Back in the spring my sawdust guy offered me 6 blue Marans. He had a shipment of Biefielder chicks that were supposed to arrive the first of June to replace them with. June came and went and the hatchery apparently didn't process his order and he never got his chicks. I was under the impression he was going to keep them but got a phone call yesterday saying if I still wanted them I could have them. Of course I said yes, Blue Marans are on my list of breeds to add to my flock. I already have Black Marans. They were delivered to me this morning. They are rough looking, they were being bullied by some of his other chickens and everyone of them have some degree of feathers missing from their heads and necks. One girl is completely bald and looks like a naked neck. It's ok, with good food and time their feathers will regrow. The next thing I noticed, while yes they are blue, they definitely did NOT look like Marans. I'm fairly certain I just received 6 large fowl blue Cochins. 2 of them laid a egg this evening and after seeing their eggs I know they are not marans, wrong shape and color. Here are a few pictures I took of the new girls what do you all think? If they are cochins I'm not going to complain. Eventually I was wanting to add a cochin pullet in a couple years time. Besides the missing feathers they appear healthy. I've checked them thoroughly for mites and found none so now just have to keep them away from the rest of the flock for awhile to make sure they are not sick. They turn 2 around Thanksgiving.
