Marans

chrismahon

chrismahon

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We've just been over to a local breeder and bought three Marans at around 25 weeks old. €20 each we thought was a good price. Three different colours, although there are far more Nationally with over 1000 registered breeders, being noir (black), bleu (blue) and coucou (cuckoo). Now the first thing we noticed was their feathered feet. Marans haven't got feathered feet? But in fact they have after consulting my books- it's ENGLISH Marans that don't have feathers on their feet. Point worth mentioning for any Marans owners in England.

Just to add, the breed standard dark brown egg weight is between 75 and 80 grammes. So looking forward to some big omelettes!
 
Haven't worked out how to download pictures from the Mac yet Marigold. Perhaps over Winter when there is far less to do here -just keep the wood burner fed really?

Closer inspection of their feet today revealed that all the feathers are on one toe. That toe is very stunted with no nail, just feathers. So they rely for balance on the feathers growing from it.

The black has suspected mild cociddiosis so has had a big shot of probiotic yoghurt. The other two are fine.
 
Just finished the worming and they have been let out to range. They are very gentle in nature and no integration issues with the nasty TNN's really. They are definitely at the bottom of the pecking order and happy with it.

First egg from Maranda, the black and copper, yesterday. Great colouring, just needs a bit more size because 52g is rather small. They are going off rearers now and onto layers pellets at 28 weeks old.
 
Hi Chris, Great to hear you have acquired some Marans! A very special and lovely relaxing breed in my view. I have been thinking of coming over to France next year to look for some fertile eggs (two of mine originate from someone who did this). Do hope you enjoy your girls and that they are settling in well.
 
Quite right Marigold. A 'Turken' is the name given to the French Cou-Nu (neck-naked) which is a totally different bird, bred for the meat industry, is 50% bigger and rarely seen in the UK. The name was given because it looked like a Turkey crossed with a chicken, which is apparently genetically impossible. The Transylvanian Naked Neck is the National breed of Romania and is an altogether different shape of bird. The Cou-Nu has feathers half way down the neck and that's a requirement of the breed standard. Neck feathers on the TNN are a sign of a hormone deficiency or cross breeding. Someday I will post about this because some reference books are mixed up as well -time is a problem ATM. A Cou-Nu cockerel is a truly nasty thing and not something to get too close to.
 
I never knew that Chris, either that a French naked neck wasn't the same as ours, it would make a very interesting article, or that the cockerals are vicious - is this something you have a lot of experience of? I know they keep TNNs in Portugal (at least I think they do, perhaps they are turkens as well :-)19 )

I have also heard that marans hens are lovely, but that marans cockerals are vicious, but I've never kept them so I can't comment authoritatively.
 
They are fearsome looking cockerels MrsBiscuit and we see quite a few around here. But I remember on holiday we saw a flock of Cou-Nu cockerels being raised for meat. They had a 'peacekeeper' in with them -an older cock to keep order and stop fighting. My wife made cock-a -doodle noises and he charged across the yard at her. Then one of the youngsters started and he turned round and stared at all of them as if to say "who did that?" Needless to say it all went very quiet. Local breeder has advised us never to get one -she has first hand experience.

The Marans pullets are delightful and very talkative. They do look funny with feathery feet that make them look as though they are wearing flippers. Chickenfan has English Marans cockerels and they sound nice natured enough. But we have no intentions of breeding. The eggs are so dark I can't imagine being able to candle them either. The weight is increasing -last one was 56 grammes and she's in laying another as I type.
 
My French Marans cockerels are descended from an egg brought back from France by another breeder crossed with an English Cuckoo Marans. I don't know whether I was lucky, but I got a bird that laid with the productivity of an English Cuckoo but with the lovely dark egg colour of the French Marans. I'm sure the French eggs are bigger. I have had both lovely, gentle unaggressive Marans cockerels and aggressive one. They are daunting if aggressive as they are such a big strong bird.

So glad you have nice pullets Chris. Isn't it lovely the way they talk to you!
 
Well an awful lot has been going on here today. After a horrible week of wind, rain and bitter cold the other two Marans (Mindy and Clara) decided to lay at 30 weeks old- both eggs are 50 grammes. Suppose it helps that they are still getting nearly 10 hours daylight, so up just before 8.00am and bed at 6.00pm. They are first up and last in. They wrecked the nest box material between them and now we will have three fighting over it. They are just as noisy as the Wyandottes as well.

At the same time Jean-Claude, our TNN cockerel, took over from his father. This meant moving him into his 'mothers' pen at the far side of the enclosure. What came as a surprise to me was that the Marans and the younger TNN hens have been thrown into complete disarray. Although J-C was kept penned separately they still all see him as their cockerel and are now leaderless and hiding under a bush!
 
Just to update. Mindy, the Copper Blue Marans, has just laid a 72g egg. Made a lot of noise about it as usual, even though they are now in one of the Breeding coops and have plenty of space. Problem is they get bullied by the TNN's, one of whom (Portia) goes into their nest boxes and turfs them out. So the routine is they come to the gate and call me and I go over to throw the TNN's out of their run and shut them in so they can lay undisturbed. They then call me to let them out when they have laid- what a performance!
 
An update. Clara, the cuckoo, had some major problems earlier in the year. Her egg shells lost all the colour, then they went wrinkly and thin. She went into a moult at the end of September and I was hoping that the lay-off would give her chance to recover. Well after a shaky start, which saw one egg laid with no shell and one thin shelled dropped off the perch we had a 76g perfect dark brown egg in the nest box this morning. She is now quite a large hen and seems in perfect health and is very 'laid back' compared to the other two. Miranda, the copper-black, finished her moult quite quickly and is laying again but is very flighty indeed. Mindy (copper-blue) still hasn't finished moulting, but it looks as though we will be getting some eggs over Winter after all -they still get 9 hours daylight here.
 
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