Marans are a heavy, dual purpose bird. They are generally raised for their dark brown egg, but also make a good meat bird.

Marans are named after a port town in France. Over the centuries local birds were bred with birds brought from seaman coming to port. The modern Marans breed began development in the 1800’s and was adopted into the French standard in 1931. Black Copper Marans were accepted into the American Poultry Association standard in 2011.

The French standard has nine recognized color varieties:
Silver Cuckoo
Golden Cuckoo
Black
Black Copper
Birchen
Wheaten
Black-tailed Buff
White
Columbian

As of 2017, The American Poultry Association has 3 recognized color:
Black Copper
Wheaten
White

Of these recognized varieties, we have had two. Plus two varieties not in the standards. The information on this page is based on my knowledge of the varieties we have raised.

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Weather

Most of August was warm, dry & uneventful. However, one night there was a fantastic lightning show that I really could have enjoyed had I not been so nervous about the trees around our house catching on fire. Here in the PNW we get thunder & lightning. But no real great show. It lasts a few minutes and moves on. This time it went on strike after strike for a couple hours straight. I spent those couple hours in awe of nature’s wonders, but also running through my mind the course of events that needed to happen when/if I notice something catch fire. Thankfully, there wasn’t a fire.

Flower Beds

My two favorite plants throughout August had to be lavender & zinnia. To see what else we have blooming check out August’s Bloom Day post.

Goats

Between a garden bed & one side of the goat fence I planted sunflowers & zinnias. They don’t have near the wowing effect I was going for. But, those plants that did grow are pretty – although, kinda on the short side. Truthfully, though, even the weeds don’t grow great in this spot.

The goats favorite item to munch on throughout the day is anything outside their fence. They squeeze their heads through the fence and gobble away. Knowing this, I planted the sunflowers & zinnias just out of their reach. Bahaha! I also purposely left weeds growing between the seeds I planted & the fence. I was hoping they would eat the weeds as opposed to my flowers. I do believe these tactics worked. Yes!

Chicken Keeping

All those chicks we hatched earlier this year are keeping us mighty busy. 70ish growing chickens eat, drink & poop… a lot. I plan to bring the majority of them to the Oregon Poultry Swap in October.

Such a handsome fella.

I bred Easter Eggers with our Splash Marans hoping to get some lighter feathered Olive Eggers.

Black Copper Marans chick

BCM trying to get a nibble of watermelon.

Apparently it wasn’t the goats I had to worry about eating my zinnias.

The chickens also enjoy picking their own tomatoes.

Our middle kid, Farm Kid2 & our daughter, Farm Girl, entered eggs in the county fair. Both won a blue ribbon. Way to go kids!

Wildlife

Lots of stinging type flying critters around these days.

Northern Alligator Lizard

Rufous Hummingbird
Unfortunately, Farmer John found this one dead with its wings & tail feathers spread out. I took the opportunity to examine just how pretty its feathers really are.

Pond

Except for a few decorative aspects and a bridge connecting the pathway the pond is complete.

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We have had a number of people ask about our Blue Marans. In answer to that question here is a quick post on how we produce these dark brown egg layers.

Blue Marans are not listed in the French or American standard.

Blues do not breed true, meaning breeding two Blues does not always result in Blue chicks. The Blue gene is dominant and dilutes black pigment. It can dilute the black to a gray(Blue) color. It can also dilute even further producing a white bird with the occasional blue feather, a coloring known as Splash. This dilution does not effect the gold/red pigments. Therefore, any copper coloring will stay.

The Making of Our Blue Marans

Daddy is a Splash Marans & the mom’s are Black Copper Marans. A Splash crossed with a Black Copper results in Blue Copper Marans.

They are a handsome foursome.

Incubating Eggs

The Black Copper Marans hens layed these dark brown eggs, which were then placed in the incubator.

21 days later we had baby Blues.

Newly Hatched Chicks

So stinking cute! About 85% of ours hatch with feathers on their shanks.

The Awkward Stage

Pullet & Cockerel

Not Yet a Year Old

Our Blue Copper Marans Eggs

The pullets have recently started laying these beautiful eggs.

We kind of stumbled across Marans by pure luck. I’m glad we did. Although they aren’t my favorite breed, they are a great addition to our poultry park.

When they are laying, they are consistent. But when they decide not to lay, this can go on for quite some time.

Our Marans tend to go broody a lot. However, they are horrible at caring for their little ones. I’ve banned all our Marans from sitting on eggs. If we want Marans chicks, we use the incubator.

Of course, my favorite thing about Marans are the lovely chocolate brown egg they lay.

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