Marans eggs on ebay....

[Ryu]

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I've heard that along with the fact that certain lines have very thick, hard shells. Add it all together and the hatch-rate goes down. I've heard this from some pretty big-name breeders who supposedly are very good at what they do and at the cutting edge with the degree of darkness on their eggs - much darker than the photos shown in the last few posts. I know that I personally wouldn't even consider buying 6 hatching eggs of this breed on eggs as dark as those shown in the auction. I would be buying chicks.

We hatch guinea eggs, and those things are like pool balls. The keets just explode out of those.

We've hatched from super-dark thick shelled BC Maran shipped eggs and got 75%. We had those under a cochin, and she preceeded to trample all but three to death.

I think it's the same as with other breeds. When 'vitality' (egg or bird) gets put behind type, color, and egg color--you're going to fall short somewhere.

 

[amazondoc]

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Well, that kinda depends on your definition of "active".

The Marans Chicken Club is the only one actively working on getting Marans recognized by the APA, and the only one whose members are actively showing their birds. Marans Breeders of America is just a yahoogroups list so far as I can tell. And the Marans of America Club has paid members, but so far as I know it does nothing aside from maintaining a pretty much dead bulletin board, running two very small yahoo groups, and putting out a newsletter. If anyone here is a member of either of those other two groups, perhaps they can fill in with more details about their activities.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Curious question here... how long does the really dark pigmentation last in the egg-laying process? Does it only last 3-6 months before they look like normal brown eggs?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

if you do a google search you will find tons of clubs. the two I have been looking at are the MOAC (Marans of America Club) and Marans Chicken Club (via Yahoo). I don't want to highjack this thread but I do agree, lots of clubs out there and investigation needs to be put into any of them. I don't want to sway anyone with my opinions on which clubs to join or not join.

You don't have to be member of a "club" to breed Marans. There are ALOT of breeders that have had Marans for many many years and belong to all the clubs and some belong to none at all. To be flat honest all have issues, some are dieing off, some run back and forth following a carot on a stick, some are just sitting back watching the whole show. If you really want to get the "real deal" on the marans as a breed of chicken, my advice is search out the long time breeders, alot are gun shy and don't talk freely until you gain their trust. They are the ones that had marans when people said "marans who", and before eggs went for $200 a 1/2 dozen. They know more about breeding, shell color, tricks of the birds that you will ever find on a club.

It's a very interesting search believe me

Steve in NC​

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Curious question here... how long does the really dark pigmentation last in the egg-laying process? Does it only last 3-6 months before they look like normal brown eggs?

Hi Tori!

It depends on the bird and the variety, some have a shorter dark laying cycle than others. If you want to really change the shell color try different feed mixes, it will suprise you

Steve​

 

[Mrs MIA]

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Hi Tori!

It depends on the bird and the variety, some have a shorter dark laying cycle than others. If you want to really change the shell color try different feed mixes, it will suprise you

Steve

Thanks Steve!
I have a couple of girls that just started egg-squatting for me today, so I'm excited to see what they lay.

It's more for show than anything...my egg customers love the different eggs I mix in their weekly dozen. LOL! Like Easter, every week!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Let us know how the eggs come out.

Steve

 

[Krys109uk]

how long does the really dark pigmentation last in the egg-laying process? Does it only last 3-6 months before they look like normal brown eggs?

With proper Marans eggs they shouldn't ever look like "normal" brown eggs. Eggs from some hens get lighter than others over time, possibly/probably due to average egg numbers per particular bird. Most of my darkest egg layers lay every other day & hardly get any lighter at all. Others lay a deep rich copper coloured egg at start of lay but just about every day; even after weeks the colour is a shade lighter but still acceptable according to French standard.

I have never seen any correlation between shell colour & different feeds. I have seen it stated, that shell colour cannot be affected by diet (whereas it makes a big different to yolk). As dark brown shell colour is blood pigment I can't see why it would be affected by feed. Have there been any studies on this subject?​

 

[shelleyd2008]

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With proper Marans eggs they shouldn't ever look like "normal" brown eggs. Eggs from some hens get lighter than others over time, possibly/probably due to average egg numbers per particular bird. Most of my darkest egg layers lay every other day & hardly get any lighter at all. Others lay a deep rich copper coloured egg at start of lay but just about every day; even after weeks the colour is a shade lighter but still acceptable according to French standard.

I have never seen any correlation between shell colour & different feeds. I have seen it stated, that shell colour cannot be affected by diet (whereas it makes a big different to yolk). As dark brown shell colour is blood pigment I can't see why it would be affected by feed. Have there been any studies on this subject?

I have no experience on marans, but I know with my dad's RIR, the color of their eggs changed dramatically when he changed their feed, from a very dark brown (for a normal brown egg anyway) to almost white. They are still almost white, and it's been about 8 months since switching their feed.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
With proper Marans eggs they shouldn't ever look like "normal" brown eggs. Eggs from some hens get lighter than others over time, possibly/probably due to average egg numbers per particular bird. Most of my darkest egg layers lay every other day & hardly get any lighter at all. Others lay a deep rich copper coloured egg at start of lay but just about every day; even after weeks the colour is a shade lighter but still acceptable according to French standard.

I have never seen any correlation between shell colour & different feeds. I have seen it stated, that shell colour cannot be affected by diet (whereas it makes a big different to yolk). As dark brown shell colour is blood pigment I can't see why it would be affected by feed. Have there been any studies on this subject?

Thank you Krys!

Some of my RIR hens lay darker eggs than the lightest ones in the ad's photos, so I was just curious. It's nice to hear first hand experience. And Steve, I'll be sure to "crow" when they start laying...