Who Has the Best Marans?

[EggSighted4Life]

Does anybody know if you can show English Marans eggs at Marans egg shows?
Thanks,
Karen

Is English the same thing as American? I know English and American Orpington are not the same.

Sorry, I don't know anything about shows. And I didn't know you could show eggs! That might be of interest since I don't have to worry about infecting my flock with anything by showing eggs.

 

[3riverschick]

English Marans don't have feathers on their legs and French Marans do.
Best,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Hi have 3 nice big ribbons I won showing my eggs years ago. you want to go ahead and find out who's winning at the egg shows and get a hen from them. Cross to a rooster of yours that comes out of a dark egg laying hen.
Sire passes on dark egg genes from his dam to his daughters.
Best,
Karen

 

[GreenEggsAndHens]

This discussion is slightly dated, but I'm on the hunt for nice dark egg laying BCMs and having difficulty finding anyone online. Several breeder sites are outdated and don't seem to be selling anything currently. I'm also short on broody hens and incubators at the time. I'd love chicks if any could be found outside a hatchery. I'm not in to showing, just a pretty egg basket.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

This discussion is slightly dated, but I'm on the hunt for nice dark egg laying BCMs and having difficulty finding anyone online. Several breeder sites are outdated and don't seem to be selling anything currently. I'm also short on broody hens and incubators at the time. I'd love chicks if any could be found outside a hatchery. I'm not in to showing, just a pretty egg basket.

Seems it hard to find nice eggs...
Ever thought about Welsumer? They also lay dark and are readily available at hatcheries. I have both... Are you just anti hatchery? For breeding, I am... but for laying, meh.

Did you try little peddler? That's a bit of an extreme price if not breeding and such. Appears to be great color eggs though. I haven't contacted them yet because I'm trying to decide IF I am only gonna breed for the next couple years if it's worth the investment. Or just live with what I have (which isn't bad). The Marans girls I got seem to be laying shells with extra calcium deposits by 3 years old. That doesn't seem like that long of a usable life to me. (that age when I got them) Don't know if being raised under different conditions will improve that or not.

Good luck, finding nice birds! Please update if you do.

 

[GreenEggsAndHens]

Not anti hatchery at all. I've just read that many of the hatchery Marans end up laying really light eggs. Then it's over paying for a normal brown egg layer.

I do need to research Welsummers, I just haven't gotten around to it. And yes I agree. The LP Marans are so expensive. I can hardly justify paying over $100 for eggs that who knows what will happen to them in the mailing process.

There's a local-ish girl selling chicks that are hatching Saturday. It's a 2.5 hour drive, but the chicks are only $3 and her eggs look decent. She says the father to these chicks was purchased from a breeder and is hoping these chicks will lay even darker eggs.

I'd rather drive 2.5 hours and support someone's FFA project for $3/chick than ship from a hatchery where it's $8+ for chicks and $40ish shipping.

Now if I can only convince my husband that 2.5 hour trip is worth it lol!!!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Not anti hatchery at all. I've just read that many of the hatchery Marans end up laying really light eggs. Then it's over paying for a normal brown egg layer.

I do need to research Welsummers, I just haven't gotten around to it. And yes I agree. The LP Marans are so expensive. I can hardly justify paying over $100 for eggs that who knows what will happen to them in the mailing process.

There's a local-ish girl selling chicks that are hatching Saturday. It's a 2.5 hour drive, but the chicks are only $3 and her eggs look decent. She says the father to these chicks was purchased from a breeder and is hoping these chicks will lay even darker eggs.

I'd rather drive 2.5 hours and support someone's FFA project for $3/chick than ship from a hatchery where it's $8+ for chicks and $40ish shipping.

Now if I can only convince my husband that 2.5 hour trip is worth it lol!!!

Are you prepared to deal with boys? I have to be honest out of ALL the chicks I've had (more than 100 probably) Marans are the biggest jerks. Very rowdy bunch. They mellow with maturity though.

It is my understanding that fathers will pass their egg color gene to daughters. Is this 2.5 hours one way? That's not too bad! I have easily driven 3 hours each way (in my gas guzzling Suburban) for good chicks (on MORE than 1 occasion), and it has usually been well worth it. I know many others who have driven much farther!

FFA is a whole other story for me... oh wait, I was thinking 4H. FFA might be a fun try! I agree most hatchery Marans egg color is NOT worthwhile.

Make a day of it and stop for lunch at someplace new before picking the chicks up.

So far my hatchery Welsumer is easily laying a 4 on the chart. Hope it stays nice. They seem to be fairly independent birds, not to worried about my company. My Marans eggs are around 5 most the time, but I worked so much harder to get there. The Marans girls seem to like to hang out quite a bit, so more personable in general. AS much as I thought I really wasn't crazy about their feather pattern/color and only chose FBCM for their meat quality, hardiness, and egg color... I have to say they are beautiful (purple/green sheen) and even though I'm reaching for the SOP they are still varied enough in their necks and such that they are easy to tell apart still. Lovely birds! Plenty broody as well,

Good luck getting great stock.

 

[GreenEggsAndHens]

Are you prepared to deal with boys? I have to be honest out of ALL the chicks I've had (more than 100 probably) Marans are the biggest jerks. Very rowdy bunch. They mellow with maturity though.

It is my understanding that fathers will pass their egg color gene to daughters. Is this 2.5 hours one way? That's not too bad! I have easily driven 3 hours each way (in my gas guzzling Suburban) for good chicks (on MORE than 1 occasion), and it has usually been well worth it. I know many others who have driven much farther!

FFA is a whole other story for me... oh wait, I was thinking 4H. FFA might be a fun try! I agree most hatchery Marans egg color is NOT worthwhile.

Make a day of it and stop for lunch at someplace new before picking the chicks up.

So far my hatchery Welsumer is easily laying a 4 on the chart. Hope it stays nice. They seem to be fairly independent birds, not to worried about my company. My Marans eggs are around 5 most the time, but I worked so much harder to get there. The Marans girls seem to like to hang out quite a bit, so more personable in general. AS much as I thought I really wasn't crazy about their feather pattern/color and only chose FBCM for their meat quality, hardiness, and egg color... I have to say they are beautiful (purple/green sheen) and even though I'm reaching for the SOP they are still varied enough in their necks and such that they are easy to tell apart still. Lovely birds! Plenty broody as well,

Good luck getting great stock.

A good rooster I wouldn't mind because I dream of breeding for olive eggers. I must admit after some research I think I prefer the looks of the welsumer verses the Marans, but for now I will have to be content with my little mixed flock. I've got a buff pullet and rooster growing out right now. Unsure if we will keep the roo or put him in the freezer or auction, but I have high hopes of the pullet becoming broody like my last buff. She was the best momma and the kids loved watching her hatch eggs. I plan to use buffs to hatch out my future olive eggers lol.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

A good rooster I wouldn't mind because I dream of breeding for olive eggers. I must admit after some research I think I prefer the looks of the welsumer verses the Marans, but for now I will have to be content with my little mixed flock. I've got a buff pullet and rooster growing out right now. Unsure if we will keep the roo or put him in the freezer or auction, but I have high hopes of the pullet becoming broody like my last buff. She was the best momma and the kids loved watching her hatch eggs. I plan to use buffs to hatch out my future olive eggers lol.

Mixed flocks are a lot of fun! And always my suggestion when people ask what breed they should get.

Ugh, I can't keep my broody breaker empty... I think the broody's are trying to break me! I've got plenty to share. It was fun at first, though.

 

[Bonniebooboo]

Yep, you got it.

And here is a link to a list for others...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/byc-index-of-abbreviations-acronyms.63285/

And another, I don't think they are exactly the same, but didn't have time to go through them. So...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/acronym-list-for-byc.64740/

One other thing is I only saw LP selling eggs, verses GFF sells chicks, not sure about Bev's. Those may be consideration factors. If I lived close enough to pick up LP, might be the route I go.

Have you checked out this thread? I saw them talking about LP a while back..
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-thread-breeding-to-the-sop.1122465/page-460

Thanks for those links. I printed the list off to study. Way too many abbreviations to remember. Newbies get lost. I sure have.