How can i tell the difference between a black maran and black aussies?

[goldielocks]

I have the black maran, not the black copper marans. They look identical to the black austrolorps. They look so much alike that i thought i might have accidentally gotten black aussies. I was hoping somone could tell me how i could tell the difference.

 

[Krys109uk]

How old are the birds? Really Marans ought to have feathered legs but many do not.
People have told you the main differences; if they are still quite young & the marans have not got feathered legs, they could be difficult to tell apart for quite a while.
When reasonbly well grown they ought to have a completely different shape. Marans ought to mature faster than Australorps. As Backdotte said, the Australorps ought to lay tinted eggs, a very light colour & Marans ought to lay a very dark brown egg, but again this does not help on young birds.
Have you tried comparing pictures from the breed pages on
www.Feathersite.com ?

 

[Ebove06]

I went to a feed store, and got what are supposed to be black copper marans. But they don't have feathered legs and don't have the brownish feathers on their necks. And they havent started to lay yet, so...... How do you tell the difference between a black copper maran pullet and a black australorp pullet?:/

 

[Illia]

Remember folks that it's Marans with the S, singular or plural.

As chicks there's actually no way to tell the difference. When they mature, the Marans should have feathered shanks. A clean shanked Marans that isn't Cuckoo in the US is uncommon but man would I not be surprised if hatcheries started making them more and more common. Body type doesn't matter to be honest. Especially with hatcheries, it doesn't matter. Both will look about the same. Yeah sure the standard asks them to look different, but that's only if you buy exhibition bred birds.

Once they begin to lay, egg color may be different if the Marans are good enough, however I've seen hatchery Cuckoos who lay normal brown eggs.

Black Coppers should have red in the neck but not all do. Straight up Black Marans who are clean shanked? Man, that is a tough one. Normally they may weigh more than a hatchery Aussie, but, who knows anymore. Not I. Your best bet is to wait it out and see how they mature and how they lay.

 

[Ebove06]

Ok, thank you very much:yiipchick

 

[mamatink7]

The Black Marans have feathered legs, a higher tail set , white to grey legs and lay dark brown eggs. Australorps have clean legs,a medium tail set,black legs and lay white eggs

David

black australorp lay brown eggs, marans lay dark chocolate brown