Maran - a breed of chicken meat and egg direction with a very unusual exterior. This unpretentious bird can be kept both in the aviary and in free range. Breeding chickens of this breed, among other things, is a rather profitable business. Read about how to care for maranas properly in this article.
Exterior Features
Maran - a breed of chickens bred in France in 1895, in the city of the same name. These are quite large and at the same time quite graceful birds. Their plumage can have a different color. In any case, most farmers find this breed very beautiful. The original exterior is one of the main reasons for its extraordinary popularity.
On farms, birds of the silver cuckoo color, black-copper maran, golden cuckoo, wheat, white can be raised. The body of this breed of hens is high and horizontal. Since the plumage of the marans is very tight to the skin, they do not form excess fluff. A fairly simple scallop with 5-7 cloves in hens can hang to one side.
Maran rooster gains weight up to 4 kg, chicken - up to three. The plumage is dense, and therefore the birds tolerate winter very well. The eyes of the chickens have an interesting red-orange color. The presence of a feather on the thigh and on the outer claw is also considered a sign of the breed. Maranas legs are mostly white. Sometimes they are covered with gray or dark spots.
"Easter eggs
As you can see, the bird is very beautiful. But not only this is different maran. Hens, the description of the breed of which was given above, among other things, also carry a lot of eggs. They are also unusual for marans. Their shell has a rich chocolate color. That is why in France a bird of this breed is called a "chicken laying Easter eggs." The reasons for this phenomenon are quite simple. Passing along the laying ovary, the egg is covered with a layer of brown pigment. If you wipe the shell with a cloth, it will become a little paler.
As for the size, the eggs of the maranas are quite large. Their weight can reach up to 100 g. The French believe that the eggs of chickens of this breed never become infected with salmonella. The thing is their very thick shell. If we talk about the taste, then the eggs of maranas they are just excellent. This is another reason for the popularity of the breed.
The eggshell can be not only dark brown, but also have lighter shades. In general, maranas are very interesting and unusual hens. The photos on this page confirm this fact more than convincingly.
Marano breeding
Hen eggs give quite a lot - up to 200 pieces per year. Of course, only subject to proper maintenance and feeding. In winter, to increase egg production, the bird should be provided with a 10-11 hour light regime. The air temperature in the barn should not fall below 15 degrees heat. To withdraw chicks in the spring, experts recommend selecting only eggs that have a chocolate color. It is believed that from them it is possible to obtain individuals with pronounced breed characteristics. Some farmers leave eggs under layers, others use an incubator. The breeding method is not of fundamental importance. Although the second method is considered more convenient, but only because the use of an incubator allows you to leave the chicken “free” and, accordingly, get a little more eggs. However, chickens will, of course, develop better with a hen.
The shell of the eggs of the maran, as mentioned above, is very thick and strong. Therefore, it is very difficult to punch her chickens. To help them, in the last days before hatching in the incubator, you need to increase the humidity (up to 75%). In this case, there will be no problems with the kids going out.
Feeding hatched chicks
As already mentioned, maran - a breed of chickens is not too whimsical. Feeding healthy, strong chickens will not be difficult. At first they are given only boiled yolk and cottage cheese. From 3-4 days they begin to accustom to coarser food - finely crushed corn groats or millet. The first week the babies are fed 5-6 times a day, trying to give exactly as much food as they can eat. Sliced eggs and curd are added every two hours. Up to 3 days, chickens should be fed at night. On the sixth day, crushed shells and grated shell or ash are introduced into the diet. After ten days, the frequency of feeding is reduced to 6 times, and a little later - to four.
How to feed grown chickens
Finely chopped nettles, carrots, alfalfa and clover can already be added to the diet of a week and a half brood. Before feeding herbs should be scalded with boiling water. With beets, it is advisable to wait until one month of age, as it weakens the digestive system. You can also give boiled potatoes, boiled meat and fish waste and chopped meal.
To potable water 2-3 times a week you need to add potassium permanganate (very little, until a very pale pink color is obtained). Be sure to put in the barn a box of sand and fine gravel. Maran chicks peck them willingly enough, since hard particles contribute to better grinding of food. Starting from the fourth month, the brood can be transferred to an adult diet.
Maran Chick Care
So, the Maran breed ... Chickens (the description is presented at the beginning of the article), as a rule, hatched chickens are usually dark in color. Caring for the chicks of this breed - the procedure is also not too complicated. In the case of breeding in an incubator, immediately after hatching, the chickens are kept in a box with a waffle towel covered with the bottom. The legs of 2-3-day-old babies are very weak. Textiles at the bottom will prevent them from slipping. From above, the box must be covered with a metal grill, with an incandescent bulb inserted between its rods. Its power can be changed depending on the air temperature in the room. The main thing is for the kids to be warm and not to pile up in heaps. The air temperature in the box in the first days should be kept at 30 ° C. Then it is reduced by 2 degrees per day.
At a weekly age or a little later, small marans can already begin to accustom to the street. To do this, they - right in the box - are taken out into the fresh air for several hours a day. After another week, you can transfer the chickens to the barn, taking home only for the night. It is advisable from time to time to let them run around the yard. At the age of one month, chickens can be completely transferred to the barn. Release them "for a walk" continue, but always under supervision. Some farmers just put the grown chickens in some brood with their own brood. Free-range bird can be transferred at two to three months of age.
What should be a barn for maran
Of course, maran is a breed of chickens that requires a special room for breeding. It is best to erect a shed from a bar or make a frame-panel board. In such a chicken coop, the bird will be warmer in the winter. Its height should not exceed 1.8 m. It will also allow you to save more heat in the cold season. A mandatory element of any chicken coop is a window leaf or a small window. For good development, the bird needs an influx of fresh air.
Of course, absolutely any chickens like to take a walk on the street (you can see the photos of marans exploring the earth in search of worms above). Therefore, near the chicken coop, you should definitely equip a walking yard. You can simply put poles around the perimeter and fit them in a 1.5-meter-wide chain-link. A manhole is made in the wall of the chicken coop adjacent to the courtyard. In summer it is kept open, in winter it is covered with insulated shields. Both in the chicken coop and in the courtyard you need to fill perches.
The floor in the barn is best made wooden or adobe. It is allowed to fill it with concrete. From above, the henhouse floors are spread with shredded straw and hay or sawdust. If the litter is very thick (up to 0.5 m), in the winter the shed can even not be heated. In this case, various kinds of microorganisms develop in hay or sawdust. As a result of their vital activity, the temperature inside the litter can rise to 30-35 degrees Celsius.
How to make nests
Breeding laying hens as a business, and also only to meet the needs of only their family, is a procedure that requires the installation of nests, perches and feeders in a convenient design in the barn. How to assemble them and where to place them? Nests hang over perches in secluded places. Their bottom must be laid with hay. Five to six layers should have one nest each. To make the chicken more comfortable, the entrance must be made not less than 25x25 cm in size. The nest itself should have a height of 35 cm, and a width and depth of 30 cm. Before entering, you need to build a shelf for take-off. The roof of the nest is usually made inclined (at an angle of 45 degrees). In this case, the hens do not sit in it constantly and do not stain the litter with litter.
What should be perches
The number and length of perches is calculated based on the fact that about 20 cm of space is required for each chicken. For their manufacture, poles with a diameter of about 6 cm are used. Perches need to be located on the side opposite from the window, at a height of about 1.2 m. This is necessary in order to ensure a convenient take-off for the bird and to protect it from drafts.
Feeding Adult Marans
Laying hens, the content of which is a procedure in any case not too complicated, should receive enough feed for better egg production. For good development, rams should be given concentrated feed and mash mashines. To prepare the latter, it is worth equipping two tables at once. One of them - summer - is installed outside the barn next to the wall. The second - winter - is inside it. Above the tables you can drive a gravel nail.
Like all chickens, maranas are omnivorous birds with a short digestive tract. Two-thirds of their diet should be concentrated feed (grain, crushed). In addition to them, chickens are given a lot of greens, food waste, meat and fish meal, as well as various kinds of additives containing minerals. Of course, the Maran breed, like any other, will develop well and be carried only if the diet is sufficiently diverse.
These chickens are usually fed three times a day. In the morning they give grain mixed with mixed feed. In the afternoon - about 3 hours - mixers are laid in the feeders. Their composition may be different. Kneading is done in a large basin. You can pour a little water on its bottom and soak slices of white bread in it. Then add bran, grated carrots, apples, potatoes, beets, zucchini, chopped cabbage and nettles, etc. In the evening, grains should be poured into the feeders again. You need to give so much that the marans eat all completely.
Meat or fish meal should be added to the mash or grain. This will contribute to better egg production. Fishmeal can be replaced with boiled fish. Such an additive is usually cheaper.
Feeders
Laying hens, the maintenance of which on personal farms requires primarily proper feeding, should receive food from containers of a convenient design. The feeders are usually made of wood or tin. The second option is preferable, since in this case the containers will be easier to wash and disinfect. Below you should definitely fill your legs. In this case, you need to choose their length correctly. It should be such that the feeder itself is at the height of the bird's back. In this case, the spread of feed will be minimal.
Maranas hens (photos and descriptions are on this page), like birds of any other breed, love to climb into the feeders with their legs. Therefore, a spinner is installed on top of a container under the grain and mixers. Such a device will not allow them to do this. They make a spinner from a thick pole, fixing it on two vertical bars in such a way that it rotates around its axis.
As a drinking bowl, a cast iron, a saucepan, a small bucket can serve. In winter, a container is dug into the litter. This will prevent freezing of water.
How to cook compound feed for maran
Breeding laying hens as a business, of course, requires regular feed suppliers. In this case, the feed is purchased ready. However, when breeding maran, it’s simply easier and cheaper to cook it yourself. Often, the purchased option is not of very good quality and, when purchased at retail, is quite expensive. Therefore, many farmers prefer to do it themselves: for four buckets of barley they take a bucket of oats and wheat. You can add a little pea to the mixture.
Ash baths for chickens
Farmers involved in breeding maran are advised to put a box of ash or sand in the chicken coop for them. These hens really like to "swim" in them. Such "baths" will not only give the bird pleasure, but will also be useful in terms of the destruction of various parasites in the feathers.
As you can see, the Maran breed really deserves the attention of our summer residents and farmers. These chickens have very good egg production. Yes, and they grow fast enough. At the same time, the taste qualities of both eggs and meat are simply wonderful.