly higher if I can get it there.

I can get my LF to 80-90% for turkeys. ( DOn't tell the turkey poult that hatched in the incubator with 33% RH) ! LOL WHen humidity is this high the temp MUST be lowered a degree or so because the hotter air cannot hold as much oxygen as the slightly cooler air.

I generally find if I have have strong well developed chicks coming into hatch with a large aircell that matches the diagrams, they zip and hatch just fine at most RH. At high RH, the membrane is often too rubbery and the chick or poult is still trapped.

I wet sponges and stand them upright; fill baby food jars, insert strip of sponge and put in 3-4 corners. ANd I open the incubator as needed to replenish water and remove chicks.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I found that when I emptied the troughs, the humidity did not drop until a few days later. I wondered if moisture actually absorbed into the stryofoam somehow. Not sure. So what ever gets you there by day 18 lockdown.

During my first attempt at hatching, I ran a fan across my LG during the last few days (16-19) to increase the ventilation to pull off more moisture from the eggs to get the air cell larger. I was please with a 50% hatch rate for the first time ever, hatching both turkeys and chickens. .