Ongoing Marans egg pic thread

[sandspoultry]

There have been soooo many questions about marans egg color. So here is the post. for the Month of April. post your egg pics WITH a marans eggs color chart beside them and a local newspaper showing the date . You must list breed, age and how long they have been laying, In June we will do it again- same eggs from the same birds. It has been said that if your birds don't lay a 3+ they aren't Marans. OK to the people that say that.... show us what you got.

Steve in NC

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Here are some egg pics from what I have. The plastic bin is from a recent hatch. The darkest eggs are from my plain cuckoo marans pullets who began laying in January. All of the lighter brown shells are from a breeder I bought eggs from here on BYC. They are maked 'gc' for golden cuckoo.

Some more of my eggs.

I don't have a color chart and I have no idea what any of them rate. I will say I think the GC eggs are lighter than I would have liked but they are a different color tone over all when compared to my cuckoos. Mine seem to have more of a reddish cast and the GC's seem to be more of a brown cast.

I am also a marans new-bee and have no great aspirations of breed improvements or big dollar egg sales from my birds. It is a fun thing for me. I like the cuckoos and really like the CG plumage. I think they are beautiful. If I do end up with a nice cock he'll run will them all and maybe the darker color picked up from my plain cuckoos will endure.

I'll be happy to post photos later in the year. I do plan to buy a few more golden eggs but from a different breeder. I only had four hatch from this first batch and though the price was a high for the egg color.

I'll also try and find out what 'line' the person has where I obtained my plain cuckoos from. Not all of them lay very dark eggs, some lay pretty, dark spotted eggs, some not so dark at all. The darkest layers of my bunch lay the smallest eggs too.

 

[Solsken Farm]

Hey Birch Run. Thanks for the photos! Your cuckoos look great, I have gotten golden cuckoos from a few breeders. Nivtup has nice dark reddish eggs. I had the same experience as you with some light golden cuckoos. I will go ahead and post them side by side. I have not seen that light brown color before on eggs I received. I will try to post them with the Marans egg chart and yesterday's paper. I don't think any of my light eggs are going to hatch. I also will post eggs from my pens. Let me go take some shots.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Great, looking forward to more pics!

This can be a valuable thread. I hope it does not turn into a negative thing, we all know marans are a work in progress here in the US. And like all of us, each bird is going to be different too.

 

[Katy]

Here's from my cuckoos

Here's from my wheatens

Personally I think you need to show what you've got since it's your eggs that are in question!

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
Oh, I see why you are saying this. I see a few other threads related to this. I don't want negativity either. I hope people will just post pics of the eggs they have currently or the eggs they received from folks, so people can have an idea of what the eggs look like.

Edited to add: Katy, BEAUTIFUL! I agree people need to show. And not at the beginning of the cycle. Folks deserve to get the actual eggs they see in pictures, esp. using the Marans egg chart. I have gotten burned recently despite specifically asking if the eggs were at least a 4, and was assured they were. I believe most people are honest, but that is not the case with everyone.

 

[sandspoultry]

That's exactly why I asked people to show dated pics- ie next to a newspaper and next to a marans color chart. and at different stages in the laying cycle. not just the darkest eggs you get

 

[Robin's_eggs]

Katy your eggs are awesome. I am wondering if sandspoultry is going to show some of his eggs.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Nice eggs Katy!

BTW- you can see the numbers written on the eggs in my photo, that was the date they were set in the incubator. Most of the goldens did not hatch (only four). Mine because there are only true araucanas running with all of my females right now and they can't reach the big girls to properly breed them.

Though I was hopeful!

 

[onthespot]

Here are pics of Copper Black Marans I got from ebay seller bayhorsebonne. Some are from pullets laying just this past month, and some are from the hen they hatched out from and she has laid the same color since last August.

Here are the eggs laid last August that the pullets that laid the eggs above are hatched from. Her egg color has not varied appreciably since the third egg she ever laid. I hope for the same from my pullets. These birds are from F1 cross of Wade Gene and Ron Presley stock. Both photos are taken in natural light with no flash and even though I don't have anything other than my word to put up with them, I hereby swear that the photos fairly accurately show the actual color of the eggs and no deceptive or inept photography or photoshopping or other image minpulation went into the making of these phtots.