French Maran Chicks

As if we weren't busy enough, on the weekend we bought a pair of chicks, actually we ended up buying 4 chicks altogether >.< but the other two were from a different "breeder". More on that later.

We bought these French Maran girls from a lovely breeder out in Skye. They were around 4 weeks old and hatched under a silkie hen. Chicks reared by a hen tend to be smaller than chicks reared under a heat lamp. The light from the lamp allows them to eat 24 hours a day, whereas with a hen they sleep throughout the night.

Being only 4 weeks old, they still require heat, so out came the heat mat and the mini shelf from Kmart.  The heat mat is placed on top of the shelf and a piece of old clothing on top of that. The heat mat is not regulated, but the wattage on that mat means that it doesn't get hotter than 37 degrees. The cloth on top helps to keep the heat in and also serves as a warm (not hot!) place to sit on.

The brooder this time is a cardboard box, which we have in abundance from the move. Filled with soft sand and some straw for them to play in on the other side.

I remember that the chicks like to stand pretty much in their food and water, so an anti tip bowl was needed. I got this dual feeder, but quickly realised it is not practical. The water would get fouled up quickly and you can't tip out the water without tipping out the food. So it is just filled with water now and they have a separate bowl for their food.

It looks nice and clean then, but you should see it today, bits of food all over the place! Not to mention poos!

More pics of the chicks. They are wheaten French Marans and when they grow up they will have brown head, wings and saddles, with white/cream plumage below. They also will have some feathering on their feet.

Why did we choose French Marans? Because they are known to produce dark brown eggs and this breeder has been selecting more for egg colour than for plumage. So we should have a selection of coloured eggs!

Being raised by a hen, these two are not that used to human contact. They do like being held, probably because it is nice and warm and cosy.

 Peeking out from a cosy spot.  In case you were wondering what it looked like on the other side...

 

We did buy another two chicks from a different "breeder". It's in inverted commas because she wasn't a breeder, she just onsells chicks from a hatchery from a rather cramped backyard. The chicks were bought were white leghorns. From this place, they were obviously not show quality, but we don't mind the ones that don't look right.  More on the leghorns in the next post.