Marans eggs

It's only taken 3 years, but I think I finally have my marans eggs where I want them! We have French Black Copper Marans chickens. Marans lay a beautiful chocolate colored egg made famous by French chefs and of course James Bond! 

Here in the real world one of Mr Bonds omelets would easily cost upwards of $30. Most people don't eat such a pricey egg, they are much more valuable when hatched! 

Chocolate brown Marans eggs

The funny thing about Marans though is that while they start out around 5 months old, laying that lovely dark brown egg....it often fades to a medium brown within a few months. My goal has been to breed a Marans who lays the same color egg throughout her laying career. The eggs in the above picture are from my 1 and 2 year old hens.

I do believe the egg color could be darker, and I'm working on that. These things do take time though and for now, I am thrilled with the progress I have made!

~Lisa

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Silkie Manor & a new goose house!

The Silkies got a new house this summer. I think it suits them, what do you think? We call it Silkie Manor. It was a kids playhouse (originally sold at Sam's club) and we found it on Craigslist. A family was moving and didn't want to move the house with them, so we bought it and brought it home for the Silkies!

Choosing new coops

Hubby wanted it because it's washable. After power washing the wood in the big coop several times, we both were sick of that ordeal! lol So all 10 adults and 13 babies moved into the new house last month. They love it! They have bay windows with perches in front of them. There is a storage window seat for feed containers and such. 

We added in a 3 story ferret cage so the mama hens have a set of 'condos' to brood their babies in (lets just hope they don't all go broody at once, or we'll need more condos!) All we really had to do to convert it to a coop was build a platform for it and add some latches to the doors.

Since the Silkies were getting a brand new house, the Geese wanted one too! Hubby built them a sturdy weather-proof board and batten goose house, complete with tin roof to match the bog coop! It's not stained yet, but they love it just as well. Luckily a goose coop is pretty simple since they don't need much. 

Ivana loves it so much, after her first night in the coop...she started dancing! She's such a pretty little Sebbie!

So now the geese have a new house and pond, the Silkies have a new house....it's time for a new Guinea house. I can't wait to see what the Mr has in mind for this one!!!

Related reading: Funny Chicken Coop Names.

~Lisa

Want information on raising chickens sent right to your email weekly? Click right here to join my list and get new posts sent directly to you the day they're published. You'll also get the free download 25 Ways to save money raising chickens.