Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Ihilani Coffee]

Hi everyone I am new to your thread. I do not currently have Marans but I am interested in adding some Chocolate egg layers to my assortment of chickens. I have heard many differences in opinion on which Marans are the better of the breed. I love the French color and the blue. I have kids and I read that the roosters are aggressive is that true? I wanted to come to the experts before I buy any chicks.

Thank you

Welcome! I'm not sure what you mean by "French" color? The breed comes from Marans, France and all colors derive from that original stock. The APA Standard of Perfection is the same as the French standard, and birds meeting the Standard have feathered shanks and outside toes. Blue copper Marans are not yet admitted into the APA. Blue Marans (not blue copper) are incredibly rare in the US.

We have black copper, blue copper, and white Marans. We have not encountered one single aggressive Marans cock/erel. We have heard the same thing you report, but I have also heard that Rhode Island Reds are aggressive as a breed. We also have a few heritage Rhode Island Reds and they are very sweet and easy to get along with. I'm guessing these reports are from hatchery stock, and I know this to be true of the RIR. Conscientious, ethical breeders would never keep or breed aggressiveness into their birds...it just doesn't make sense.

Our recommendation for newcomers to the Marans breed is to do your research. There are a lot of good breeders and opinions here on BYC, and just as many mistaken/inexperienced people wanting to sound like they "know." Take your time, see as many birds as you can, READ THE STANDARD (memorize it!) as well as The Call of the Hen (useful for evaluating ANY breed). When you're ready to acquire birds, you'll be better off buying adult or POL birds rather than chicks or hatching eggs. Maybe only 5-10% of chicks will grow up to be anything worth breeding forward. Even if you are only interested in breeding in your own flock, you might as well breed good birds as bad ones. They all cost the same to feed! Good luck with this fabulous breed.

 

[a little chiken]

This is why I thought there was a French Copper Maran is because there is someone that has them advertised for sale and when I googled it it pulled up a French copper maran. That is why I decided to join this feed to see what I can find out.

Here is the ad I found

French Black Copper Marans
Five dollars each




I wanted to start researching and find out what was recommended. i will read and learn the SOP


I joined you FB page. I like your chickens. I also like the Isbar.

 

[clankeyes]

Hi everyone I am new to your thread. I do not currently have Marans but I am interested in adding some Chocolate egg layers to my assortment of chickens. I have heard many differences in opinion on which Marans are the better of the breed. I love the French color and the blue. I have kids and I read that the roosters are aggressive is that true? I wanted to come to the experts before I buy any chicks.

Thank you

I had 2 Cockoo Marans... I re-homed them as I am getting 12 Wheaten eggs this week. I have never owned a rooster so I am hoping for a sweet little boy or 2. I love the Blue's also.. I will be getting a few eggs of those as well. The breed has so many pretty colors to choose from. Good luck

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

This is why I thought there was a French Copper Maran is because there is someone that has them advertised for sale and when I googled it it pulled up a French copper maran. That is why I decided to join this feed to see what I can find out.

Here is the ad I found

French Black Copper Marans
Five dollars each




I wanted to start researching and find out what was recommended. i will read and learn the SOP


I joined you FB page. I like your chickens. I also like the Isbar.

I'd be very careful of anyone advertising "French Black Copper Marans," as it shows their lack of information/understanding of the APA Standard. Now, if they have actually IMPORTED black copper Marans from France that's a different story, but a likelihood of 0% I think! BTW, know that Marans is always capitalized and plural, as it is a place name.

PS: Mahalo (thanks) for liking our page. Very excited for the Isbars here also!

 

[SIMZ]

Hi everyone I am new to your thread. I do not currently have Marans but I am interested in adding some Chocolate egg layers to my assortment of chickens. I have heard many differences in opinion on which Marans are the better of the breed. I love the French color and the blue. I have kids and I read that the roosters are aggressive is that true? I wanted to come to the experts before I buy any chicks.

Thank you

I've had 4 BCM roosters. My first two were young and processed when one came at me at 18 weeks. My second rooster was MEAN and caused injuries before being culled. Unfortunately, I didn't understand that he would pass that on and I heard one of his offspring was also mean. My current rooster is as nice as can be. He's over a year now and I've never had a problem with him. So, I'm 50/50 for nice roosters.

 

[Wynette]

The APA Standard of Perfection is the same as the French standard.

**For clarification, this is not completely true; the American standard is BASED on the French standard, but is not the same.**

I've had hundreds of Marans cock birds on my property, and have been breeding them for eight years now; I have had just one that was mean spirited, and that was very early in my breeding experience. I strongly believe that it's much about how you handle/present yourself whether you'll have one that's aggressive or not. Through the years, I've learned that if I take their space away each time I go into their pen when they are younsters, they just never feel the need to "take me on" as they simply know they won't win. By "take their space away," I mean to walk toward them, making them move away from me. I begin this when they are probably 6-8 weeks old, and continue on through their young adult life; the key is to be consistent & do this each & every time you walk into their pen. (this works for me, other things may work for other folks).

 

[elorraine52]

don't know if this helps but both my BCM and splash maran roo's have been laid back towards me, mostly I've found that the bantams are the roos that tend to go after a person....I'll stick with the large fowl, thank-you! LOL

 

[clankeyes]

I've had hundreds of Marans cock birds on my property, and have been breeding them for eight years now; I have had just one that was mean spirited, and that was very early in my breeding experience. I strongly believe that it's much about how you handle/present yourself whether you'll have one that's aggressive or not. Through the years, I've learned that if I take their space away each time I go into their pen when they are youngsters, they just never feel the need to "take me on" as they simply know they won't win. By "take their space away," I mean to walk toward them, making them move away from me. I begin this when they are probably 6-8 weeks old, and continue on through their young adult life; the key is to be consistent & do this each & every time you walk into their pen. (this works for me, other things may work for other folks).

Thank you for this ! I am hatching Wheatens this month and have decided to keep a Cockerel out of the group and I am trying to learn BEFORE the arrive.

 

[a little chiken]

I've had hundreds of Marans cock birds on my property, and have been breeding them for eight years now; I have had just one that was mean spirited, and that was very early in my breeding experience. I strongly believe that it's much about how you handle/present yourself whether you'll have one that's aggressive or not. Through the years, I've learned that if I take their space away each time I go into their pen when they are younsters, they just never feel the need to "take me on" as they simply know they won't win. By "take their space away," I mean to walk toward them, making them move away from me. I begin this when they are probably 6-8 weeks old, and continue on through their young adult life; the key is to be consistent & do this each & every time you walk into their pen. (this works for me, other things may work for other folks).

That is Exactly how I deal with my roosters and frankly my more aggressive hens. I do not allow aggressive birds and I handle them a lot as youngsters. I did not handle my first group but I did take away their space when feeding etc. It worked great. No aggressive roosters in my pens. I actually find my roosters and I have 5 currently seem to be friendlier than my hens. Thank you all for your advice. Now I just need to find someone selling a couple Blue Copper Marans hens and a couple of Black Copper marans hens and 1 roo.

Is their any difference in which color lays the darker eggs or no correlation to breed color?

 

[desertmarcy]

Perhaps this question has already been answered, but exactly how does one tell a true "Blue Marans" apart from a "Blue Copper Marans" that is lacking the copper coloration? Is it a matter of knowing the parentage? How were the Blues developed? Obviously not from the Copper. Just curious here, I get asked that question sometimes, but I just have the Blue Copper and Black Copper, not interested in Blues. Who needs 'em--I've got plenty of "blue" Blue Coppers