Why does my cuckoo marans look different from my others?

[EggSighted4Life]

Okay.. this quote from Meyers..

"The Blue Cuckoo Marans has shades of blue as the primary feather color with varying degrees of cuckoo patterning. The comb is a medium-sized single comb. Blue Cuckoo Marans will have a mix of feathered and non-feathered legs. "

Indicates (to me) there's not a lot tying them to any specific standard of perfection..

So it may very well some new hatchery hybrid (project color) naming that doesn't equate to reality (or standards).. to get only blue barred birds they must be using splash cross cuckoo.. just my guess.

A cuckoo would be black & white barred, for some reason all the blue cuckoos I have seen online, all look laced. So it is highly probable that is what the hatchery considers a blue cuckoo…I thought they would be barred blue and white but have never seen a chicken that looks like that!

Yes, I agree.. and that makes sense.. noting I have seen blue barred.. just looks like grey barring.. a little darker than lavender.

That makes so much sense! Here is a better picture of the coloring on mine.

Sorry for the confusion.

That's a lovely flock!

 

[BastyPutt]

Those look blue, not cuckoo of any sort. There's no barring

Ok let me see if I under stand this correctly. Speaking of the Meyer Hatchery standard, not these birds specifically.

Blue Cuckoo Maran

Blue - yes, the variety is blue

Cuckoo - a distinct pattern. Not necessarily a color combo (at least not that I can see). The Meyer hatchery blue cuckoo Maran does not have the cuckoo pattern it is closer to laced.

Maran - generally lays a dark brown chocolate egg. Attached is meyers pics of their eggs. This chicken does not lay a dark brown egg.

So of the three descriptors in the name, only one is accurate.

Why wouldn't they just call it something else!? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ok let me see if I under stand this correctly. Speaking of the Meyer Hatchery standard, not these birds specifically.

Blue Cuckoo Maran

Blue - yes, the variety is blue

Cuckoo - a distinct pattern. Not necessarily a color combo (at least not that I can see). The Meyer hatchery blue cuckoo Maran does not have the cuckoo pattern it is closer to laced.

Maran - generally lays a dark brown chocolate egg. Attached is meyers pics of their eggs. This chicken does not lay a dark brown egg.

So of the three descriptors in the name, only one is accurate.

Why wouldn't they just call it something else!? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

Marans. Not Maran. It's always plural, even woth just one bird.

Egg color has to be maintained in the line. A lot of hatchery Marans lay light colored eggs because they focus on the mass production of chicks to sell, not the colors they lay, so the browns can be lost over generations

 

[JulietsMomma]

They are so pretty. And I see you have Cream Legbar too!

I do! I have 3 and they’re my favorites! Yours are beautiful!

 

[sybonbon]

Ok let me see if I under stand this correctly. Speaking of the Meyer Hatchery standard, not these birds specifically.

Blue Cuckoo Maran

Blue - yes, the variety is blue

Cuckoo - a distinct pattern. Not necessarily a color combo (at least not that I can see). The Meyer hatchery blue cuckoo Maran does not have the cuckoo pattern it is closer to laced.

Maran - generally lays a dark brown chocolate egg. Attached is meyers pics of their eggs. This chicken does not lay a dark brown egg.

So of the three descriptors in the name, only one is accurate.

Why wouldn't they just call it something else!? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

My two from Meyers lay a brown darker than your photo. They have a lot of bloom on them so they appear lighter but if you wet them they are chocolate.

 

[sybonbon]

I do! I have 3 and they’re my favorites! Yours are beautiful!

Thank you. I love their eggs and their gentle nature.

 

[Iluveggers]

Here is her egg, the top middle in the pic.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My two from Meyers lay a brown darker than your photo. They have a lot of bloom on them so they appear lighter but if you wet them they are chocolate.

Yours is darker than the Meyer photo.. which is great! Lovely egg basket ya got going there! Yours also @Iluveggers!

However.. the standard of perfection isn't judging wet eggs.. and folks who do that are fudging their color, IMO.

FWIW.. my Golden Comet from TSC lays eggs the same color as what you've posted in the first photo. And at a rate of at least 30 per month since she started.. the longest laying stint was 70 days in a row then one day off and back on for 30.. plus the eggs started out at 60 grams @ 20 weeks old in January and quickly worked their way up to consistently 70-72 grams.

Boy was I shocked to see beautiful terracotta colored eggs from a sex link.. and also in super market shelves (Vital Farms, pasture raised eggs).. while my current ladies were still maturing.

Bloom can be clear or tinted, and not always giving a lightening effect.. See post # 10 for example.. You'll also note in that thread the color itself can be washed off with the bloom and give lighter appearance in some eggs (post # 36)..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/observations-on-egg-blooms.1295096/

Check out what can be done with heavy bloom..

https://www.skygirlfarm.com/product-page/heavy-bloom

This link had some interesting bloom info, plus LOOK at these eggs..

https://crosshatchfarm.com/product/chicks-purple-coppers-black-copper-marans-straight-run/

Anyways.. I'm only chatting and sharing/ enjoying the discussion.. I don't pretend to know anything.. noting that IMO.. hatching from the "darkest" eggs.. still gives the same genetic material if coming from the same hen (shade varies slightly throughout the lay cycle being darkest early on, but genes and their potential do not). and the sire has major influence over egg shade.

 

[sybonbon]

Thanks for all of the info! I don't breed nor do I have any standard I go by. I just have pet chickens. I do agree that wetting is not a way to get a standard. I was sharing that because the first time I tried wiping off the white the egg was brown and when it dried it went back to light brown. Lol I'm really excited to hear about your Comets. I have 3 Comets and 3 ISA Browns at 13 weeks old. Can't wait to see what they lay. Do they lay earlier than other breeds?

 

[sybonbon]

Yours is darker than the Meyer photo.. which is great! Lovely egg basket ya got going there! Yours also @Iluveggers!

However.. the standard of perfection isn't judging wet eggs.. and folks who do that are fudging their color, IMO.

FWIW.. my Golden Comet from TSC lays eggs the same color as what you've posted in the first photo. And at a rate of at least 30 per month since she started.. the longest laying stint was 70 days in a row then one day off and back on for 30.. plus the eggs started out at 60 grams @ 20 weeks old in January and quickly worked their way up to consistently 70-72 grams.

Boy was I shocked to see beautiful terracotta colored eggs from a sex link.. and also in super market shelves (Vital Farms, pasture raised eggs).. while my current ladies were still maturing.

Bloom can be clear or tinted, and not always giving a lightening effect.. See post # 10 for example.. You'll also note in that thread the color itself can be washed off with the bloom and give lighter appearance in some eggs (post # 36)..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/observations-on-egg-blooms.1295096/

Check out what can be done with heavy bloom..

https://www.skygirlfarm.com/product-page/heavy-bloom

This link had some interesting bloom info, plus LOOK at these eggs..

https://crosshatchfarm.com/product/chicks-purple-coppers-black-copper-marans-straight-run/

Anyways.. I'm only chatting and sharing/ enjoying the discussion.. I don't pretend to know anything.. noting that IMO.. hatching from the "darkest" eggs.. still gives the same genetic material if coming from the same hen (shade varies slightly throughout the lay cycle being darkest early on, but genes and their potential do not). and the sire has major influence over egg shade.
[/QUOT

Yours is darker than the Meyer photo.. which is great! Lovely egg basket ya got going there! Yours also @Iluveggers!

However.. the standard of perfection isn't judging wet eggs.. and folks who do that are fudging their color, IMO.

FWIW.. my Golden Comet from TSC lays eggs the same color as what you've posted in the first photo. And at a rate of at least 30 per month since she started.. the longest laying stint was 70 days in a row then one day off and back on for 30.. plus the eggs started out at 60 grams @ 20 weeks old in January and quickly worked their way up to consistently 70-72 grams.

Boy was I shocked to see beautiful terracotta colored eggs from a sex link.. and also in super market shelves (Vital Farms, pasture raised eggs).. while my current ladies were still maturing.

Bloom can be clear or tinted, and not always giving a lightening effect.. See post # 10 for example.. You'll also note in that thread the color itself can be washed off with the bloom and give lighter appearance in some eggs (post # 36)..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/observations-on-egg-blooms.1295096/

Check out what can be done with heavy bloom..

https://www.skygirlfarm.com/product-page/heavy-bloom

This link had some interesting bloom info, plus LOOK at these eggs..

https://crosshatchfarm.com/product/chicks-purple-coppers-black-copper-marans-straight-run/

Anyways.. I'm only chatting and sharing/ enjoying the discussion.. I don't pretend to know anything.. noting that IMO.. hatching from the "darkest" eggs.. still gives the same genetic material if coming from the same hen (shade varies slightly throughout the lay cycle being darkest early on, but genes and their potential do not). and the sire has major influence over egg shade.

Thanks for all of the info! I don't breed nor do I have any standard I go by. I just have pet chickens. I do agree that wetting is not a way to get a standard. I was sharing that because the first time I tried wiping off the white the egg was brown and when it dried it went back to light brown. Lol I'm really excited to hear about your Comets. I have 3 Comets and 3 ISA Browns at 13 weeks old. Can't wait to see what they lay. Do they lay earlier than other breeds?