Experience With French Marans?

[jus10inla]

I never purchased from him but talked several times about his marans.

I have a couple of Mashburn BCM. That i got fro my marans dealer. Look up Causey Coops in Pride La. Just north of baton rouge

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I never purchased from him but talked several times about his marans.

I have a couple of Mashburn BCM. That i got fro my marans dealer. Look up Causey Coops in Pride La. Just north of baton rouge

Thank you, I will do that.

 

[3KillerBs]

@3KillerBs has some Marans

My French Cuckoo Marans are from Ideal. Alas, they are no longer carrying them. I was going to get more and get males for breeding this spring.

They lay lovely dark eggs for hatchery birds.

 

[Folly's place]

Mine are from Cackle, both wheaton and black copper colors. a friend has a cuckoo hen, also from Cackle. All are sweet, large, lovely birds, laying chocolate eggs. Not huge numbers of eggs per year, but still very worth while, IMO.
Sorry, no pictures, but nice birds.
Mary

 

[Cecisflock]

Mine are from Cackle, both wheaton and black copper colors. a friend has a cuckoo hen, also from Cackle. All are sweet, large, lovely birds, laying chocolate eggs. Not huge numbers of eggs per year, but still very worth while, IMO.
Sorry, no pictures, but nice birds.
Mary

We have 2 buff brahmas from Cackle. Lilac got 4th place asiatic at the county fair last year, which was super impressive because there was an actual brahma breeder there with about 10 of them!!

 

[Cecisflock]

It just depends on what you plan on doing with them.

Showing and pets.

 

[Folly's place]

I don't show, so not a lot of help there. our Cackle birds have been pretty nice, look like the breeds they represent, but as far as SQ, don't know.
Mary

 

[HiEverybirdy]

When it doesn't refer to SOP, I thought hatcheries were responsible for putting the "French" in "French Marans" to refer to feathered feet, but I'm not the keeper of facts

We have 5 Marans (4 Black Copper, 1 Blue Copper) from Rising Phoenix in upstate South Carolina. They're 8 months now. Relaxed, aloof, top of the pecking order, not loud. The eggs are beautiful. Heather breeds for US SOP (I don't show; just wanted to work with dedicated local breeders instead of hatcheries), so they have feathered legs. The feathering is lighter than our Brahmas.

Two are cockerels. Neither would be SOP, but their personalities are very good. The blue one, Merle Hagbird, is the smartest chicken I've ever met. He does complex problem solving and is clicker trained. Meanwhile, Andre the Giant Chicken makes up in size what he lacks in intellect. It doesn't show in photos, but he's massive and has been since the brooder.

They're not particularly loud, but Merle did start crowing at 3 weeks old! He taught Andre by 5 weeks. Pretty funny to be woken up by the chicks every morning.

 

[LabMomma]

Anyone have any experience with French Marans? I adore feathered feet and I stumbled across these beauties! How do they do with your other flock members? Where did you source them? Did you show them? Are they friendly? Anything you have I will take.

I have 2 FBCM. They are wonderful! They are extremely friendly and don’t mind at all being held. They get along great with the rest of my flock. I highly recommend them! The only thing is, you might have to occasionally trim their butt feathers, because they are really long and fluffy and get poop stuck on them easily. Other than that, they are great and so amazingly in cold and hot weather!

 

[3KillerBs]

The only thing is, you might have to occasionally trim their butt feathers, because they are really long and fluffy and get poop stuck on them easily.

My FCMs' foot feathers are nowhere near as long and fluffy as the Brahma's or Cochin's foot feathers -- which is appropriate for the Marans standard.

IMO, it's much better to raise feather-footed breeds on sandy, well-drained soil so that you don't have to deal with mud.