Is this egg really from a Cuckoo Maran?

[EggSighted4Life]

Do their eggs get darker over time, or was I mis-led as to the breed? Physically, she looks like a CM.

Hi there!

I bred Marans for a few years... French Black Copper. First eggs are not considered an accurate representation of their true productive shade and should be about leveled out by egg #20.

Clean legged cuckoo Marans I see all over the place are indeed mostly hatchery birds and also do not *usually* lay dark eggs.

Despite that person having other breeding pairs... wouldn't surprise me, as I see folks order from hatcheries and sell off the extras... my very own friend assumed was a breeder but NO.

I do separate my cockerels and pullets by a specific age... but I still also have a whole pen full of just cockerels the same age as the pullets. Were there extra stags somewhere? If not that's a great indicator of hatchery birds... sexed as pullets.

Despite having separate and secure pens for my breeds, I have had an accidental escape/mating... producing cross breeds that looked VERY close to their original parent and only with huge amounts of discernment was I able to determine it had happened.

The sire's input to the egg shade is key. Improve darkness by adding males from dark egg lines.

Post pics of your ladies!

 

[onthefarmnj]

Exactly. Had this problem buying Marans locally.
....and wonders where she got her birds to begin with?
Many folks get hatchery birds, start producing birds/hatching eggs to sell, and call themselves 'breeders'.

Did you get your Ameraucana's from her too...are they actually Am's or are they EE's?

I did get an EE from her, but that's not the Ameraucana I referred to in my OP. I bought that hen from another breeder, who I trust but who is too far away to get to very easily. The EE that I bought from the same woman I got the CM is too young to lay yet - so hopefully the eggs will ultimately be blue or at least green. And she did initially call her EE's Ameraucana's...but I could tell by the rooster that was in with the breeding hens that they were crosses. When I pressed her on whether they were *true* Am's or EE she did correct herself and say they were EEs. It also seemed to me like her breeding was somewhat "controlled chaos" and that it was likely that she was being somewhat loose in her breed attribution overall (although she definitely said this hen would lay relatively dark, speckled eggs).

I will hold out hope that by egg 20 or so, they will be a bit darker. But if not, it's fine, she's a big, beautiful girl, very friendly, and doesn't pick on anyone else. Also, so far she's laid every day for the last 4 days, even though it's nearly winter!

Thanks everyone for your responses; more lessons learned from this thread!