We have had Black Copper Marans for a few years. They are not my favorite breed. However, they do have a place in our flock.

We breed our Marans based on the French standard, as well as the APA, which means they have feathered shanks and toes.

Coloring

COMB, FACE, EAR LOBES, & WATTLES: bright red
EYES: reddish bay
BEAK: dark horn
BODY, TAIL, & WINGS: black
HACKLE: copper
SHANKS & TOES: slate – lighter on cocks than hens; bottom of feet are pinkish white; feathers are black

Cocks should have copper on the head, hackle, and saddle feathers.

Left: This is a pretty hen with some copper hackle coloring.
Right: This lady is missing copper in her hackle feathers and should not be used for breeding. She still lays a beautifully dark egg, though.

Feathered Shanks

Chicks

About a week and a half old:

A little over 2 weeks:

About 4 weeks:

Hens

They are quite content spending the day foraging.

I’m not going to beat around the bush – Marans are not my favorite chicken breed. They aren’t real friendly, and they get irritated easily. You make one little change to their living environment and they quit laying for what seems like forever.

The two ladies in this photo are broody. In our experience, Black Copper Marans make horrible mothers. I won’t allow them to sit on eggs anymore. Unfortunately, they go broody fairly often during the warm weather months. We break them of it, which then ticks them off, making their egg laying inconsistent.

Even when they aren’t ticked off, they aren’t great layers.

She has a lovely RBF:

Eggs

Marans Eggs. The gorgeous Marans eggs.

The sole reason I have these beautiful, but bitchy, birds is for their dark brown egg.

You will notice these egg photos all have a dark brown egg. However, the darkness varies. The dark brown color can be different based on a few factors including the genetics of the bird and the time of year the egg was laid. Also, the lighting while taking the photos can alter the the appearance of the egg in photographs.

I love the addition of the dark brown egg to our egg basket, or in this case, egg bowl.

The inside of the velvety chocolate brown Marans egg is white?! Yep.

A Marans eggshell is white. The brown pigment is added to the outer shell during the laying process. Since this layer is “painted” on it can sometimes be scratched off, like in the middle egg in the photo below.

Marans Eggs in Paris

While in Paris a couple years ago, we wondered across an outdoor market. Primarily they seemed to be selling birds and flowers. It didn’t take me long to spy Marans hatching eggs for sale. I love that we saw those – combining the love of our farm and our love of traveling.

While Marans are not my favorite breed since they are temperamental and not great layers, I do have an appreciation for their uniqueness. They will be on our farm for quite some time, I’m sure.

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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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White leghorns are another of my favorite birds to have on our farm. They are a basic, no nonsense bird. They rarely cause any trouble. They eat. They lay eggs.

They are on the flighty side, so aren’t the best choice for a pet chicken. But, as part of our barnyard flock they are perfect.

Our birds are not American Poultry Association show quality birds. They are, however, fabulous backyard birds for egg laying & meat purposes.

Chicks

White leghorns are the super cute, pale yellow, fluffy chicks that you can’t resist at the feed store.

Coloring

Comb, face, & wattles: bright red
Eyes: reddish bay
Ear lobes: white
Beak: yellow
Shanks & toes: yellow

Hens

These two are enjoying a refreshing summer drink from our pond.

White leghorns are good foragers.

Of course, they also like kitchen scraps.

Roosters

We have pretty good luck with well behaved roosters on our farm. This guy, however, is on my shit list. He has attacked me.

Outside of his bad attitude, I think he’s quite a handsome fella.

Eggs

The #1 reason to have White Leghorns in your flock is their large, white egg. They are great egg layers, producing 4 or 5 eggs each week. They are such great layers that they are the breed commercial egg producers use for a typical carton of eggs sold to grocery stores.

White Leghorn Bonus

On a personal note – an added bonus the white leghorn has going for it is that it originated from Tuscany, Italy. Swoon! I love to travel. I have made it to Italy once… but not to the Tuscany area. It is a part of the world that is on my must-see bucket list. Maybe I need to go there to do chicken research…

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Our birds are not American Poultry Association show quality birds. They are, however, fabulous backyard birds for egg laying & meat purposes.

Chicks

Adolescent Stage

As with any chicken, this is not the time they look their best.

Pullets & Cockerels (less than one year)

Hens

They are good foragers.

Taking a good dust bath

Roosters

This is a decent looking Rhode Island Red cock. His comb, wattles & face are bright red. His legs are yellow. His sickle feather is greenish black. His feather coloring is not great, though. He’s not as dark as the APA Standard lists. But, none of our RIR’s are show quality dark. There is also a difference in color in his breast and under body compared to his back, neck & saddle feathers.

This handsome guy has a growth on his wattle making him not good for showing or breeding.

Eggs

They are great layers of a lovely brown egg. Often times even during molting and cold weather they continue do a good job of laying.

Chicken Stories

This poor guy was nabbed by a bobcat. Farmer John went outside and scared the bobcat. Thankfully, the bobcat dropped the chicken in the process of running away. There were feathers everywhere and his backside didn’t look good for awhile. But, he survived.

A few years ago, our kids left a small rubber chicken outside. The real chickens were intrigued by it & caused quite a scene as they fought over the silly toy. Of course, they can’t eat a rubber chicken so Farmer John took it away from the ladies.

A Great Overall Bird

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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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