My marans is laying, whoop whoop!!!

[marlene]

I bought 2 blue marans a few weeks ago, i posted a few days ago that 1 of them had layed her 1st egg, well today i went out to clean the coop and they were both sat in the nest together. I went out a while later and there was 2 little pullet eggs sat side by side, i am delighted they are both laying now.
Does anyone know how long it will take for their eggs to darken, marans lay dark eggs right?
And they are 20-22 weeks old.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

To be honest, I believe the darkest the eggs will ever get is when they first begin to lay... I don't think they darken as time goes by and they continue to lay...

Some Marans just don't lay dark, depending on their lineage and if they came from a breeder or hatchery.

 

[marlene]

Mine came from a breeder and the eggs they hatched from were very dark. I'm sure i have read that they start light when they fist start laying and then get darker over time.
Any one with any knowledge on this?

 

[LN2008]

Yours are at 21-22 weeks? Mine is at 23 and I still have nothing. She looks ready though...

 

[marlene]

Quote:
Mine looked ready for the last 4 weeks and nothing till now, hope you don't have much longer to wait

 

[allieloveschickens]

I have heard that their eggs get darker over time too, but I am no marans expert. My hatchery cuckoo maran lays a dark brown usually speckled egg- but it is no where near as dark as some of the eggs I have seen on here from quality breeder stock. Hopefully someone who has some experience with marans will chime in.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

"Egg color can vary from flock to flock. Hens usually lay their darkest eggs at the beginning of their egg cycle. The longer they lay, the lighter brown the egg can become. The darkest chocolate eggs are highly sought after by breeders."

This came from this site: img/smilies/sad.png" alt="sad" />">http://chickenjunkie.com/chicken-breeds/marans/marans-chickens/

 

[LT]

Quote:
Mine is not a breeder bird either, but her eggs are darker at the beginning of her clutch, and by the end of the 3rd or 4th day, they are a basic brown with few speckles. At the beginning of her clutch, the egg is really dark with an even coating of speckles.

 

[Chickenpoor]

Their eggs want get darker. Marans lay their darkest eggs at the beginning of their laying cycle, the longer they lay the lighter the eggs will get. Then when they stop laying for a while and then start laying again the eggs will once again be as dark as when she first started laying and will progressively get lighter again.