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

[halo]

That first hen looks like it is a cross with something...a cuckoo marans maybe? Look at that barring.

Or is that a shadow?

 

[geebs]

Hi ya Pinkchick I guess this lovely weather we are having is a nice payoff for the immense suffering we had huh? All is good out here in the Banana belt... and you??? let's see some of next years hopeful on the runway girl!!! Let the fashion show in Blue begin:

Birds are doing amazing... Took Resolution's advice and changed the feed regiment... I would suggest to all that it is a vast improvement for the health of our birds, especially those ppl who are not try to reach optimal production but going for optimal health... So good in fact that we got a DQ for Falsing... ha ha ha... Our birds were too shiney!!!!! Can you believe that!!!!???? They thought we cheated because our birds shouldn't look that good!!!! ha ha ha... The Uropygial glands are bursting with oil so my birds were preened to the hilt (black oil sunflower seeds)... Thanks Resolution!!!

 

[Debbi]

Nice to see you back here geebs! How bout sharing that feed regiment?? Too shiny?? LOL Started building my coop myself when the guy that was going to help me punked out for the SECOND time. Let me just say, it's amazing to me how much you don't know what you don't know! Got the floor done the first day, day two was spent tearing half of it apart because of a major measurement issue. Then it rained for the rest of the day. Today is day three, I will rebuild the floor correctly, and hope to get one wall built. At this point and time frame, the chicks in the brooder will be laying before I get the coop done

Just kidding...I hope! There are 7 eggs in the bator right now, that are from Jesse Bryant birds, and again...I hope! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

 

[geebs]

OOOh... Jesse Bryant birds... NNNNNNIIICCCEEE I have a couple of those.

Pix??? Do you have the adults?

Feed regiment goes something like this... Wheat, Oats millet, (or bird seed),pepitas, small amount of Cracked corn, organic layer pellet, DE,Black Oil Sunflower seeds, dried fruit, Mazuri Koi food, Tumeric, Cinnamon,(LOTS of spices) Cranberries, raisins. I also add from time to time a small amount of flax seed I also give a homemade suet cake once a month because Res's are not available here. I would use his if I had a steady supply. I use all kinds of seeds and nuts. They are on green grass for the Omega factor. My goal is healthy embryo's.... It is working... My eggs are graded double grade AA. My daughter did get the Grand Champion in Eggies.... (the judge was looking for uniformity as well as breaking not just one, but 6 of the eggs) I am careful about what I put into the chickens because I will eat the eggs so I want them to be healthful as well. I have heard my roosters are delicious (can't bring myself to eat them). Best side effect...no odor in my coop and there is vertually no flies and the grass is dark green and pest free due to the cinnamon. They eat less and their waste is solid and non odorous. I can go around the yard and pick it up with a gloved hand...It is a nice situation. I have no problems with parasites or pests. I find that I have to use about 1/4 layer pellets to keep them in a nice lay. I mix this together and feed free choice. I sometime will use flaxseed oil or peanut oil to cause the dust/spices to stick. My birds combs are red and they are very lively. They don't act "starved" when I go to get their feed to them... All my squirrels are fat too!!! ha ha

Pinkchick Wake up.... Knock Knock Knock... This is Tom Peterson (Gloria too!!!).... It is time for the show in Blue.... (she twiddles thumbs here)... ha ha...

 

[Debbi]

Nope, no adults, just the eggs in the bator. We're on day 7, so still quite a wait to see the results. That sounds like an eggcellent menu for the chooks!! Cinnamon, whod've thunk it?? Are those sunflower seeds in the shell or hulled? Sounds very do-able, trying to find "organic" feed out here is a joke. Ordering it in by mail, cost prohibitive. I've asked the local feed stores if they have or can get organic feeds, and these folks look at me like I have two heads! "They're chickens, they don't KNOW it's organic!"

Ya, but I do, and so do the eggs and any finished birds, not to mention the health of the flock as a whole...sheesh.

 

[Mamaperreca]

Thanks for that feed advice Geebs. I think I will try to implement some of that. It sure seems like the birds would be more interested in eating that instead of the straight layer mix. Mine are in a chicken tractor so they get the grass and we move them every couple days. We have way too many predators and woods near us to Free Range safely.

 

[geebs]

Yep Black oil sunflower seeds in the shell... They like em better than corn!!! They think they are bugs... he he.. they go crazy for it and the millet... I have heard ppl feed rice... I haven't tried it but it does make sense that they would eat rice and that it would be a natural food for them.... Of course not Enriched.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Geebs~

I feed almost the same thing, minus the DE and layer pellet. I use an all purpose crumble (can't go organic yet....no-one here sells it locally, but you betcha I can go get it in Portland..... but the price, ouch!) because it has a higher protien content and I don't like feeding oyster shell, they get enough with everything else I feed them and their eggs are nice and hard, I rarely ever find a cracked egg in the nest box. I also like the fact that it truly does cut down on the feed bill and they don't seem hungry all of the time. Once a week I make that it into a nice warm gruel during the winter for them and add a banana, apples to cook down in it, I also put a suet cake in it and melt it down in the gruel. They go nutz, nutz, nutz! Oh forgot to mention that I like to put a cup or so of finely chopped almost pasty nuts into it as well. When I started feeding this way last year the peeps at the feed store were wondering why I wasn't coming in and purchasing over a 1000 pounds of feed anymore. I love it! You are absolutely correct about the smell of the coop and the fly population...it's like heaven.

I will post a couple of pics of the 3 girls that I am keeping possibly later today or maybe this weekend. Busy busy today and tomorrow but I may be able to find some time this evening when I get home. Have a great day!

 

[Mamaperreca]

What Debbi? YOur chickens didn't ask you for Organic feed?

Some people are very oblivious to the fact that what we feed our animals ends up to be what we feed ourselves.

Geebs, I need to get a picture of my Maran Rooster. Yes, he ended up crowing. But weirdly I haven't heard any of my 3 roosters crow for the last few days? Could it be the heat? It has been heat index of over 100 several days this week.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
halo~

First of all HELLO.....how ya been? How are your birds doing? Are you still working on da blues?

I think that is shadowing on the first bird pictured.