Our Marans chicks are six weeks old, and have turned from fluff balls to proper little chickens.
I’m new to the whole chicken breeds thing, but Marans seems to be particularly variable, and we have three types of chicks emerging from their downy coats; four black, four cuckoo grey, and two wheaten. You can see the three types in the main photo.
I’m also new at sexing them, but it looks like we have four cockerels, going from their combs and wattles. The wheaten cockerel (brown head in the main photo) looked like a male from when he was a little chick, and the first to get a comb, but some of the others have kept me guessing.
The hen is doing a great job at keeping them safe and showing them the ropes. My mother warned me that 10 hatchlings doesn’t necessarily mean 10 chickens, as they tend to come to misadventure, meet crows, etc, but so far so lucky, and they are getting big enough to run off pretty quickly now.
I’ve been careful to handle them, as I’ve read that Marans can be a bit difficult if not used to handling. It’s worked, and they let me (and the dog) get pretty close, and are easy to catch when they’re in the pen. They complain, but it’s all part of the routine.
I’ve been feeding them commercial chick starter, for security, but I’ve been reading online suggestions for home made mix. Maybe I’ll try that next time. They get to free range all day between feeds, and seem to be putting on good weight.
Next step in a couple of weeks will be to move them up to the main pen. They’ve been in a small shed to keep them separate from the main flock, but the foster hen has been careful to introduce them to the rest when their ranges overlap, and has even taken them up near the main coop. There doesn’t seem to be hostility there, but I’ll be careful to introduce a new perch to the henhouse when I move them up, so they don’t invade established roosts.
What with the old hens being so broody and temperamental about laying, it will be nice to have a half dozen proper layers in a couple more months, and their foster hen back on the job.