Wing It Ranch

[WingItRanch]

That ugly duckling has a very nice wide stance, and he's already showing he's looking for danger in this pic.


View attachment 4228738

So is that wide stance important for mating, I wonder? Helps stabilize while mounting?

 

[wrathsfarm]

So is that wide stance important for mating, I wonder? Helps stabilize while mounting?

Yes, along with a narrow leg stance can cause mobility or health issues. (Knock kneed and Cow hocked) The Marans Standard calls for "Legs spread set well apart and straight looking from the front, legs should be stout, of medium length and lightly feathered on outer shanks" which supports their wide chest and frame.

Disclaimer...Some of this was copy/pasted from the Standard for correct wording.

 

[Tstraub]

I like wide body birds for several reasons. Wide males make better table birds, and are easier to get your hand inside the cavity during processing. Wide females can more easily pass eggs and are less prone to getting egg bound. They can also cover more eggs if you let them hatch eggs. The trade off is that the take more feed compared to thinner birds. When I say wide I mean wide skeletons not overweight birds. Overweight birds have lots of laying issues.

Wide bodies are likely in the Marans standard because the people who originally created the breed weren’t happy with the meat quality of the birds available to them and were intentionally breeding them for table traits. The way a chicken looks in the yard is directly related to the way it looks in the roasting pan.

 

[chrisabney]

Well my bedroom is about 6 acres away from the coop... I have a shotgun I can shoot into the ground, I suppose. I'm far enough from neighbors that it should be fine.

The Bobcat visit was a few minutes before 6am so I was getting ready for work when I saw the camera alert.

6 Acres? How do you get the signal to reach home?

 

[WingItRanch]

6 Acres? How do you get the signal to reach home?

You mean for the cameras? Blink has a new version of camera that has 400 ft range. It works pretty well. Sometimes spotty but better than nothing!

 

[WingItRanch]

Well.. I'm on vacation (first vacation in YEARS and this was planned a long time ago with my mom) and it sounds like things are not going well at home. My partner is in charge of the chickens this week and so far he forgot to let them out and forgot to collect eggs yesterday until after dark when (of course) the mama and her babies were covering one of the egg boxes.

Today he did let them out but he just texted me thay he's been trying to get them back to the coop for 30 minutes. They either "won't listen" or are running from him.

I told him to shake the treat bucket. He says he tried that and it only worked on half of the flock. I asked him "why are they running from you? Are you chasing them...?" He says "I'm just guiding them from behind."

I don't even know what to say... I have to say thank you, I guess.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don't even know what to say... I have to say thank you, I guess.

That’s all we can say. Mine is equally hapless. A few weeks ago he locked all the chickens OUT of the coop instead of in.