Marans

[Gro-Bag]

Am contemplating getting some hatching eggs - brassy black marans - for my broody CL, so have been reading up about them on the internet. So far, have found out that they are

Big birds
Small birds
Lazy birds
Escape artists
Friendly
Hard to handle
Prone to going broody
Unlikely to get broody
Placid
Flighty
Hardy, and
Not very hardy



Eh? What is it with these birds? Are they really that unpredictable? I know individual birds vary but all the same...I'd be interested to know - what are the experiences of people here with Marans?

[elizajay]

I have a maran bantam hen. She lays well, she is significantly bigger than the other bantams. She will eat from my hand, but is not very friendly and she can be pretty noisy, if anybody is announcing an egg, it is often her. I dusted her with mite powder tonight and she made more fuss than the others. She is a handsome proud bird and I like her even if she is a bit stand offish.

[Glutton4...]

I have two Copper Marans and a Cuckoo Marans. Compared to my ex-Batts, they are flighty, and unwilling to be caught or handled, and make a real fuss if I do catch them. They also don't seem to lay that regularly either. But it may just be mine!

[palomino]

We were given two bantams which were being bullied in their previous home, and we were told were French Blue Marans. These are certainly blue but they have feathered feet, lay pale to mid-brown eggs, and they look more like Pekins, very tame and meek, just a bit bigger. Not a bit like the cuckoo Marans that our friends have, who are big, flighty, loud, and lay dark coffee brown eggs!

I used to buy eggs from a farm where they added a dozen large cuckoo Marans to their mixed flock (mainly RIR and Sussex), and she said the Marans were really bad about going to bed, and impossible to round up, they didn't lay as well as the RIRs but the colour of the eggs made up for it. HTH

[its hilly]

I've got French copper black and copper blue marans large fowl. (palomino the french ones do have feathery legs) They are friendly, good about bed (but I always put my chooks to bed at dusk with some corn, they usually queue up to go in except the poots) but dont like to be handled, they sqwauk a lot..loudly. Not the biggest of my girls but I didnt breed them myself so not sure if that is normal. Also cuckoo maran large fowl, she lays the darkest eggs of them all (if egg colour is important to you only get eggs from a dark laying line as some marans lay lighter eggs than others) is also noisy to handle, but a good big girl. As for laying my cuckoo lays every other day which is average for most pure breeds I think? The others havent really got into a laying pattern cos of changing home, then too hot weather which has put most of mine off a bit. So I would say probably not as good but not really sure yet.

[julesapple]

I've got a Wheaten Marans, Gladys. She's lovely. She's always the first in the queue for attention of any sort. She'll follow you around the garden and talk to you. I don't find her flighty although she is cheeky and will attempt to fly up to the corn sack and peck it at treat time.

She's never gone broody and lays huge chocolate brown eggs.......come to think of it, she doesn't much like our trio of chicks, hatched by our Wyandotte, who are now loose on the lawn.

Sadly, she is looking a bit ropey just now, and try as we are, we cannot find the cause for this.

Jules

[RichmondHens]

I have a cuckoo maran (called Mavis). She's the only maran I've ever had, and is a sweetie. Quiet, sensible, and has been a good broody in the past. The only complaint I can make is that she doesn't lay the dark brown eggs she is supposed to. She did lay them for about a month as a youngster when she first came into lay, then suddenly went off lay for no obvious reason, then returned to lay but with pale eggs. They have been pale ever since. I'm assuming she has a problem with her pigment gland but other than the colour there is nothing else wrong with her eggs.

[Glutton4...]

Funny you should say that RH, My Copper Marans lay beautiful dark (almost chocolate colour) eggs, when they can be bothered, which is about four eggs a week from the two of them. The Cuckoo Marans laid fairly dark eggs when she first came into lay a year ago, but this year, her eggs are no darker than some of the batties'.

[jessmorris]

I have two 7 week old cuckoo marans, hatched by my cross banty with topknot. The marans are huge, heavy, warm, noisy, squawky and flighty, pecky and sexually precocious. I'm not fond of them myself and they're going to my friend Ben in a couple of weeks!

[Gro-Bag]

Thanks people. Hmmm well...they sound like some proper characters. If I follow this plan it will be interesting to see what these will be like. (I hope I have a Gladys or Mavis )My CLs are all quite different from each other. They're not mad keen on being handled either, although one is quite cuddly when she's in the mood. I think I'll go for it, my broody is being so diligent about the eggs. And I have been looking at the patio recently, thinking the chickens to plant ratio isn't quite right - it maybe needs more chickens...Are the large fowl much larger than cream legbars? .

[Gro-Bag]

Oh right. Just seen Jess' post. Ooh-er...

[jessmorris]

Maranses are enormous. (but then I have banties so everything else is ;-) )

[RichmondHens]

..Are the large fowl much larger than cream legbars? .

Usually, although my Mavis is on the small side for a Maran. My cream legbars are hardly much bigger than my bantams though, so everything else looks huge in comparison.

[its hilly]

My cuckoo maran is similar in size to a light sussex (lf) the copper blacks are the same size or a bit larger than my cream legbars and the copper blues are slightly smaller again. However my CL boys are pretty big birds, its only the girls who are smaller, a tad smaller than my hybrids. And my CL are not too keen on being handled either, but they dont yell the house down once they've been caught like the marans
One of Festhers 5 week old offspring (lav araucana x copper blue maran x cuckoo maran) would do well as a stand in police siren why it has to yell murder when all I want to do is put it back where it should be (b****y houdini)...oh well at least they are SUCH entertainment.

[di]

We've got three ickle chicks at the moment...two boys that I'm hoping live up to the reputation of being big meat birds...the girl I'm rather hoping will be a placid daft thing...tis what I was told