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

[Illia]

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Those are 5 week olds? Wow are mine underdeveloped?

My Marans are 4 and a half weeks old, and my bigger "mossy" boy is the only one starting to get copper on him, but otherwise the rest are still gawky looking, and still have their breast feathers just finishing on filling out. . .


Cottagegarden: Thanks for the info.

I guess we'll keep him then. He's probably my favorite of this small batch, but that mossy look was worrying me about what I should with him. So essentially he won't create dark layers, yes?

He may pass on dark egg genes but as Cottagegarden suggested, he would probably be best used to breed with a blue egg laying hen to produce some olive eggers. No need to perpetuate the mossiness problem in black coppers. I suppose if you never intended to sell any hatching eggs or chicks propagated by him, and didn't mind him having serious color flaws, you could keep him as a breeder. There's no guarantee that just because he's mossy, that he carries very dark egg genes though. Mossiness hasn't been proven to be always correlated to have dark egg genes, even though many people have seen it occur. With him being a male, there's no way to know for sure. (Well you could do side by side test matings but it would take generations to get your answer.)

Yeah then with that said, I'm just going to use him for Olive Eggers.

I'm looking to sell dark hatching eggs, and improve and work with a good flock, but I don't mind keeping him for my future Olive Eggers.

 

[Zgoatlady]

Illia
Thank you, Im one of a few who live in Enumclaw. Oh with your rooster to me it looks like to much copper, I had one last year he was so sweet but he wasnt going to be the boy here. I bet one of your others will be fine I had one Black copper that only had color on his neck and now he has lots more color. I do wish he had alittle more but hay the other guys have it.

 

[Illia]

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I'm not too worried with this batch anyway on terms of roosters. The eggs in my bator, however - Is what I'm hoping to get my superior breeding roos out of.

 

[Zgoatlady]

Looking stupid.

 

[Countrywife]

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yea, thanks for the info.

OK, I will try to get pics this weekend. Trouble is I can usually sex other breeds at this age, but I simply don't have any OBVIOUS waddles and comb. I have them with combs, just not what I am used to in my baby roos. They are starting to feather out nicely now, but I will get pics and let you guys decide. (oooh squirrel fight outside my office window LOL)

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

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My one and only grandbaby is 8 months old as of last monday. I am teaching him how to have a REAL egg hunt

What fun!! Hope you have the best time!!!!

 

[berkeleysprings]

well i finished the hatch with the new incubator and i give a great review.......the suro 20 r-com digital worked great ,,,i hatched 8 roosters ,(wheaten marans )with the fresh eggs i got around 100 percent at 99.5 and humidity was 43 and 55 at lock down and 1 of the 20 days old egg hatched . i would recomend the suro to every one ...
it holds perfect temp and humidity is all automatic . i used a great big soda bottle for water and never had to ad a drop . the bator looks so much like a bread maker or mixer il keep it in the kitchen , the only draw back is if u put 24 eggs in it theres not much room for them to hatch wich makes no differance to me because i usualy take them out as soom as the hatch and place them in a brooder, they seem to do fine and i havent lost a chick out of the 70 or so ive hatched .... any way i have another 8 chickes
and placed another 9 in the""""""" set it and forget it bator""""""""""
Hey drom hows the eggs cooking ?
should be piping in the next 4 days or so ?

 

[drom]

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That's great. So it obviously didn't need to be calibrated. You didn't get all roosters.

Maybe they're all pullets this time.

I may have about the same type of hatch as you. I was saving eggs for a few weeks so I put some old ones in. I also put one egg in 36 hours after the others so I hope that one hatches. It was a real dark egg so I made space for it. But mine has been exactly the same as yours; temp and humidity haven't budged and I just add water every couple days. I tried to candle a few of the egg. What a joke. I couldn't see a thing.

I don't have a brooder. I need to gin something up for the brooder. The 25th will be 21 days for mine. What do you use for a brooder?

 

[drom]

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Oh, I just saw this post. What a wonderful picture. Those eggs are all so pretty!!!

 

[flgardengirl]

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Very nice Splash and egg. I like your olive egg too. What kind lays that speckled olive egg? An olive egger or an EE? That one is pretty too! (I know that olive eggers are EEs but just wondering if you bred an Olive Egger to make those speckled olive eggs?)