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

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Tala,
Culling does not mean killing. It simply means to remove from your flock, for whatever reason. You can sell them, or eat them, or whatever. Cull for excess, cull for poor type, cull for being a mean rooster, cull for .....

There's not much else to do with 8 extra roosters who aren't genepool-quality.

Do YOU want 8 hungry alarm clocks? Do YOU keep extra roosters for yard decoration??
I wouldn't agree with selling them to a novice - hurting their genepool, and an experienced breeder wouldn't buy a less-than-quality specimen for their breeding pool either. Might as well make use of them by eating the meat.
You're welcome to your own opinions - I have mine. I have sold some extra cockerels to people who wanted them for breeding. I DO offer them for sale before I do any freezing, but the truth is that 90% of roosters are not needed for anything besides filling tummies.

Oh no, don't get me wrong ..... that is exactly what I do .... I eat my culls ! I was just saying that culling does not necessarily mean, "to kill." I thought it sounded like you didn't know what cull meant. Sorry for any confusion.

PS .... Yes, I NEED a good rooster!

 

[pinkchick]

Halo~

Yes they are gangly and tall while they are growing out. Wait until they beef up....you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[NateDomRIR]

At what age does everyone cull/dress out their extra cockerals?

I now have about 75 BCM chicks from 4 days to 5 weeks old.
All of these chicks come from light colored eggs so they aint Marans. I've finally came to that realization now that one of my pullets started laying a really dark egg. My other 2 pullets come from good lines too so I hope they will lay some really dark eggs also. Now I have to cull the 3 hens with the light colored eggs. I'm only going to keep chicks that hatch from really dark eggs now that I have them. I'm so eggcited about the DARK eggs.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Just remember, they will lighten up as the pullets mature.

I cull males at 6-7 months. They're still young then but have a decent amount of meat.

 

[DaKid]

So ur saying the younger the hen the darker the egg and as they get older like 7-9 months old there laying ligther eggs ....and to cult them my at lease a year old , MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Well in reality you will want a good quality Marans, who's egg will lighten VERY slowly, at won't be undesired until years later.

But if you have a bunch of light egg layers and a couple dark ones, chances are the dark ones will lighten pretty fast.

 

[geebs]

DA-KID.... Most lines lighten over time... To qualify as a marans the bird needs to be able to produce a #4 and darker over the remainder of it's lifetime. There are instances where a stressed bird will lay a light egg. This doesn't count. There are lines that DARKEN over time and lines that Lighten over time. It is best to be familiar with what you have and where it came from to best be able to make culling decisions. The egg and bird itself mandate these choices. Culling is a personal thing as well. None of this stuff is easy... I have a bird that I kept because I liked the look of her... (she went into the breakfast maker pen) and low and behold at round two lay her egg color finally qualifies and quite nicely I might add.... So the answer is .... IT DEPENDS.... Clear as mud? That is not the usual, however. It is more the norm for a young pullet to lay a darker egg at the beginning of her lay cycle and it lightens over time... As long as it doesn't lighten beyond a #4 it is to be considered Marans. I do hope this helps... Find out what you have and ask questions from the breeder and use the best practice regarding the information you recieve.

One more thing... Diet seems to play a role as well. I have a line that lays a better color if they free range. I don't know if it is the free roaming that makes them relaxed and get the juices flowing or if it is the available flora. But nonetheless... I have to let them out to forage to get the optimal results..

 

[NateDomRIR]

Quote:
Yea, I have a 6 month old cock that just started laying the darkest egg.

I thought I read on here that the almost black ones are pullets and the copper striped ones are cockerals at 4 weeks old? Is this true?

 

[aalbury]

Quote:
Yea, I have a 6 month old cock that just started laying the darkest egg.

I thought I read on here that the almost black ones are pullets and the copper striped ones are cockerals at 4 weeks old? Is this true?

That's really something else there....a cock that lays eggs? And 6 months old no less....LOL

No. Copper striped? On Black Coppers?

 

[NateDomRIR]

Quote:
Yea, I have a 6 month old cock that just started laying the darkest egg.

I thought I read on here that the almost black ones are pullets and the copper striped ones are cockerals at 4 weeks old? Is this true?

That's really something else there....a cock that lays eggs? And 6 months old no less....LOL

No. Copper striped? On Black Coppers?

Maybe I'm not explaining them right.

I have some chicks with a lot of copper?/red?/brown? (what is the right terminology?) and I have some that are almost black.

It looks like the darker ones are pullets with smaller combs/legs.