Marans Reviews

would love to have some chocolate colored eggs to our collection of pink, brown, cream, and green, and blue eggs.

Our rooster is a beautiful bird. He loves being the head of the chicken coop and is a wonderul crower (he crows a lot, all day long).

I love my marans.  The marans are a regal bird with the most beautiful eggs I've ever seen!   I am just entranced by these gorgeous eggs!  Plus the eggs are better tasting than any other egg I've ever tried!  Creamier.  I scoffed at this statement before I tried them but I am a believer now (my husband can't taste the difference, however he can't tell a store egg from a fresh one).

About half my hens do go broody (not at the same time luckily) but I like that and they are not the best choice if you want a hen that is a heavy egg producer (I  average 3 a week from ea hen).  I do get eggs in the winter but it definitely does slow down.  Their coop is insulated (gets below zero here) and I do provide some supplemental light in winter.

I loved my Marans. While they didn't lay as much as my Australorps, they did have good personalities and were very nice to look at.

A roo I handraised and hatched myself was  the best rooster I've ever owned. I still miss my Ashi and regret selling him, but he was simply too big for some of my little hens.

I don't currently have any Marans, but  I want some again!

Bought assorted chicks from tractor supply in 2010. One of them was a Maran hen. Beautiful bird! Great layer but at the time you really coudlnt do anything with them except eat the eggs. So I had to sell her.

I have Black and Blue Coppers. I love these guys but they are not necessarily the easiest birds to raise/keep. I had rapid growth issues with my first hatch (leg problems) but yet they wait until 31 weeks plus to start laying. Plus, because the breed is so new - LOTS of variation in what comes out of the egg. But I am going to stick with them.

Beautiful dark eggs! Calm, friendly. Wish they laid more than 3 eggs a week!

My birds are FBCM and lay beautiful dark brown eggs. They don't lay like my production breeds in that they don't lay very often during the winter months but when those eggs start rolling in they are absolutely beautiful and customers LOVE THEM!

As far as personalities go, they seem a little curious and really don't cause any kind of a ruckus. They mind their own business most all of the time and are really quite. Now when I say that, i am referring to the hens. My roo was straight from the pits of hell.He was VERY aggressive..flogged my wife at every given chance and crowed constantly. Since I live in a rural area, the crowing wasnt a problem..the flogging was! Note that I said "was".

I was finally able to obtain Marans this past year. The chocolate eggs are amazing. The roosters are Gentle Giants. They come in many colors. The large combs can be a problem for frostbite. There are some with leg feathering and some without. It is frustrating that there are different versions of standards. For me as long as they keep laying darker and darker eggs I don't see how looks matter as much if the color of the egg is what originally defined the breed.

The roosters are gentle with the hens and the hens are dedicated layers. Haven't had a problem with any going broody (yet).

Buddy the Birchen Marans says Hello.   (he currently lost his tail in a coyote attack he escaped from, 3 other birds were not as lucky)

We couldn't ask for more from our Marans.  Some began laying as early as 5 1/2 months and they lay beautiful chocolate colored eggs.  They are also one of the quietest chickens we own.

I am not a huge Marans fan.  I tried them  because I was entranced by the egg color but am not impressed.  Yes, the eggs are super dark and gorgeous by my birds are often broody and I have not seen an egg since end of Oct and its now the middle of Jan.  I  will not be getting any more.   When I compare them to my Welsummers, 

i own 2 cuckoo marans, nice big birds, eggs are a nice dark brown colour

Very happy with our Cuckoo Marans.  Showed very motherly instincts from two weeks old, letting newborns crawl under her for warmth.  Content with company or by herself doing her own thing.  Began laying nearly every day at 25 weeks.  Eggs getting darker and larger each day.

I have had cuckoo, black copper and wheaten marans. The cuckoo is my favorite.  She seems short legged, but is incredibly quick on her feet. She has been a very good broody - only goes broody once in the summer, and when she does she sees things through.  The Black Coppers are larger and lay those gorgeous dark eggs but lack the cuckoo's vigor and intelligence. Their persona is more stately. They too make good mothers.  Both types have laid well when they are laying.

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If I had known then what I know now I think I would have passed on my desire for BCMs.  Even from better than average lines hatches were not fantastic.  Found they are not very hardy during winter- frostbite, etc.,  mysterious losses, not to predators, just would keel over with no signs of sickness.  On the plus (when grown) gorgeous eggs, very calm and endearing birds, beautiful to see out in their pens and pasture. 

One word of advice, buy chicks or eggs locally if at all possible.  I think my biggest mistake was trying to hatch shipped eggs, but that was my only option at the time.  you can sink alot of money in eggs with a very small return... 

My next door neighbor had white Marans when I was a child. These birds were much cleaner than our Leghorns, they thrived in the muddy pasture and often hatched chicks. I got interested a few decades back and have every color in the book. They are just plain fun. If there wasn't so much out crossing and false advertising from people trying to make easy money we could have a great breed in the Marans. Unfortunately the Marans craze created a lot of unethical people, who hatched and sold all sorts of substandard stock. Now it is what it is.

I first tried my hand at Marans with shipped eggs and had dreadful results. Of 24 eggs I had only 1 live chick, and it was not a Wheaten Marans as it had been sold. The next attempt was slightly better with three of 12 hatching. Unfortunately, the pullet never laid before mysteriously wasting away. My luck in 2011 improved markedly- 7/12 hatched out of eggs obtained from a different source, I found a breeder shipping live chicks, and had good luck with yet another source of hatched eggs with 4/4 hatching. I've now got a breeding flock of 5 hens (who are laying-yes!!!) and three cockerels to choose from. The most recent hatchlings are 1 cockerel and 3 pullets. The cockerel has good leg feathering and may prove himself to be my foundation sire when at last I can hatch MY OWN WHEATEN MARANS!

i want this

I will probably always have a few Marans because I love the color of the eggs and the amazing richness of them.  But I had no eggs from Sept. through Dec. and had to buy eggs from a local farmer.  I'll get better layers for production, but they won't be as beautiful as the Marans.

They are not a social as my younger Welsummers, but get along well with the flock. One 9 mo. old did just roll over and die two nights ago.  She was fine one minute and then she was gone.

I've raised both blues and wheatens for a couple years. Last fall, due to space, I went down to just Wheatens and then lost both roos to a dog attack. I love the wheaten color, and my birds have had very good dark egg color. Their personalities have been very gentle and calm. The hens forage well. I had broody hens in my blue flock. I will rebuild my wheaten flock.

2 Marans

Great chickens, easy to raise, very good egg production.

I bought eggs and hatched 9 chicks also have 6 coppers in the incubator right now

a very good layer and got her own character 

this is a very good chicken and for me, i think i would say it is 5 stars. it always wants to be the leader, and it makes a good one. it treats the ladies nice, so if you want chicks this is a good chicken for you

My marans have the most interesting crow.  I hope I have a hen in this batch of chicks.  I want dark terracota eggs!

I have had two roosters and a hen (black copper). They are quite beautiful but I had to get rid of the roosters because they make a terrible noise! And I enjoy my other rooster's crows! It was like Ooooooooh- ooooooh- ahhhhhooooh. Really deep and mournful and irritating. They are skittish & flighty. The hen is over 7 months, maybe 8, and has yet to lay. I think if I want chocolate layers I should go with welsummers. But super beautiful, love the feathered legs!!! 

I absolutely love my Marans.

I have french Silver Cuckoos and Blue Coppers and they are the smartest most friendly hens and cocks.

They are my mainstay layers, easily counted on to produce the jumbo to XL dark brown egg.

Chicks hatch easily & are thrifty and healthy.

hens not as broody as other breeds so I can count on these hens to take care of my egg orders.not to mention they are hefty & produce a nice heavy carcass and keep the feed bill paid by eating egg sales year round.   

I live in the suburbs and have a small backyard. I have 2 chickens: a Marans and a Barred Rock. My Cuckoo Marans, Orca, is a very sweet, medium-sized bird. I get a large, dark brown egg from her every day, and a double yolked egg weekly. She isn't the biggest people-chicken, but she isn't too shy either and willingly eats out of my hand. I would highly recommend this breed for backyard flocks. I got her when she was 3 months old, so I don't know what they are like as chicks.

I might be getting a maran soon! The color options I have are: Black Copper (I already have black stars, so I think I won't want one of these), Blue Copper, Splash, or Wheaton.

Which do you think I should get! Post an answer in the comments :)

delicous eggs cute as a button, hardy babies good chick I recommend them for anybody

Its too early to really say, but they seem pretty friendly so far.

I really like my roo he is just the perfect size and he is such a nice polite boy of course he is at that point in his life right now were he has to guard his girls :P so he has attacked me a few times now but I am working on making sure he knows I am the boss not him. But otherwise I really enjoy this guy :))

My BCM hens have a lot of character and are fun to watch interact with nature. They produce dark colored eggs and do so every other day.  They like to voice their opinion and won't hesitate to know other chickens out of the way for meal time - including the roo.  My BCM roo doesn't like anyone messing with his hens and will attack just about anybody that appears to be a threat... he knows not to mess with me though as I am the Alpha! However, because he is aggressive it ensures that the flock is well protected.  I would imagine there are less aggressive BCM roo's as roo's tend to bring on a character entirely of their own regardless of breed.

I have 1 Splash, 1 Blue, and 1 Wheaten Marans from 2 sources. All 3 are great layers, calm and a friendly birds. They do ok in heat and excellent in cold. My goal is to have one hen in every available color since they're just great all-around birds.

You don't have to be very hands on in taming them, they're just naturally calm birds.

Our Marans are good and predictable layers, although they slow significantly in winter. They are calm and mostly quiet, but are sort of standoffish and not as friendly as some of our other breeds.