What is a Blue Cuckoo Marans?

[NatJ]

I have two Blue Cuckoo Marans from Meyers and a Blue Andalusian. The two Cuckoos are different in color, size and comb. One looks almost identical to the Blue Andalusian except for the Andalusians large comb. I can post photos if you are interested.

I love answering questions. My dark blue lady has many feathers on her feet. The lighter one has 1 on each foot. They never had a Cuckoo pattern but if they are out in the sun, and it shines just right, you can see it like a shadow in their feathers.

"Cuckoo" is supposed to have white barring across the feathers.

I see that Meyers sells three kinds of Marans with blue: Blue Copper, Blue Cuckoo, and Blue Birchen.

https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-Copper-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p213412049
https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-Cuckoo-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p212598964
https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-BBS-Birchen-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p213412046

Are you sure you have the cuckoo version, rather than one of the others? Cuckoo chicks "should" have a pale spot on top of their head (which I do not see in your photos), and the adults "should" have white barring in their feathers. I say "should" because sometimes it is much more visible than other times. If you ordered them as Blue Cuckoo they probably are, but if you ordered an assortment and then tried to identify what they sent, you might actually have one of the others.

 

[sybonbon]

"Cuckoo" is supposed to have white barring across the feathers.

I see that Meyers sells three kinds of Marans with blue: Blue Copper, Blue Cuckoo, and Blue Birchen.

https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-Copper-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p213412049
https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-Cuckoo-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p212598964
https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Blue-BBS-Birchen-Marans-Day-Old-Chicks-p213412046

Are you sure you have the cuckoo version, rather than one of the others? Cuckoo chicks "should" have a pale spot on top of their head (which I do not see in your photos), and the adults "should" have white barring in their feathers. I say "should" because sometimes it is much more visible than other times. If you ordered them as Blue Cuckoo they probably are, but if you ordered an assortment and then tried to identify what they sent, you might actually have one of the others.

I bought them at a feed store who showed me the order from Meyer. I only know from that. I wasn't looking for anything special so it's fine.

 

[Winderdear]

I love answering questions. My dark blue lady has many feathers on her feet. The lighter one has 1 on each foot. They never had a Cuckoo pattern but if they are out in the sun, and it shines just right, you can see it like a shadow in their feathers. As for chocolate eggs, not even close. One is light brown with alot of speckles and the other has such a heavy bloom it appears light unless wet. The Marans are my noisiest birds by far. They sing before an egg, during an egg, after an egg and for all 7 others in the flock. Lol My BA is quiet and sweet.

Aww such sweet little ones!

They don’t look much like mine did when she was little though, here are a couple pictures:

She has always had the cuckoo look about her. I was hoping for darker contrast in her feathers as she got older, like yours have, but so far she doesn’t have a ton of definition in her coloring, and her head isn’t much darker than her body. I’ll post some photos when she grows up and lays me an egg, and we can compare

What a pretty assortment of egg colors! I didn’t have illusions that it would be a dark chocolate egg like a Black Copper Marans, but I suppose I hoped it would be darker than a standard Cuckoo Marans egg. If they do have Andalusian in their ancestry it would track that the egg would be lighter rather than darker though.

 

[sybonbon]

Aww such sweet little ones!

They don’t look much like mine did when she was little though, here are a couple pictures:

View attachment 3609769

View attachment 3609730

She has always had the cuckoo look about her. I was hoping for darker contrast in her feathers as she got older, like yours have, but so far she doesn’t have a ton of definition in her coloring, and her head isn’t much darker than her body. I’ll post some photos when she grows up and lays me an egg, and we can compare

What a pretty assortment of egg colors! I didn’t have illusions that it would be a dark chocolate egg like a Black Copper Marans, but I suppose I hoped it would be darker than a standard Cuckoo Marans egg. If they do have Andalusian in their ancestry it would track that the egg would be lighter rather than darker though.

The Andalusian egg is BA and a very light cream, not white. Keep in touch!

 

[Winderdear]

I realized today that I hadn’t yet updated this thread with pictures of my Cuckoo Marans and Blue Cuckoo Marans and their eggs now that they’re laying. For the sake of anyone thinking of getting these breeds, I’ll note some differences I’ve found between my two girls.

They both started laying at 23 weeks, my Blue started two days after the normal Cuckoo Marans. This was in November, which I was surprised by. Even more surprising to me is how frequently they lay, and that the Cuckoo Marans (Juillet) lays the occasional huge double-yolker. Août (Blue) has laid every day for nearly two weeks now. I would say the eggs I’m getting now would be considered large.



Top left is the first egg I received. It was Juillet’s, but Août’s first was also the same color. Top right is Juillet’s first double-yolker (it was the third egg she laid!). Bottom left is Juillet’s egg from today. Bottom right is Août’s egg from today. Août’s seem to be getting darker than Juillet’s, but they are very similar.

Here are what my girls look like now:


Juillet


Août


(This is an older photo before they started laying, but it’s a good size comparison)

Their tails are pretty much the same shape now, though Juillet’s is a little more stubby. Juillet is still much rounder, taller and fluffier than Août, who seems more muscular. Their personalities are quite different, where Août seems very intelligent, mature and reserved, and Juillet is, um, not what I’d call intelligent to put it mildly. She’s much bolder than Août, and completely follows the beat of her own drum, not caring at all about the flock unless they’re in her way. Août is conversely very aware of and mindful of everyone, and does her best to be considerate (unless someone else digs up something tasty, in which case she’s quick to rush in and steal it). I realize of course that personality is not determined by breed, but it’s interesting to note. Both seem more prone to pecking those lower on the totem pole, and sometimes enough to bleed (particularly Juillet). Août is 3rd out of 4 in my flock, Juillet is 2nd. I believe Août is learning from my Welsummer (queen of the flock) that she doesn’t have to peck hard to get her way, but Juillet… well, I’m not sure she’s capable of learning much.

When it comes to the cuckoo-ness of Août, I would say it’s very subtle. You can see it mostly in her leg, thigh, and neck feathers, and a bit in some of her tail feathers. The rest of her feathers seem solidly blue. She also has a slightly flopped over comb, which may indicate some Andalusian ancestry, or might not.



One other physical difference I’ve noticed is that Juillet’s eyes are a pale yellow, while Août and all my other birds have orange eyes.

Both are lovely birds, and can be affectionate to me and my husband. I adore them. If all Blue Cuckoo Marans are like my Août, I would recommend them to anyone. She’s gorgeous and a consistent layer of beautiful eggs, as well as a great flock member. Juillet is harder to recommend, lol, but I personally love her to pieces!