.When a second of our Maran hens went broody a few weeks ago Jeremy sent away for some fertile Maran eggs to put under her.  At the same time another of our Marans was sitting on some fertile Silkie eggs laid here at The Gables by our own birds.  Those chicks hatched successfully and are doing brilliantly.  The bird sitting on the “mail order” eggs eventually pushed them out of the nest after just one little Maran chick had hatched.  As I looked at that chick today I realized that this chick is not a Maran but a Silkie and we must have had a spare egg that we had put under this hen alongside the “bought in” eggs.  No more eggs by post next year – just good old Gables eggs.  We might even put a goose egg under a broody Maran next year and hope to hatch a gosling.