Cuckoo Marans from MM Hatchery....

[Ragdollcatlady]

5 years ago we ordered 5 cuckoo from MM and the eggs were a nice darker medium shade of brown, not as dark as black coppers from breeders but darker than store brown eggs. Our girls layed very well for their first 2 years and even after their molts, we got them back into a nice productive mode. I still have one old cuckoo girl left from them and she is still producing around 3-4 eggs a week. She just doesn't lay as long as the younger birds. If you know to not expect perfection, they should be OK for you. Good luck!
(I meant to say that our chicks from that order layed for almost 2 years straight before their first molt, laying almost a day an egg. the next laying season was about 5 or six eggs a week....still very productive.)

 

[runsw/scissors]

Here are the photos of my chicks...





and another:

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I do not have super high expectations, I just want to get what I ordered...hatchery quality and all, just don't want a fast one pulled on me. I currently have a hen in my flock that I bought as a pullet last year from a gal who ordered from a hatchery ( I am not sure which one) I thought for the longest time she was a barred rock, but now I think she could be a CM. She lays a dark egg, but really does not meet the characteristics of either barred rock or CM. She is the sweetest little thing, knows her name and is always the first to run and meet me. I am not wanting to breed them, nor show them. I just have had a lot of egg customers ask about Marans eggs for color and for eating. I suppose in the long run I may just end up hatching my own from a breeder. More chicken math....bwahahahaha.


Thank you for sharing the pics, they are adorable!

 

[Duramaxgirl]

I had a CM rooster from mcmurray. He was a nice guy and had the white skin and looked like a marans. I watched that Martha Stewart video... she has 196 chickens! And I thought I was chicken obsessed!

 

[Queen of the chickens]

We have have 4 Cuckoo Marans that we ordered from Cackle Hatchery. We also have 3 Barred Rocks from the feed store. We kept the Marans and Barreds separated so we could tell them apart, but it hasn't been that hard. The barred rocks have crisper barring and the cuckoos have wider bands and look "blurred" for lack of a better word. In the sunshine, their black patches have a green glint to them that flash and sparkle as they move. As chicks we thought the name "cuckoo" fitted them well. They were really flighty and easy to startle, very noisy. However, they have earned our devotion by starting to lay in October and continuing right through the winter. Their eggs are darker than our black Maran's, though not as dark as some I have seen. Their eggs have super strong shells, too. They have also settle down and are calm, friendly chickens. They may not line up to be petted, but they aren't the freak show they were when young.

We keep them with our Polish and haven't had any worries about them "picking" at the crests or acting overly dominate. I will hope you end up as happy with yours as we are with ours.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[[[[.........but for real, 20-50 bucks for a single chicken, that is not going to be shown...I don't think so!.......]]]]]]]

Think this through.

For $50 you should be able to get juvenile pullets. A trio of that quality isn't going to cost you more than $120 and you can probably get the birds for less, maybe a lot less.

If the hens are slackers and only lay 150 eggs a year, then with 2 hens, you will get 300 eggs a year. Hatch them all and you've got at least 150 excellent quality purebred hens. Your hens might lay 300 eggs a year apiece, so you would have 600 eggs to hatch and end up with 300 purebred pullets.

If you buy hatchery birds, you can hatch as many eggs as you want and you will still only end up with an entire flock of hatchery quality birds.

If you want those really dark eggs, you need breeder birds.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Now here we go again with chicken math! LOL

I guess you are right, and my only problem with this is having a rooster(s). From the beginning I have really not wanted to deal with them. But as I get more and more into the world of chickens, I see that at some point I may just have to bite the bullet and give in to a rooster. I guess it will all start with asking my Dh for an incubator. I just know that my little flock, that started out as 18, could eventually turn into the "farm" that Martha Stewart was talking about with 196 chickens. LOL. Darn chicken math!