Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

He looks like a Black Copper Marans. Many end up with light or no leg feathering.

Our Marans came from a breeder very concerned with the SOP, but all our birds from her have some kind of "fault" (said tongue-in-cheek), like Andre's beautiful dark eyes, instead of the "reddish bay" standard. All kinds of traits and genes can pop up with chickens!

View attachment 3594556

Major. A French Marans rooster.

 

[BDutch]

Being broody raised seems to breed broodies. Usually at least a third of my broody raised chickens hens go broody every year

This would partly explain why Katrientje is a determined broody twice a year. While bantam RIiR is not known for being a broody breed.
On the other hand, the Naine de Tournaisis I had were raised by a broody but never got broody themselves. They died young (3-4 yo). So it might be possible they were not healthy enough to get broody.

All the bantams I have now get broody.

 

[fluffycrow]

Different countries have different standards. The British Marans do not have feathered legs. I prefer to judge by the standard of the original breed. I have trouble understanding for example how the British Marans can be considered a Marans at all.

For the most part, the featherlless Marans (just to be clear, I mean on the legs, not the whole body lime some weird "chickens" I've seen) in the US come from hatchery stock, so bad breeding. I personallylove Marans that have feathers on their legs

 

[Shadrach]

Having a mobile house chicken is a very different proposition from have an easily contained one.

Isn't it just.
Pleased to read he's still making progress.

 

[BDutch]

But chickens are smart enough to not eat a hotdog

I ate chickens before I had chickens myself, once in while too, because I thought birds were way more stupid than mammals. It was just an excuse to comfort myself doing not too much harm.

Now I now better. No animal abuse means not eating animals*. Only not sure about fish.

*PS should be, not eating animals from factory farming.

 

[BDutch]

French standard Marans have feathered legs; UK standard Marans do not and count it a fault. Does anybody know what the US standard for Marans is?

Marans standard in the Netherlands :
A large elongated fowl with moderate foot feathering, red ears and a single comb.
Marans come in many colours;
http://kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Marans

 

[fluffycrow]

Marans standard in the Netherlands :
A large elongated fowl with moderate foot feathering, red ears and a single comb.
The come in many colours;
http://kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Marans

Same standard for most EU countries, right?

 

[BDutch]

I'm worried about little Dusty. She's gone from not seeming to take her sit very seriously -- I had to lure her back to her nest the first day with food, and she broke and ate one egg -- to taking it so seriously, she won't leave the nest or eat very much at all. It's like her broody switch just clicked on full force.

I took her off the nest yesterday and in five minutes she pooped, frantically dust bathed, barely nibbled some food, and ran right back to the eggs. She's very lightweight to start, so she doesn't have a lot of weight to lose. She's on her fourth day of sitting, so I'm hoping once she knows the eggs have "sparked" she will give herself more of a break to at least eat.

I worried too because hens often don’t go back within a short time. I learned to trust their insticts.

My broody girls often stay out for about 20 -25 minutes to poop, eat, drink and stretch their legs. This is not a problem for a good result.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I worried too because hens often don’t go back within a short time. I learned to trust their insticts.

My broody girls often stay out for about 20 -25 minutes to poop, eat, drink and stretch their legs. This is not a problem for a good result.

Yes, 20 minutes, or longer on warm sunny days, seems to be the norm. Dusty wouldn't come off for more than a few minutes, but I just learned that the first 72 hours are the most crucial part of the sit so she's just responding to that sense of urgency. She did eat a full breakfast this morning, so I feel better.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Gorgeous birds! I remember Lucio from a few months back, still think he's absolutely gorgeous

He has very almond-shaped, almost slanted, eyes that are a bit different and a very military bearing and carriage -- what I would call a "Prussian" way of marching around.

I have no idea what mix of breeds he is, but there is quite a lot of gamecock breeding in South American rural backwaters (like where we live). So I wouldn't be surprised if he has some diluted gamecock genes. We'll see how that plays out with the other cockerels. So far, the chain of authority is holding up, but they are all very young, so anything can happen. Fortunately, there's a lot of space here, with tree orchards and varying terrain so they can stake out their own territories. One thing I've learned about chickens is that every day is different.