Marans Thread for Posting Pics of Your Eggs, Chicks and Chickens

[Tsagirl]

Ok all I just had a amazing hatch rate of 95% thanks to a awsome marans breeder FOWLUS!!

Ok here are pics...can anyone tell me what kind and if they are roos or hens?

THanks lots!

http://picasaweb.google.com/tsableisch/LatestHatchFirstOf2009#

 

[drom]

Hey, this is a little off topic but does anyone feed their Marans grit? Mine free range and eat quite a bit of grass. I also have hen scratch in addition to the crumbles in their coop all the time, but I don't have any grit for them. Could their diet cause an impaction?

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
I give mine oyster shell at times and their is a pea gravel bed close by that I see them visit and eat small stones which help them grind up food. Now that they cannot be totally free range I am going to throw them a few handfuls of pea gravel every few weeks. This seems to work to stop impaction my coop is moved every day so I figure they also find small stones in the grass as well.

 

[onthespot]

Mine are in a pen with DG (decomposed granite) as a floor and they eat little pebbles from the dirt. I have other birds on wire floor cages and they get layena pellets, period, and they do fine. I also throw in green weeds for them to eat the leaves off of, and they never have a problem. They also have free access to oystershell.

 

[drom]

Thanks
My pullet who just started laying has a really large firm crop. She is bright and running around and eating a lot but I am wondering if I should be concerned. Her crop is fuller than the other pullets. I have a big pan of hen scratch in the pen I am thinking I should take out. She also forages a lot. She really seems to like grass.
I need to go out and check her this morning.

I have some Oyster shell I was mixing with the scratch. I didn't realize the little pebbles and DG were good for them.

 

[onthespot]

I have noticed that their feed consumption increases quite a bit when they are laying over when they are not laying. Could be she is just eating more than the others because she is laying. Feel her breastbone to make sure it doesn't feel sharp.

I got some half starved birds from a guy a few months ago and he fed them scratch and their crops were softball size and very firm. I left them in a crate with just water the first day and their crops cleared quite a bit, still full, but at least the contents moved around some when I moved it with my fingers, gently. One cleared almost completely in two days, the other took almost four days to clear. I thought they were a lost cause when i first saw them they were so skinny and their crops were so hard. I thought they were impacted. After their crops cleared they ate like PIGS for about three weeks, pooped like meat birds and gained a lot of weight and found good homes. They were given to me because they "wouldn't lay" well no kidding! They were fed very pooor food, and not enough of it. Sorry, I'm ranting now... I'm sure your birds are not in the same boat. I just got to rambling there...

 

[Chef]

Well it's day 22 and I haven't got a pip from the marans yet. I am getting very sad because this is the second batch. I know one is alive but it wont pip. Shouldn't it pip if it is moving around in there? What do I DO

? So far seventeen eggs and not 1 marans. I have set 16 of my rir eggs and have hatched 11 of them so I have to be doing something right.

Chef

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I would be interested in the responses to this, too. I'm given to understand that the Marans shells are less porous than others, but I've seen some people say that they require increased humidity to hatch, while others say to use lower humidity.

 

[Chef]

I was told low humidity all the way through. Which is what I did. I had six rir hatch on day 20 and have been watching this one marans eggs move around since then and it still hasn't pipped. I don't even see the others moving.
I am gettin really bumbed out!

Chef

 

[EmptyNest]

Here are my black copper marans chicks that I picked up on Saturday. Seven of them are 4 weeks old and nine are 1-2 weeks old. I was going to hatch some eggs but thought if I was going to spend that much money I might as well spend a little more and have a sure thing.