Cuckoo maran behavior and add anomaly??

[Quackwacker]

Strange things? We decided to get 6 cuckoo maran pullets from the local feed store last summer. We saw that people really loved the deep dark brown of the eggs. We decided we would eventually get a roo and sell them as hatching eggs as well. We have yet to get a roo for the ladies. They are laying well and people love the eggs. So here’s the question, are they supposed to be a “rude” breed? We have many other breeds and I have ones i like better than others but I have yet to find a breed I just can’t stand. These ladies are getting close to being there tho. They peck their eggs and break them, making such a mess of the nesting boxes. They will even get In my face and peck the eggs as I am collecting. They are not shy. They walk right over me as I’m feeding them and getting eggs. It’s almost intimidating they way they walk up my arm as I am tending to them. I don’t think I like it. Is this normal for this breed?

Now the anomaly. Remember we have no rooster for them. They are completely separate in those own coop. Just six hens. Their eggs appear to be fertile, the first time I noticed the is I thought I must be mistaken or got those eggs mixed up, even tho those eggs are very distinctive. So I collected again and checked. More fertile eggs. I must be tripping. I have no idea what is happening. They are definitely all hens with no access to a rooster. I’m thinking about putting some of the eggs in the incubator to see what happens. I’ll try and get a good pic of the ladies tomorrow and the egg I crack in the morning that appears fertile.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would love to see a picture of your birds, and what appears to be fertile eggs.

I'm not a big fan of the breed myself. They are aloof, and I didn't find them very personable. They have a few good things going for them. They are good foragers, dark eggs, and don't require extra care like some breeds, plus they aren't prone to going broody.

 

[Bonkerelli]

I have one Cuckoo maran hen and a rooster how's half plus others I've had/have that are half as well. I have noticed they do like pecking eggs and can be bullies. If those hens do not have a rooster their eggs are not fertile. Unless there is a wild rooster running around or you have guineas.. a male guinea could mate with a chicken.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a couple French Cuckoo Marans from Ideal last year (they don't carry the French kind anymore. They're nothing like that at all.

I can't say that they stand out for either docility or dominance, fitting nicely into the pecking order of a mostly Blue Australorp mixed flock. They're very reliable layers and I'm sad that I wasn't able to order more of them (and a male too).

 

[Quackwacker]

I would love to see a picture of your birds, and what appears to be fertile eggs.

I'm not a big fan of the breed myself. They are aloof, and I didn't find them very personable. They have a few good things going for them. They are good foragers, dark eggs, and don't require extra care like some breeds, plus they aren't prone to going broody.

The one pic is from the outside of the “duplex”. On one side we have the RIR Flock, with rooster. There is a wall between them. It’s completely separate. There’s no way he could get near them. There’s two pics of the ladies. A pic of the chocolaty brown egg I cracked from the maran nesting boxes, and two pics of how very fertile that eggs is.

 

[Bonwell]

I loved my cuckoo maran I used to have. Chickens peck and break the eggs sometimes, it's not just a thing with this breed. And the reason they probably run up to you when you're collecting them is because they know that the eggs taste amazing. At least, my flock always does that.

 

[3KillerBs]

The one pic is from the outside of the “duplex”. On one side we have the RIR Flock, with rooster. There is a wall between them. It’s completely separate. There’s no way he could get near them. There’s two pics of the ladies. A pic of the chocolaty brown egg I cracked from the maran nesting boxes, and two pics of how very fertile that eggs is.

There's no sense of scale to that photo. How big is each section of the coop and how many birds?

 

[Quackwacker]

I loved my cuckoo maran I used to have. Chickens peck and break the eggs sometimes, it's not just a thing with this breed. And the reason they probably run up to you when you're collecting them is because they know that the eggs taste amazing. At least, my flock always does that.

My barred rocks break eggs too. They just don’t get in my face. I also have other chickens that will peck the eggs on the carton as I collect. I guess I just don’t like how personal the Marans get.

 

[Quackwacker]

There's no sense of scale to that photo. How big is each section of the coop and how many birds?

6 birds in each section. It’s about 8 feet high, probably about 12 feet long and 8 feet wide. I don’t remember exactly, hubby built it last fall.

 

[Quackwacker]

I have one Cuckoo maran hen and a rooster how's half plus others I've had/have that are half as well. I have noticed they do like pecking eggs and can be bullies. If those hens do not have a rooster their eggs are not fertile. Unless there is a wild rooster running around or you have guineas.. a male guinea could mate with a chicken.

I don’t think a Guinea could get in there. We don’t free range because the coyotes are so aggressive. We lose at least 3 birds a day when we free range, I dont know how anything could get to them.