Henthymes - I've had "blacktail buff" type birds (not marans) that have hatched out with that reddish buff color down. They end up looking like New Hampshires.
And I've had yellow/gray down birds feather out completely white.
ON - Ever thought about dubbing your Roos? That would sure seem easier than creating a new variety of Marans. Or is there an ethical question there? I've never done it, but I have read about it. My Leghorn Roo has some frostbite this winter too. It's not pretty, but it doesn't seem to be causing him too much discomfort (his comb was less than perfect already). I've read that hens prefer large red combs (they tested straight combs against pea) and the roos with big red combs get more "action". But if all you have are small combed guys, then it wouldn't matter.
One of my Marans girls who hatched end of May just started laying, in the dead of winter with no supplemental lights. She sits in the nest box for awhile, then gets up and drops her egg out in the snow. First egg cracked on the icy pavement, second one hit 2 inches of snow and sank in. Found it before it froze only because I was waiting for it! I wonder if one of the other hens is booting her out, or if she's just still figuring the whole laying thing out? She's the biggest of all my hens, but not very dominant.
