Texas

[Kilsharion]

do Marans have feathered legs? seems like i have seen that somewhere!

yes i came home with some cuckoo marans from quality feed last nite....spent the night in the doghouse but all is well.....but these show no signs of leg feathering. just curious.

French Marans, yes.

American Marans, no.

 

[GaryDean26]

do Marans have feathered legs? seems like i have seen that somewhere!

yes i came home with some cuckoo marans from quality feed last nite....spent the night in the doghouse but all is well.....but these show no signs of leg feathering. just curious.

I know the Black Copper Marans and Wheaten Marans were accepted into the APA standards in the past two years. Cuckoo Marans may have been accepted by now too (I ahave never owned Cuckoos so I didn't follow the progress on that variety). The American APA standard is for feather legs. This was adopted from the French standard for feathered legs. The UK and several other european countries have written standards for clean legs. Since there was no accepted standard in North America untill two years ago many people would breed to different standards (most to the French). You would see some people selling French Standard Marans with Feathers Legs and other selling English Standard Marans with clean legs. Many mixed lines would produce both feathered and non-feathered offspring. Moving forward the American breeders should all be working towards feathered legs, but you might still some some breeders who are not up-to-date who may still be listing "English" standard Marans even though in the USA they now should be listed as non-stand Marans if they don't have fethered legs. Many people prefere the non-stand Marans so they will probablly be available both ways for a long time to come. It sounds like you have some non-standard Marans. I hope they lay super dark eggs.

 

[bnjrob]

thank you BNJ and Yinepu for the responses....im almost certain im over thinking the project...but since my last batch was taken i cant help it. my big coup is safe...and they older group thats in there has only been for a week. is that enough to establish a "territory"? granted my chicks are still way undersized to be in with them, but is that an option to put say a wire dog crate in the coup for a week or so with the chicks and their own water/feed to allow for introduction? or will i still need them to grow out more?

You can try it. Right now in the brooder I have three that are all different ages, each of them several weeks older than the other. I had to make a wire partition to keep the smallest at the time away from the others and had food/water in each half. After a couple of weeks like that, I removed the divider and they got their pecking order down with supervision so no one drew blood, and now are running altogether in the brooder. As long as you are watching them as closely as you do, it should probably be fine. If the crate allows too much contact, you could always wrap some chicken wire or hardware cloth on it to keep little heads inside and keep the big heads outside to reduce risk of peck injuries.

 

[Kilsharion]

I know the Black Copper Marans and Wheaten Marans were accepted into the APA standards in the past two years. Cuckoo Marans may have been accepted by now too (I ahave never owned Cuckoos so I didn't follow the progress on that variety). The American APA standard is for feather legs. This was adopted from the French standard for feathered legs. The UK and several other european countries have written standards for clean legs. Since there was no accepted standard in North America untill two years ago many people would breed to different standards (most to the French). You would see some people selling French Standard Marans with Feathers Legs and other selling English Standard Marans with clean legs. Many mixed lines would produce both feathered and non-feathered offspring. Moving forward the American breeders should all be working towards feathered legs, but you might still some some breeders who are not up-to-date who may still be listing "English" standard Marans even though in the USA they now should be listed as non-stand Marans if they don't have fethered legs. Many people prefere the non-stand Marans so they will probablly be available both ways for a long time to come. It sounds like you have some non-standard Marans. I hope they lay super dark eggs.

Yeah, that's what I meant...English, not American....teaches me to respond to the forum while I'm trying to troubleshoot.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

You can try it. Right now in the brooder I have three that are all different ages, each of them several weeks older than the other. I had to make a wire partition to keep the smallest at the time away from the others and had food/water in each half. After a couple of weeks like that, I removed the divider and they got their pecking order down with supervision so no one drew blood, and now are running altogether in the brooder. As long as you are watching them as closely as you do, it should probably be fine. If the crate allows too much contact, you could always wrap some chicken wire or hardware cloth on it to keep little heads inside and keep the big heads outside to reduce risk of peck injuries.

ok i understand all that and intend on looking into it! just when i bought the guys the guy at the feed store made a cooment of "you know they will look just like breed rocks, right?"
so that got me looking at them closer once i got home, and thats when i noticed the lack of feather legs....i guess time will tell!

aside from that, is there a way to tell the diff between BR's and the marans at day 3 as it is now since they hatched? they both have the white dot on their head...all black...and no leg feathering! wouldnt be opposed to some BR's in my flock but am opposed to the $3.50 i paid if they are BR's.....

 

[yinepu]

With the muscovies requiring a different incubation environment, I'm hurting for another incubator. I honestly was teasing my husband when I bid on them. I mean, who makes their high bid $8.50? You're going to go to at least $10, right? I mean, really?!? So, here I am....$9 winner for eggs I have no way to incubate....

I decided to start looking around for what I could get for local pickup...and, really, I think I've found what I want. It's not that far away. The price is reasonable...and, the size is perfect - giving me room to grow:

Yeah.....as Yinepu said about the other incubator I showed her.....my husband would divorce me...

I hate, hate, hate styrofoam incubators, and it really doesn't matter that I do because all the stores around me that carry them are out. I'm hoping the show in SM will be like most shows and have vendors available hawking their wares so I can maybe hit one up for an incubator. I will probably have to cave and go with a hova bator or such since I doubt anyone is going to show up out of the blue with a Reptipro or any such thing.

Why not make a coolerbator?.. I just ordered supplies for ours!

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going by tail feathers.. you have a pair.. if their quacks are different as well then you can be 99.9% sure you have apair

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Lol.. I always look for at least a dozen especially for shipped eggs! (unfortunately not many sellers will sell a dozen mandarin at a time.. so I did have to go with less for them)

thank you BNJ and Yinepu for the responses....im almost certain im over thinking the project...but since my last batch was taken i cant help it. my big coup is safe...and they older group thats in there has only been for a week. is that enough to establish a "territory"? granted my chicks are still way undersized to be in with them, but is that an option to put say a wire dog crate in the coup for a week or so with the chicks and their own water/feed to allow for introduction? or will i still need them to grow out more?

older birds can establish a territory in as little as 2 days... how big is the age difference between the groups?

do Marans have feathered legs? seems like i have seen that somewhere!

yes i came home with some cuckoo marans from quality feed last nite....spent the night in the doghouse but all is well.....but these show no signs of leg feathering. just curious.

not all marans have feathered legs.. check leg color between the chicks.. that should help you tell barred rocks from cuckoo marans.. the marans should have white legs... barred rocks should be yellow (but may have a grey wash over the front of the legs)

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lol.. I was gonna correct you.. but Gary beat me to it!

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see above.. leg color at this age will tell you.. once they feather out you can tell by the pattern of the barring on the feathers... cuckoos will be "crazy barred" where the rocks should have a more defined even barring

 

[Kilsharion]

You can try it. Right now in the brooder I have three that are all different ages, each of them several weeks older than the other. I had to make a wire partition to keep the smallest at the time away from the others and had food/water in each half. After a couple of weeks like that, I removed the divider and they got their pecking order down with supervision so no one drew blood, and now are running altogether in the brooder. As long as you are watching them as closely as you do, it should probably be fine. If the crate allows too much contact, you could always wrap some chicken wire or hardware cloth on it to keep little heads inside and keep the big heads outside to reduce risk of peck injuries.

Oh, um....I have never bothered with dividers in my brooder. I just sat there and thumped anyone who got too big for their britches with the itty bitties. They generally straighten up pretty quick and start taking care of the itty bittys instead of tromping all over them.

But, my mixed brooder has given some people heart attacks...and, it's also why I feed on a rimless lid instead of out of a traditional feeder. Broken necks are no fun and they can happen pretty easily with a 1.5 month old keet and a one day old keet in the same brooder....not to mention 23 three week old chicks.

 

[bnjrob]

Oh, um....I have never bothered with dividers in my brooder. I just sat there and thumped anyone who got too big for their britches with the itty bitties. They generally straighten up pretty quick and start taking care of the itty bittys instead of tromping all over them.

But, my mixed brooder has given some people heart attacks...and, it's also why I feed on a rimless lid instead of out of a traditional feeder. Broken necks are no fun and they can happen pretty easily with a 1.5 month old keet and a one day old keet in the same brooder....not to mention 23 three week old chicks.

I tried just putting them in together but the brand new hatched one was getting run over and pecked on too much and after a couple of hours of nonstop screaming from the baby - that was all I was willing to deal with. I had already lost a chick that I tried to let a broody raise - found it squished flat underneath her. Just couldn't afford to lose another one. If I could just go to the store and get replacements, I probably wouldn't be as picky. Mottled Javas just do not grow on trees. I don't even have that many to breed with and I'm already having people ask me to sell them some...

Yeah, I can see the broken neck issue with the feeders. That would really suck. At least you have figured out how to what works to take care of that issue. Some days I think chicken keeping is nothing but problem solving.

I'm really trying to do things as easy and "naturally" as possible. So hopefully when we get a larger foundation flock, I can start trusting broodies to do their thing. We really want the old-fashioned dual-purpose homestead birds as if we were living in the 19th century.

It's funny how some things are fine with people and other people just freak out when they hear how you do things - like your mixed brooder. Yesterday I had someone who I'm sure was about to have a heart attack when they found out I didn't wash eggs. They said they always washed their eggs and wanted to know if I would wash them if they were dirty. Told her only if the eggs looked like they had been used for a hockey puck with a pile of manure as a playing field. I could just picture her cringing at my reply.

 

[topdycke]

Good morning my Texas peep!! It's been years since I've said GM here on BYC so nice to be back.

Recently just add a turkey poult to our family and going to need some advice with the lil' bugger.

Welcome back! The Texas thread is a busy one. I am amazed in the evening by the pages and pages of posts - I know some of you all work too (lots of meetingzzzzzzz)

 

[topdycke]

With the muscovies requiring a different incubation environment, I'm hurting for another incubator. I honestly was teasing my husband when I bid on them. I mean, who makes their high bid $8.50? You're going to go to at least $10, right? I mean, really?!? So, here I am....$9 winner for eggs I have no way to incubate....

I decided to start looking around for what I could get for local pickup...and, really, I think I've found what I want. It's not that far away. The price is reasonable...and, the size is perfect - giving me room to grow:

Yeah.....as Yinepu said about the other incubator I showed her.....my husband would divorce me...

I hate, hate, hate styrofoam incubators, and it really doesn't matter that I do because all the stores around me that carry them are out. I'm hoping the show in SM will be like most shows and have vendors available hawking their wares so I can maybe hit one up for an incubator. I will probably have to cave and go with a hova bator or such since I doubt anyone is going to show up out of the blue with a Reptipro or any such thing.

What exactly are those Cabinet things? No reference in the picture if they are refrigerator sized or mini fridge