Our second hatch of 2017 resulted in Easter Egger, Oliver Egger, White Leghorn, and Delaware chicks.

DEVELOPING

Candling an egg on Day 5. This egg looks good. You can see the embryo in the middle surrounded by blood vessels. You can also see the air cell at the top of the egg.

Both our egg turners have quit working. So, I set these eggs right in the incubator and turned them by hand.

HATCHING

One egg pipped!

CHICKS!

I adore this one. It has a unique pattern for our flock.

White Leghorns

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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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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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