Wheaten and Blue wheaten Marans Discussion Thread

[Daloorashens]

Is that what you call a squirrel tail?

 

[bruceh]

who has some good quality wheatons. i would like some. please pm me

 

[Daloorashens]

who has some good quality wheatons. i would like some. please pm me

Ditto, I am also looking for some wheatens

 

[berkeleysprings]

squirrel tail is over 90° it dosnt look that bad

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Randy, how are your cockerels finishing out from this year's hatch?

Edited to add- for the sake of discussion, what is it that causes the excess red in some males? What makes some of the pullets dark, like the one on the top of the page a couple of posts back? Is it an outcrossing problem from using Wheatens that pop up in Black Copper breeding? Perhaps use of black-tailed buff or something? Just curious as I have a pullet that had normal chick down but is definitely far too red to use. She came out of what looked like a decent cock and normal colored hen so it got me wondering.

 

[berkeleysprings]

out of 5 I raised 3 were not bad 21 had a little bit of a floppy comb but I've seen that stiffen up after year and a half or so once you start pumping blood up there because of the hens
1 had almost clean shanks 1 had mysterious white & red ear lobes my old roosters on his last leg he can hardly stand he is almost 7 years old. I'm going to give him a few more days I'm going to put him down and I have 2 full grown roosters I'm going to move into the pen. I'm getting very few eggs right now they're too busy molting and trying to get ready for the winter

 

[Bangarang64]

I'm getting very few eggs right now they're too busy molting and trying to get ready for the winter

My ladies have just come of age as of the last few weeks. The problem is we have some cold weather, and I don't think they will start laying anytime soon.. Also, I have one that is at least two weeks older than the other girls, but her comb and waddles are not any where near as developed as the others. She looks fine, just small comb and no red waddles (pinkish). Does this mean infertile chicken ?

 

[berkeleysprings]

it might play a small part with the hens to me comb color is more important for the roosters I don't know where you're located but the cold winters going to play some parted how many eggs you got I'm going to run some artificial lighting in about a month I always run my artificial lighting for the hour in the morning it's better to wake him up early then to have the lights go out all of a sudden then they can't find the roost number. all the wheatens I've ever raise take about 8 months to POL.

 

[Daloorashens]

it might play a small part with the hens to me comb color is more important for the roosters I don't know where you're located but the cold winters going to play some parted how many eggs you got I'm going to run some artificial lighting in about a month I always run my artificial lighting for the hour in the morning it's better to wake him up early then to have the lights go out all of a sudden then they can't find the roost number. all the wheatens I've ever raise take about 8 months to POL.

Good to know about the POL... I like the idea of running the lights earlier than having them shut off suddenly and they're stuck in the dark... do you ever offer hatching eggs??

 

[Chicken Crazy12]

I have a hen that is 10 or 11 months old now and have yet to get a first egg from her. Is she a dud? I've read on this thread that the longer it takes to point of lay the darker layer they will be but I'm really starting to feel like she is never going to lay.