Yesterday I made the long trip into Florence, Montana to pick up some Marans eggs. Marans are the chickens that lay really dark chocolate eggs and I've been wanting more than just two chicks out of the hatches. The person who gave them to me is a friend and she warned me that a little Minorca Bantam rooster got in with the hens at one point. She thought it was unlikely he could've mated with the full sized hens, but I've always felt that nature has a way of messing up our best attempts.
So, she gave me the eggs free. I'm willing to see if I end up with half bantam Minorcas and half Marans for the price of waiting and a little electricity. ("If they have white earlobes, you'll know...") So, now I have a bunch of eggs in the incubator. To this end, I added a schedule to the right so you can follow along on all the fun.
I think that's it for hatching this year -- unless I don't get more turkeys!
It is fun to see what hatches. though diappointing when they all turn out to be roosters. I am still trying to decide if one out of the five hatches form this summer is a hen before I send them all away.
ReplyDeleteIf one of the broody's here is successful, we will have a hatch next week too. They would all be crazy mixes w/ an araucana father! Hope you get your Maran's! The one in the pic is a nice looker...a bantam?
You should get about a half and half. I don't remember if you're vegetarian or not (I suppose I could look) but roosters will make good meals if you aren't.
ReplyDeleteHow old are your birds? If you showed me some picts I could maybe tell you if they were roos or hens.
The bird in the pict is a Minorca. They're pretty birds, but they lay white eggs, which is sort of not the way I'm going.