What's with Marans?

[kinnip]

I do remember mine eating a lot as chicks. When I switched to the Purina Flock Raiser, they stopped eating as much.

 

[drom]

I think the Purina is a good feed. onthespot has had hers on the Start and Grow and they look great. So, I put mine on it too. I may switch to the flock raiser when they reach 6 months. It's 20% protein I think and it's all vegetable protein.

 

[kinnip]

I've got all of mine on a mix of Flock Raiser and Layena. The Layena makes their poop look wierd, but has done a lot for egg production. When I changed to the Flock Raiser, the first thing I noticed was less stink in the brooder.

 

[onthespot]

If you want your newly hatched chicks to eat even MORE, put the start n grow in the blender, dry until it is like cornmeal consistency. They eat it even better and so far no growth related problems. They just grow legs like little tree trunks. I have noticed that when I do that they seem to feather in slower, I think because the food being digested creates heat and the increase in body mass helps them retain it better so they don't get the message "need to grow feathers" quite as loud and clear as when you just feed start 'n grow straight from the bag. This is not to be confused with the slow feathering gene... two different feathering patterns. SFG is easy to recognize once you have seen a few. Especially the tails and the tops of their wings. I am trying to breed away from that. It seem so rampant in all varieties of marans, from every level of breeder. Not naming names or flaming, just saying I am trying to breed it out of my line.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Newbie Marans owner here so I like hearing the comments from Marans owners.

I'm not into trends or fads but I do like having an egg basket that looks like this. Looking forward to adding Marans eggs to the mix.

 

[ginasmarans]

The egg color drew me at first,but after I got mine,I fell in love with their personalties and disposition. Mine are as good a layer as any of mone. I'm getting 1 egg/day from 5 marans eggs and about 5-6 a day from my 25 mixed breed hens. That's pretty much a wash. This past Spring,they went 3 weeks straight with 100% lay every day.