[jonny1982]

I would like some people to give me some tips on what i should use to fatten up birds for the table?

Thanks

[babe]

stuffing them usually pooofs them out a bit  

[jonny1982]

I could try that!

[Jellyhead]

       

[GrannieAnnie]

Ours are fed on chick crumb for the first 4 weeks, rearer until they are 1 week off killing, then put onto finisher, plain finisher doesn't have any anti coccidial or anything in it, but they also get greens and corn same as our other chooks,

[jonny1982]

Thanks GrannieAnnie Im getting mine tomorrow at 7 weeks old so they are ready for the table from now onwards. They are cobbs so they grow real quickly

[ck2day]

At what age do you kill them grannie?  i have 6 Black Maran eggs under a broody hen due to hatch this weekend.  If any are cocks we wont be keeping them and if I can't find a home for them we may well be having them for sunday lunch.  

Was wondering if anyone has had Marans as a table bird.  Am hoping they will all be girlies (that is if any of them hatch) but am perfectly aware that there is a good chance that they could all very well be boys!  I don't do waste so don't really want to kill any boys and just throw the body away.

hope this doesn't sound like I am only hatching them on the spur of the moment, I ave thought long and hard before we got the eggs for one of the Amberlinks to sit on.  As i said i don't like waste and would rather use and unwanted boys for my lunch than see them go in the bin!

Any advice would be grateful

Claire

[woodburner]

All chickens are edible, it's just a mattter of how much meat you want on them

[jonny1982]

ck2day marans are good for the table but i belive they are a slow growing breed taking at least 6 months to reach a reasonable size.
When your chicks hatch and grow its possible though very unlikely that all of them will be cocks. On average i fine that you get 1 cock to 3/4 hens.
But with the marans although ive never tried one are meant to be good for the table but could take a while to reach a good size

[ck2day]

Woodburner/jonny1982.

Thankyou for the info,  hopefully I wont get 6 cocks from my eggs but you never know.  I will just have to wait and see what hatches. apart from which it is going to be a long time before I can tell what sex they are anyway!  

I did look in my books last night about sexing chicks and am still non the wiser, so am going to wait it out and see which ones grow spurs or crow!!!!

Will post pics if and when they arrive

Claire

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Claire, sorry I've only just caught up with this one!  Personally I know nothing about Marans, but they would be slower growing than the meat chicks.  The longest growing meat chicks we have are the Mastergris which go up to 16 weeks.

But with Marans (if any are cockerals) you maybe better waiting until they are about 6 months like Johnny said.  Munty is the person to ask answer this one!

Watch their combs, usually the cockerals combs grow quicker than the hens.  With the meat chicks, we could tell the cocks and hens apart several weeks ago!  They are 10 weeks old now

But hope they are all hens!!!!!

[Foxy]

At what age do you kill them grannie?  i have 6 Black Maran eggs under a broody hen due to hatch this weekend.  If any are cocks we wont be keeping them and if I can't find a home for them we may well be having them for sunday lunch.  

Was wondering if anyone has had Marans as a table bird.  Am hoping they will all be girlies (that is if any of them hatch) but am perfectly aware that there is a good chance that they could all very well be boys!  I don't do waste so don't really want to kill any boys and just throw the body away.

hope this doesn't sound like I am only hatching them on the spur of the moment, I ave thought long and hard before we got the eggs for one of the Amberlinks to sit on.  As i said i don't like waste and would rather use and unwanted boys for my lunch than see them go in the bin!

Any advice would be grateful

Claire

Bodger could probably sex your marans chicks -I sent him a photo of my one maran chick -and yes Bodger was spot on! How do I know? it was crowing this morning!!!