Marans are a heavy, dual purpose bird. They are generally raised for their dark brown egg, but also make a good meat bird. Marans are named after a port town in France. Over the centuries local birds were bred with birds brought from seaman coming to port. The modern Marans breed began development in the 1800’s and was adopted into the French standard in 1931.
Happy Spring! We officially made it through another winter. Our winter wasn’t too cold, but it was rainy. Very rainy.
Saturday was the Oregon Fall Poultry Swap in Corvallis. This was our first time being a vendor at the Fall Swap. Although, earlier this year we were vendors at the Spring Swap. We didn’t sell everything we brought, but I am very happy with what we did sell. It was a good day. The customers were friendly & eager to learn about our birds. All
Hatch #8 was our last incubated hatch for awhile. It was a last effort to get a few more Marans. Last year we sold all the chicks we hatched, which meant we didn’t have any left over for ourselves. This year we hatched many more & will keep a few.
MAMA HENS Once again a Black Copper Marans hen went broody. Last time a BCM went broody the outcome wasn’t great, but I decided to give them another shot at motherhood. The broody hen made her nest box in a black plant container in their coop, certainly not an ideal place for a chick. Not long later another hen went broody and thought the same
We’re still hatching chicks. We have one more Marans batch in the incubator now, then I think we’ll be done for awhile. I’m hoping by October we’ll be able clearly identify all the pullets from the cockerels. The pullets will come with me to the Fall Swap. Some of them should even be laying by October. A couple months ago we got another incubator. It
On Saturday a friend & I were vendors at the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap. This was our first time as sellers not buyers. It was a long, yet fun, day starting with my alarm going off at 4:20am. Most of the chicks we’ve been hatching this year came with us to the swap. I was wanting to also bring a few laying hens that hatched
Thursday & Friday more chicks hatched! I’m tellin’ ya, this never gets old. These were the last chicks to hatch before taking part in the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap.
