Egg color and shade is like practically any other trait with chickens. Unless the person that selects which chickens get to breed and reproduce specifically target a trait, that trait is generally weakened through the generations. Different hatcheries use different people to select which chicken get to breed. Different individuals are going to use different criteria and different methods in determining which chickens get in their breeding/laying flock. Some hatchery Marans’ eggs will be darker than others.
If you go with a breeder, you need to know what that breeder is selecting for. Some are only going to breed for the traits the judge sees if they are trying to breed grand prize winners. A judge does not see the color or shade of the egg the hen lays. Some breeders do include egg shade and color in their criteria and will consistently produce really dark eggs. If you want dark eggs I’m not going to say “find a breeder”. I’m going to say “find a breeder that is breeding for what you want”. Sometimes it helps to see the color of egg the chick was hatched from.
I fully agree with Rainbowrooster. The darkest egg a hen will lay is either their very first egg when they start as a pullet or the first egg after a molt. The brown color is made from recycled dead red blood cells. That raw material is always available. But for some reason the longer a hen lays the lighter the egg often becomes. It’s as if she stockpiles a certain chemical when she is not laying to convert those dead blood cells and gradually depletes that supply the longer she lays. By the end of the laying cycle and just before the molt some hens will lay eggs that are a whole lot lighter than when they started. Do not expect those eggs to get any darker.
