Your Welcome!
No, I personally do not worry about the dark combs and faces of young pullets. It will turn red by the time they reach sexual maturity.
I have had several pullets both Blue Coppers and Black Coppers with dark faces and combs over the last 5 years. I have used them in my breeding pens because overall the good out weighed the bad, but I have subsequently paid the price with the lack of copper in my females.
It is my experience the dark faced pullets (I only speak of the pullets because I have not had a male with the dark face.....only females) are usually melanised when mature and show little to no copper and if they do show any copper it is usually too dark. However this does not mean that a very dark faced pullet could not grow up to be beautifully copper hackled..I think a bit of luck is involved sometimes and a great bird pops up where one may think it never will. 1 time I had a dark faced pullet grow out to have nice hackles, but she had black eyes and legs so dark they nearly blended in with her black plumage. She was culled for the dark eye and egg color.
If the dark face remained after maturation (which I have not seen happen on a Marans)....it would be a cull. Per the SOP for the Marans they should have red faces, combs and wattles.
Egg color is a factor. I am happy with what my birds lay, but most of all, I am just happy that I have maintained egg color. I will cull hard for egg color, I prefer to work with a minimum egg color of 5-6, but will work with birds that lay a 4, if they are overall a great bird that will lend good qualities to the next generation.
Though I love the dark dark chocolate eggs.......my favorites are the ones that are a brighter russet red color with a nice shine. I love one solid color of red, but will take them the russet color with the dark Hershey brown speckles as well.
