Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[berkeleysprings]

mine slow down or stop laying completely . id guess2 or 3 so months during molt but time of year matters and more important the amount of sunlight..... also its widely believed slow growers = dark egg layers....

 

[newmanmichael]

Question:
How long does the molt season last on Wheatens?
A few of mine went into molt about 2 months ago and even though they're not shedding feathers anymore and most have grown back in, those ladies are still NOT laying! How long should I wait before I throw them in the deep fryer?

A lot of chickens won't lay during the shorter days (not enough daylight). If they are young birds I wouldn't cull them just quite yet. From what I've heard/read Marans aren't the best layers during the winter months but others may be able to give testimony to their birds being different.

 

[berkeleysprings]

 

[berkeleysprings]

Dog or not ?

 

[sharron]

Dog or not ?

looks like a dog to me, but the coyotes are making a big come back everywhere

 

[WHmarans]

Not sure where you are located but our coyotes here look more skinny and mangie than that.

 

[WHmarans]

Here is what that white looks like that I mentioned. I really like this little roo. He's been the biggest and calmest since hatch. But that white bothers me. One rooster without this problem caught up to him. It does seem to be decreasing. He's almost 8 weeks now.

Have you seen this before? I might see if someone just running a mixed flock wants him. Such a great temperament. Do you see that usually with this breed?

 

[WHmarans]

A lot of chickens won't lay during the shorter days (not enough daylight).  If they are young birds I wouldn't cull them just quite yet.  From what I've heard/read Marans aren't the best layers during the winter months but others may be able to give testimony to their birds being different. 

I only had two laying hens that I have now sold but both kept right on laying into winter as soon as they had supplemental heat. I'm assuming the red heat lamps don't provide enough "light" to change the equation. They quickly stop laying if not enough feed or protein or oyster shell.

 

[downtheriver]

looks like a dog to me, but the coyotes are making a big come back everywhere

yes it's a dog

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Hi folks! Just checking in after a long absence from the forum. The chicks I hatched from eggs from the Fitzgeralds are doing pretty well. I had seven make it to pullet/cockerel stage before a raccoon tore through the wire and ate two of the cockerels. So now I'm down to three pullets and two cockerels. The pullets have not yet begun to lay and I don't expect they will 'til early spring. That supposed ice storm just resulted in a bunch of miserable rain for us, so the chickens are not too pleased. We've had so much that the ground is saturated and the water is sheeting off of my garden pathways and into the chicken runs. The chickens with feathered feet are doing a lot of perching and strategic eating so they don't lose their roost spaces. With any luck the rain will stop today and I can let them out into the yard tomorrow if no one is running dogs nearby. That's the one thing I hate about hunting season. It seems as though the people most intent on using dogs to hunt are the ones who don't have enough land of their own to run them, so the dogs come to our place to terrorize everything that moves!