From whitmores pics, there is barely a difference in color between chocolate marans and "terra" wels eggs. They admit Marans are darker, but its very minimal. Obviously a breeder will have better stock, I am inquiring to see if there's a few out there who have them from Meyer, and if they have a darker egg than the normal brown layers. I'd love to get what I want from Whitmore, but the idea of being able to get them sexed, means I can get the ratio of hens to roo's I want. They also stopped selling anconas, which is key if I'm going after a rainbow mix. I'd prefer not to order from two places to end up with what I'm after.