Marans

Business partner tried to make these work, they are nice birds but the egg color is not really worth it. Why are they rated as cold hardy? Their huge single combs get frostbite at the first sign of dropping temperature. Egg color is pretty but don't be fooled they don't all lay that dark of egg and many auction photos are taken in lighting or against blue or yellow background to make the eggs look darker, too bad. Crosses from them were exceptional meat birds but the purebreds take way too long to fill out.

I have some eggs in the bator! Can't wait to see these guys! I've heard they are sweet!

I love my Marans! She is a beautiful bird and leaves me a beautiful brown egg every one to two days. A great addition to any flock!

I absolutely LOVE my blue copper marans. They are the best birds ever. They grow fast, it took mine a little longer than usual to start laying, but once they do they produce big beautiful chocolate colored eggs. The roosters grow fast enough that they make an excellent dual purpose bird. They're friendly and not at all flighty, in fact - I think mine are literally too heavy to jump the fence that my Ameraucanas have no problem flying over. I can't say enough good things about them.

Just got 2 Blue Copper Marens Roos, beautiful boys....Betsy and Blue, they thought Betsy was a girl, turns out he's more of a Bob

I bought 2 FBCM from a breeder and ended up with one hen and one rooster. They kept to themselves and never mixed much with my other chickens. Unfortunately a fox got them. I went back to the same breeder and got two more. I ended up with one hen and one rooster. Again, these kept to themselves. When my rooster reached sexual maturity he took a liking to my brown leghorn. I guess you could say she was his main squeeze. Any ways, they got along better with the other chickens once they got older. Unfortunately, my rooster was killed by my dogs. I still have my hen, Louise, who just started laying. She gives me lovely dark brown almost red eggs and is a steady layer. I think these eggs have a better taste than the others almost nutty but maybe that's what she's been eating. She is a good forager and does well free ranging and cooped. She is finally getting close to me but still wont eat out of my hand like the rest of the chickens do. I think their eggs make great additions to your basket.

i got these bcm hatching eggs by fluke. Im sure glad i did now the ones i have are very big, my one male is very friendly and is becoming more a pet. I butchered some of the other males and had most of the weigh in at 5lbs after butcher. cant wait to do more of this breed and mix some of my amaricanas with him.

We have only had our marans for a short while, however they are already very friendly and have there own very different personalities. We have a cockerel and two hens and they are all very friendly. We have hatched them our self and they were easy to look after, they are hardy and need and we have never had a problem with them. They are a brilliant bird that I would recommend to anyone.

My BCM hens are very docile, they love to be around me while I'm working my garden. I can call them from 30 yards away and they come running full speed. I discovered my girls love it when I drop a running hose on the ground, I think mine are part Duck. My Rooster is massive and very dense, he's more on the standoffish side and very protective over his girls although he's never been aggressive toward people. My only regret is I don't have 20 of these birds. Mine lay between a 6-7 on the egg color chart. I was very blessed to get mine from the area president of the Marans Club, I have a documented blood line from Bev Davis stock.
BTW don't skimp if you plan on owning these birds, buy from a reputable breeder! Spend the extra cash so your not disappointed down the road.

Excellent birds, highly recommended!

We have three from this amazing breed. We have the french standard with the feathered legs and toes. Our two pullets are very friendly. The male however can be somewhat aggressive but overall I wouldn't trade him for the world. If you want deep dark chocolate colored eggs go with the Maran breed! The only drawback I've seen is wishing they would lay a few more eggs than they do. The average in laying eggs for us is 3 per week per pullet at this time. The maran egg is highly sought after by top chefs!

I purchased 6 chicks and ended up with 3 roos and 3 pullets. They free range very well but the only concern I have is the roos are forceful on the hens.

just got them but so fatr the most docile chicks Ive ever owned

I have had the pleasure of raising Black Copper Marans, and Blue Copper Marans since 2007. Both lines have been very strong and healthy birds. My marans love to forage along the edge of my ponds where they feed on grass, water bugs, crawfish, minnows or anything that wiggles. They will often wade out in water to the top of their legs when on the hunt. My other breeds won't go in the water like the Marans do. They are very fond of swampy or marshy environments.

Anytime there is Hawks, Eagles, or ground predators in the area, they'll sense it and go in the barns. I have had so many other breeds I can't name them all, but none have been as hardy as my Marans.

I have had 90 to 95 % hatch rates on my French Black Copper Marans with a 6:1 ratio, 6 hens per rooster.

The hens do fairly good laying in winter months here in south Louisiana, however in hard freezing cold I sometimes see a slack in eggs. but never had them completely stop laying. I find Marans produce close to the amount of eggs as my Buff Orpingtons, but the rich taste of the dark eggs is worth the difference.

I bought 2 hens, which turned out to be roos. The roos like to try to dominate everything smaller than themselves and I think they blinded one of my Russian Orloff hens. They are a bit cowardly if anything stands up to them. Right now they run in terror when the Guineas come into the coop. Apparently they learned the hard way that Guineas can beat the heck out of them.

My black copper marans is great. Can't wait for eggs! Will keep you posted!

I just got mine and they are only 8 weeks old so I can not say anything about egg appearance or frequency of laying, all I can say is they are BEAUTIFUL. I have only had them for three days now and they love being held and petted.

I would absolutely love to have these super cool birds! They lay these awesome eggs that range from a sort of really light brown to just, almost black kind of super deep brown, which I think is pretty awesome!

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).

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