Marans Archives - https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/tag/marans/ Fri, 12 Apr 2024 20:38:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cropped-logo-square1-32x32.jpg Marans Archives - https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/tag/marans/ 32 32 Marans https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/marans/ Mon, 01 May 2017 18:39:55 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=8266 Marans are a heavy, dual purpose bird. They are generally raised for their dark brown egg, but also make a good meat bird. Marans are named after a port town in France. Over the centuries local birds were bred with birds brought from seaman coming to port. The modern Marans breed began development in the …

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Marans are a heavy, dual purpose bird. They are generally raised for their dark brown egg, but also make a good meat bird.

Marans are named after a port town in France. Over the centuries local birds were bred with birds brought from seaman coming to port. The modern Marans breed began development in the 1800’s and was adopted into the French standard in 1931. Black Copper Marans were accepted into the American Poultry Association standard in 2011.

The French standard has nine recognized color varieties:
Silver Cuckoo
Golden Cuckoo
Black
Black Copper
Birchen
Wheaten
Black-tailed Buff
White
Columbian

As of 2017, The American Poultry Association has 3 recognized color:
Black Copper
Wheaten
White

Of these recognized varieties, we have had two. Plus two varieties not in the standards. The information on this page is based on my knowledge of the varieties we have raised.

 

3 Facts About Marans
• Originated in France, about 280 miles SW of Paris
• Named after the French village of Marans
• French standard recognized in 1931

 

 

Chicks

Five Marans chicks

 

BLACK COPPER MARANS

Black Copper Marans are the most popular Marans variety in France.

Marans are bred for their dark brown egg. Black Copper Marans tend to lay the darkest of the these brown eggs.

Black Copper Marans were the first color variety admitted into the American Poultry Association standard. This was followed by the Wheaten Marans, and most recently White Marans.

 

BLUE COPPER MARANS

Because our Blue Marans are crossed with our Black Copper Marans they are genetically known as Blue Copper Marans. The hen in the photo on the left is lacking the copper in her hackles and head, but she is still considered a Blue Copper Marans.

The blue color has been around since the origin of the breed, but is not recognized in the French or American standards.

Blue is an impure color and does not breed true. Breeding a Blue to a Blue only results in a Blue chick 50% of the time. 25% will result in a Splash and 25% will be Black.

 

SPLASH MARANS

Breeding Blue chickens sometimes results in a Splash.

The splash color looks dirty white, with irregular black marks on the white plumage. This coloring breeds true, meaning if you cross a Splash cock with a Splash hen you will always get Splash chicks.

Like the Blue’s, Splash varieties are not listed in the French or American standards.

 

CUCKOO MARANS

Cuckoo Marans were the first and only Marans in the U.S. for many years.

The Cuckoo appears white with black, but actually the Cuckoo has black plumage with irregular barring. Cocks are lighter colored than hens.

 

MARANS EGGS

Marans eggs are dark brown in color. The darker the better. Of course I don’t notice a difference in taste compared to our other farm eggs, but I love the variety dark eggs add to our cartons.

Marans eggs are decent sized. They are classified as extra large, sometimes even jumbo.

Marans do not have a high lay rate. Personally, this means all our other breeds lay more eggs than our Marans. It is said that since a dark egg receives an extra layer of pigment it takes longer for the hen to produce the egg, resulting in fewer eggs. Interesting statement, but I’m not sure this is a scientifically proven fact.

 

Marans eggs are a beautiful addition to your egg collection:

 

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2016 Update – Week 12 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2016-update-week-12/ Thu, 24 Mar 2016 19:22:57 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=5633 Happy Spring! We officially made it through another winter. Our winter wasn’t too cold, but it was rainy. Very rainy. • Spring has sprung and our Leonard Messel Magnolia is blooming. The tree itself hasn’t grown much in the 7 years we’ve had it, but the blooms are gorgeous. • The Marans are laying again …

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2016 Week12 update- title

Happy Spring! We officially made it through another winter. Our winter wasn’t too cold, but it was rainy. Very rainy.

• Spring has sprung and our Leonard Messel Magnolia is blooming. The tree itself hasn’t grown much in the 7 years we’ve had it, but the blooms are gorgeous.

• The Marans are laying again after their winter hiatus. I love their dark brown egg. Notice the stink eye I’m getting from her majesty. Truth be told, I feel the same way about her.

• The fodder we started last week isn’t doing much. Not sure what our problem is, but this isn’t as easy as I thought it was supposed to be.

• Seeds and seedlings are gathered in the house, garage, and greenhouse. I’m hoping for a good tomato crop this year.

• While we were away camping this weekend a chicken got nabbed in the backyard. The game camera shows a coyote and bobcat wandering nearby. Ugh. However, mostly the camera snaps pics of the neighborhood deer.

2016 Week12 update- 1

 

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Oregon Fall Poultry Swap 2014 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/oregon-fall-poultry-swap-2014/ Mon, 13 Oct 2014 21:35:38 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=467 Saturday was the Oregon Fall Poultry Swap in Corvallis. This was our first time being a vendor at the Fall Swap. Although, earlier this year we were vendors at the Spring Swap. We didn’t sell everything we brought, but I am very happy with what we did sell. It was a good day. The customers …

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Saturday was the Oregon Fall Poultry Swap in Corvallis. This was our first time being a vendor at the Fall Swap. Although, earlier this year we were vendors at the Spring Swap.

We didn’t sell everything we brought, but I am very happy with what we did sell. It was a good day. The customers were friendly & eager to learn about our birds. All three of our kids ended up needing to come to the swap & they were very helpful & behaved well. I really couldn’t have asked for things to go better.

 

OUR BOOTH

Fall Poultry Swap booth1
Our setup. It was functional, not beautiful.

Fall Poultry Swap signage

 

Fall Poultry Swap chickens
A few of the birds that came with us to the swap. We sold all the Marans, Easter Egger & Olive Egger pullets we brought.

 

Fall Poultry Swap Rhode Island Red
But, the Rhode Island Reds we couldn’t give away. An older gentleman bought one. Other than that, nobody even looked at them. They didn’t sell well at the Spring Swap either.

 

Fall Poultry Swap chicks card
We also brought Easter Egger chicks. At the Spring Swap they sold very well. This time, not so much. Very few people were interested in straight run chicks. Another flop were the Christmas Cards I made.

 

OTHER VENDORS

Fall Poultry Swap view

Fall Poultry Swap vendors

 

Fall Poultry Swap kid pics
I sent the kids out with my phone to take pics. Here are a few things they found interesting.

 

Fall Poultry Swap birds
A few birds that caught my eye: Frizzle Serama Roosters, Royal Palm Turkeys & Sebastopol Geese

 

WHAT WE BROUGHT HOME

Farm Kid2 bought a Muscovy duck from a vendor across from us. He also bought hatching eggs from the vendor right next to us. The 3 light brown eggs are Seramas & the white egg is an Olandsk Dwarf. Ooh, I hope they hatch.
Update: Day 6 I candled the eggs & all 4 looked to be developing. I was so excited. However… about day 14 we were in town all day & sometime early in the morning our power went out. By the time we got home the eggs were cold & had been for a number of hours. Our power didn’t come back on until the next day. They never did finish developing.

Fall Poultry Swap purchases

 

The day went very well. My only complaint is that going to the swap as a vendor, I don’t have time to look around at what everyone else is selling or take part in the other activities. Last year at the Fall Swap I had a great time browsing & taking pics. Whether going as a vendor or a customer, though, the event is fun. I’m sure we’ll be back next year.

 

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2014 Hatch #8 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-hatch-8/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:25:44 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=450 Hatch #8 was our last incubated hatch for awhile. It was a last effort to get a few more Marans. Last year we sold all the chicks we hatched, which meant we didn’t have any left over for ourselves. This year we hatched many more & will keep a few. CHICKS The odds when breeding …

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Hatch #8 was our last incubated hatch for awhile. It was a last effort to get a few more Marans. Last year we sold all the chicks we hatched, which meant we didn’t have any left over for ourselves. This year we hatched many more & will keep a few.

CHICKS

The odds when breeding a Blue Marans with a Black are that you will get a 50% mix of Blues and Black Marans. For the majority of our hatches, I’d guess that’s close to accurate. This hatch, though, we got about 75% black & 25% blue.

2014 hatch 8 chicks
I love chicks, but they are not easy to photograph. I thought these low growing marigolds would make a good background for the chicks. But, the little rascals held still for about 2 seconds before running towards me. I’d put them back near the marigolds and they’d run towards me. And on and on, until I finally gave up. I admit, it’s super cute. But, can’t they hold still for just a few more seconds.

 

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2014 Mama Hen Hatch #2 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-mama-hen-hatch-2/ Thu, 10 Jul 2014 20:44:12 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=457 MAMA HENS Once again a Black Copper Marans hen went broody. Last time a BCM went broody the outcome wasn’t great, but I decided to give them another shot at motherhood. The broody hen made her nest box in a black plant container in their coop, certainly not an ideal place for a chick. Not …

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MAMA HENS

Once again a Black Copper Marans hen went broody. Last time a BCM went broody the outcome wasn’t great, but I decided to give them another shot at motherhood.

The broody hen made her nest box in a black plant container in their coop, certainly not an ideal place for a chick. Not long later another hen went broody and thought the same nest box seemed like a good place to sit.

Then, a third BCM hen went broody. Of course, opting to sit on the same eggs as the other two broody ladies.

2014 hatch mama2 broody

As my estimated hatch day was getting closer I told Farmer John we needed to do something about the 3 sitting hens. I didn’t think it would go well for the babies to have 3 hens trying to be mama.

Well, my estimation was a few days too late. One morning I checked on the 3 pack in the nest box and noticed a chick.

Our plan was to take two of the hens off the nest and to separate them from the one hen designated to be mama and the chicks.

 

2014 hatch mama2 broody2
Farmer John setting up netting as an attempt to separate the chick. We chose one hen to be mama & put the other two outside in the run.

 

At bedtime we let the other 2 back in the coop hoping they would hop on the roost. Of course, they didn’t. And by the next morning the other two snuck into the netted area and were back on the nest box. I pulled back the netting & promptly tossed two hens back outside.

I needed to move the chick out of the nest box so it could reach food & water. So, I moved mama, baby & eggs to the ground on a pile of straw. As I was doing that I noticed a second chick. Unfortunately, it had a wonky leg. I don’t know if it hatched that way or was the result of having too many broodies in the nest.

This mama wanted nothing to do with the wonky-legged chick. The two broodies outside, though, were clucking away, so the chick hobbled and drug itself trying to get closer to the mamas that seemed to care. Truth is, its leg was so bad I knew it wouldn’t make it. But, I wasn’t anticipating what happened next.

I decided that maybe if I gave this chick to the two mamas outside that they would leave the one inside alone & focus on the chick they had. Wrong.

As soon as I placed the chick outside, those two bitches came over and started pecking it to death. I’ve never seen anything like, nor do I care to see it again. They were ruthless. I grabbed the chick, but not before it got a number of good pecks. I just assumed that since they were sitting there while it hatched that they would take it in as their own. Nope. I don’t know if they knew it wasn’t quite right & that was nature’s way of dealing with it. Or, if our BCM’s just aren’t meant to be mama’s.

 

2014 hatch mama2 broody3

We didn’t have a good solution to keeping the chick and any others that hatched safe from the craziness of three broodies. So, I took the chick & eggs away.

I put the one chick in with some other chicks that were a couple weeks old.

And, put the remaining eggs in the incubator. Four eggs hatched & appear to be doing just fine.

 

2014 hatch mama2 chicks

My lesson learned here is that if I’m going to let a mama hatch chicks then I need to let nature take its course and stop interfering. I’m not sure the interfering is doing the chicks any favors… Or, who knows maybe it would have ended up worse. I just don’t know.

 

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2014 Hatch #7 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-hatch-7/ Fri, 27 Jun 2014 20:18:23 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=447 We’re still hatching chicks. We have one more Marans batch in the incubator now, then I think we’ll be done for awhile. I’m hoping by October we’ll be able clearly identify all the pullets from the cockerels. The pullets will come with me to the Fall Swap. Some of them should even be laying by …

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We’re still hatching chicks. We have one more Marans batch in the incubator now, then I think we’ll be done for awhile. I’m hoping by October we’ll be able clearly identify all the pullets from the cockerels. The pullets will come with me to the Fall Swap. Some of them should even be laying by October.

A couple months ago we got another incubator. It was a last minute decision & we needed it right away. So, I ran to the feed store & bought the same incubator we already owned. To keep things straight in my records, I’ve named the incubators. The original incubator is Wilma. I named the new one Betty.

For this hatch the eggs were set in Wilma. At lock down I separated the Easter Eggers & Olive Eggers from the Rhode Island Reds & Marans. I do this because many of our OE’s look similar to our Marans. After the Marans hatch I place a band on one leg to identify them.

HATCHING!

On one side of Wilma I placed the Olive Eggers. These eggs were layed by our EE hens & fertilized by our Splash Marans. On the other side of Wilma were the EE’s & OE’s. The Easter Eggers were fertilized by our main stud of the farm, Mo. The Olive Eggs were fertilized by Roost, our OE rooster. In Betty were the Rhode Island Reds & Marans.

2014 hatch 7 incubator
Going into lock down

 

 

CHICKS

2014 hatch 7 chicks1
These chicks were only inside for about a week before moving to the brooder in one of our coops.

 

2014 hatch 7 chicks2

 

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2014 Hatch #6 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-hatch-6/ Thu, 12 Jun 2014 20:11:55 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=444 HATCHING!   CHICKS For this hatch we hatched our typical Easter Eggers & Marans. But, we also put a couple light colored Easter Eggers in with our Splash Marans to create Olive Eggers. These chicks are so cute! They are a mix of pale yellow & light gray. I can’t wait to see what they …

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HATCHING!

2014 Hatch 6 pip
Let the hatching begin!

 

CHICKS

For this hatch we hatched our typical Easter Eggers & Marans. But, we also put a couple light colored Easter Eggers in with our Splash Marans to create Olive Eggers. These chicks are so cute! They are a mix of pale yellow & light gray. I can’t wait to see what they look like as adult birds.

2014 Hatch 6 chicks

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2014 Mama Hen Hatch #1 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-mama-hen-hatch-1/ Fri, 09 May 2014 20:30:04 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=454 MAMA HEN One of our Black Copper Marans had gone broody & was doing quite a good job sitting on her eggs. The only problem was that the other hens kept wanting to lay their eggs where she was sitting. So, she wasn’t able to sit on all the eggs all the time. A few …

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MAMA HEN

One of our Black Copper Marans had gone broody & was doing quite a good job sitting on her eggs. The only problem was that the other hens kept wanting to lay their eggs where she was sitting. So, she wasn’t able to sit on all the eggs all the time.

A few weeks prior we moved the ducks from their pen to the garden. So that left the duck pen empty & we moved the broody hen & 6 eggs to that pen.

For the first few hours, Ms. Broody paced back & forth in the pen not liking her move. Eventually she settled down & sat on the eggs. Once she sat, she rarely got up.

I wasn’t exactly sure when the eggs would hatch, or if they would hatch. But, I had a date in mind that I thought would be close to hatch day.

As my hatch day guess got closer, I kept a closer eye on the happenings in Ms. Broody’s nest. The day I thought they could hatch I peeked in and saw a fluffy, spry chick!

 

2014 Hatch Mama1 chick
All was happy in my mind after seeing that chick.

 

An hour or two later I went back to check on them and found a squashed chick under the new Mama. I didn’t see the fluffy, spry guy.

Later, Farmer John pulled the dead chick out from Mama. He didn’t see the fluffy, spry guy.

I went on with my day, taking kids to their activities. By the time I got home I decided I should take the rest of the eggs from Mama. I don’t know why she stepped on the chick. Was it purely an accident or was she just not good Mama material? So, Farmer John & I grabbed the 4 remaining eggs & put them in the incubator. We didn’t see the fluffy, spry guy.

The next morning I was shocked to see Mama and a chick wondering around the pen. Apparently 2 eggs had hatched. We never saw the chick alive that ended up dieing. And, the fluffy, spry guy is a master at hiding.

It made sense, though, because I knew she was sitting on 6 eggs. But, when I went to move the eggs there were only 4. I assumed something happened to the missing egg sometime over the couple weeks she was sitting on them. I never caught her off the eggs to get a look at how many she was still sitting on.

2014 Hatch Mama 1 chick2

 

MEANWHILE IN THE INCUBATOR

One Blue Marans hatched with no problems.

A day or two after being in the incubator, an egg began looking odd. Bubbly gross things were coming out of the egg. It was rotten. It began to stink. Just for curiosity’s sake, I took it out of the incubator, placed it in a plastic baggie & broke the egg. Disgusting! It was filled with dark, pukey green liquid & what was once a developing chick. Let me just say it again – Disgusting! This was our first experience with a rotten egg in the incubator. Blech!

That left two more eggs in the incubator. I candled them & they looked different than what I’m used to seeing. But, so did the egg that hatched. I ended up just dumping them because I was getting nervous that maybe they were rotten, too.

2014 Hatch Mama 1 incubator

 

So, 3 out of the 6 eggs hatched. But, only 2 survived.

We had a chick squished to death, a rotten egg & 2 questionable eggs. If every hatch were like this, I would not be a chicken farmer. Thankfully, our hatches typically go much better.

 

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Oregon Spring Poultry Swap 2014 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/oregon-spring-poultry-swap-2014/ Mon, 28 Apr 2014 21:13:25 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=463 On Saturday a friend & I were vendors at the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap. This was our first time as sellers not buyers. It was a long, yet fun, day starting with my alarm going off at 4:20am. Most of the chicks we’ve been hatching this year came with us to the swap. I was …

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On Saturday a friend & I were vendors at the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap. This was our first time as sellers not buyers. It was a long, yet fun, day starting with my alarm going off at 4:20am. Most of the chicks we’ve been hatching this year came with us to the swap. I was wanting to also bring a few laying hens that hatched last spring, but there was no room in my car for them. Bummer. Maybe next time.

OUR BOOTH

Spring Swap booth

This was our first swap & a good learning experience. I learned our company sign rests perfectly on the legs of a particular table we have. I learned people really enjoyed the sign I made listing what we were selling.

I layed our booth out in an L shape trying to give us more table space, expecting people to come in and look at the other table. They didn’t.

So, we moved one cage from the back table to the top of the dog crate. That was perfect. The cage then was up front & at eye level. I constantly moved birds to that cage as the ones in the cage sold. We got many questions about the nipple waterers.

I also tried selling hatching eggs & my friend brought vanilla extract. FYI, the vanilla is fabulous.

Spring Swap booth2

 

Chicks we brought were:
Rhode Island Reds: ages 2 days & 1 week
Marans: ages 2 days & 5 weeks
Easter Eggers: ages 2 days, 5 weeks & 10 weeks

Spring Swap chicks

I brought a couple crafty things just to see if they would sell. They didn’t.
I made small garden signs out of pallet wood. They are painted with outdoor paint & sealed with a clear coat.
I also brought 2 of the cement leaves I made last summer.

Spring Swap crafts

 

OTHER VENDORS

This swap was set up in two different barns. We were in the goat barn with most of the vendors selling animals. The sheep barn was mainly for the craft vendors.

Spring Swap sheep barn
The Sheep Barn. My 8 year old & my friend’s 5 year old hung out with us at the swap. They did fantastic all day. At a slow point in the day, I took them to the sheep barn for a quick look around. Some people selling honey had a bee frame with them with busy little bees doing their thing. The boys searched for the queen, but never did find it.

 

Spring Swap goat barn
The Goat Barn. The fun thing about these swaps are the variety of animals. Of course there’s lots of poultry, but there are also goats, sheep, rabbits & more.

 

It was such a good time. The day started out slow. But, once it picked up we never slowed down until close to closing time. My crafts didn’t sell, but I sold most of the chicks. People were just as interested in the 5 & 10 week old chicks as they were the 2 day old chicks. I’m sure I would have sold a couple laying hens, too, had I been able to bring them. Many vendors had Marans & Easter Eggers & many customers wanted them. Not many shoppers were interested in the Rhode Island Red’s. I’m not sure why not. They are great layers & a fairly calm bird.

All the shoppers were friendly & great to talk chicken with.

The only downfall of the day was that I didn’t get to do shopping of my own. I would have liked to look around more than I was able. But, it’s hard to complain when the reason I couldn’t leave our booth was because there was usually customers at it.

My friend & I decided it was such a good time that we signed up for the Fall Swap.

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2014 Hatch #4 https://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/2014-hatch-4/ Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:00:33 +0000 http://www.ridgetopfarmandgarden.com/?p=436 Thursday & Friday more chicks hatched! I’m tellin’ ya, this never gets old. These were the last chicks to hatch before taking part in the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap.        

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Thursday & Friday more chicks hatched! I’m tellin’ ya, this never gets old. These were the last chicks to hatch before taking part in the Oregon Spring Poultry Swap.

2014 Hatch4 incubator
At lockdown I put Marans & Rhode Island Red eggs in one incubator. And, Easter Eggers in the other incubator.

 

2014 Hatch4 hatching
For the most part, the Marans hatched before the Rhode Island Reds.

 

2014 Hatch4 chicks
Marans, Easter Eggers & Rhode Island Red chicks

 

2014 Hatch4 chick

 

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