Wing It Ranch

[WingItRanch]

I’m so sorry! Considering the stakes, I think I would separate them again and try again later, which I know is completely frustrating.

Looks like we posted at the same time! Better news today!

 

[ChaosMom]

Looks like we posted at the same time! Better news today!

Mine are not quite 17 weeks and reddening up, so I went ahead and added hemp nest bedding and two ceramic eggs each. They are definitely pecking at the fake eggs.

 

[WingItRanch]

Mine are not quite 17 weeks and reddening up, so I went ahead and added hemp nest bedding and two ceramic eggs each. They are definitely pecking at the fake eggs.

That's ok. It's how they investigate new things. You're getting close!!! Finding that first egg is my favorite part.

I will say that once the pullets start laying, they stop throwing the bedding out and messing up the egg boxes. Or at least, it gets better. My hens now just go in the boxes, adjust it to their liking, lay an egg, and then leave. The pullets are the troublesome teenagers!

 

[WingItRanch]

My marans seem to be maturing much faster than any of my breeds. They're pretty big and obviously still growing. Their little wattles are already coming in at only 12.5 weeks old! I'd be worried about them being cockerels but they still look like girls to me.

@Auntiejessi3 I know you have a mixed flock with marans. Do you notice the marans mature faster than the others?

 

[wrathsfarm]

My marans seem to be maturing much faster than any of my breeds. They're pretty big and obviously still growing. Their little wattles are already coming in at only 12.5 weeks old! I'd be worried about them being cockerels but they still look like girls to me.

@Auntiejessi3 I know you have a mixed flock with marans. Do you notice the marans mature faster than the others?

If I can chime in on the maturing, I don't really notice it with the pullets. They usually don't start getting copper until roughly 9-12 weeks, combs should stay small and pale.
Where the males mature much faster with bigger, redder combs much earlier and copper starting to appear as early as 2 weeks.
Some of my line because Kong has that bigger comb, I can sometimes have a pretty good spot on males sometimes by 3 days old. Wirhin 2 weeks it's normally confirmed.

 

[wrathsfarm]

This is typically a norm for most Marans but if the breeder is working on smaller combs as is the case with my BBS Silvers, gender is harder to determine by comb. If I remember right, I was pretty confused on Poppy my recessive white cockerel until 4-6 weeks being from a breeder that is working on comb size for extreme climate to reduce frostbite issues. He made it harder being White so no color in the wing as a gender tell also.

So I needed help with that guy.

 

[WingItRanch]

@wrathsfarm I'll try to take some good pictures of them today if you want to take a look and make sure I don't have suprise cockerels. Honestly, I wouldn't be mad about it. I'd love a Blue Copper Marans Rooster.

 

[WingItRanch]

Here's one!

 

[WingItRanch]

And here's the other!

 

[WingItRanch]

It's interesting to me that I got them from the same place but one has clean legs and the other is heavily feathered. I don't see copper on either of them but the example in Ideal's catalog has copper.