A couple of years ago I saw a picture on the Internet of a dark, dark brown egg. I thought it was a chocolate egg actually, ready and waiting to be dragged through a jar of peanut butter.
But it wasn't. It was from a particular breed of chicken called a Marans.
I have been obsessing over having one of those chickens ever since. For me, half the fun of owning backyard chickens is having eggs that are colours people have never seen before. That and being able to wear a live chicken as a corsage at a moment's notice if need be.
But with a a smallish coop and 4 hens already I couldn't even think of adding another chicken. Well I could think about it but I couldn't do anything about it.
And then Norma died.
I know. I'm sorry to shock you. But it's true. And that's one of the horrors of owning chickens. They up and die on you, oftentimes without warning. It was sad and awful and I cried. She had a prolapsed vent, which is something chickens who lay big eggs (and Norma's were HUGE) can be prone to. I know a lot of people just throw their chickens in the garbage or burn them when they die but I just couldn't do that so I built her a little crate, (O.K., it was a coffin, but saying I built a coffin for my poultry makes me sound like a nutjob) put her in it and buried her in a safe place.
After an appropriate period of mourning, I started looking for a replacement for Norma. And what I started looking for ... was a Marans.
(Quick note ... when you buy chickens you either buy hatching eggs to hatch them in an incubator yourself, day old chicks, or pullets. Pullets are 5 month (or so) old hens that have just started laying. Getting a pullet is great because you don't have to go through the bother or raising chicks which can be time consuming, but not a lot of people sell pullets. Chicks are much easier to come by, especially for the rarer breeds.)
Marans are a rare (in North America) French heritage breed. They come in a variety of recognized colours with the Black Copper Marans being the most popular.
Now a bit about those dark eggs. People take them very seriously. There's even a colour chart.
The egg colour produced by the Marans hen has to be a #4 on the chart or darker to even be recognized as a Marans.
Anything in the 8 or 9 range is very rare and more of a mistake than anything. Hens are most likely to lay this colour of egg in the beginning of their laying cycle and right after a moult. Then the eggs will consistently get lighter, but they can't get any lighter than a #4.
People breed Marans with the goal of getting the darkest eggs possible. Which make sense, because even though they're supposed to be very nice, gentle birds, it's the eggs we're all after.
If you Google Marans eggs you see egg cartons filled with dark, DARK eggs, but that isn't the norm and if that's what you're hoping for you'll likely be disappointed. It really bugs me actually that people post those pictures but don't put the disclaimer that these eggs are rare and won't always look like that. Kind of like when people post only the the *really* good pictures of themselves having great times on Twitter. Really? Where's the picture of you where your lazy eye is noticeable and your kid has thrown up on your hair?
Anyhow.
I strapped on my typing fingers, headed over to Kijiji and started my search. I just realized I'm already lieing to you.
Kijiji WASN'T where my search began. It began at a local farm that I discovered had Marans. So I sent them an email. Apparently they aren't email people because they never responded. So I drove past the farm. Apparently they aren't real farmers because they weren't outside. A real farmer is outside from morning until night. They wear overalls, checked shirts and chew straw. Sometimes they have their hands in their pockets and stare quizzically at big broken pieces of machinery.
I saw none of this as I sped past the farm.
So from there I went to a farmer friend who knew someone else who had Marans. This also led nowhere. I'm now starting to think that the Marans breed is the unicorn of chicken breeds. But I knew they were real. I'd seen pictures of them. Mind you I've also seen pictures of unicorns.
O.K., so it was at THIS point that I headed over to Kijiji. I found several people selling them, but they seemed sketchy to me for some reason. I was basing my judgement on how they wrote their post, what they had to say about their hens and whether or not they spelled Marans correctly. If they called their chicken a "Maran", they were scratched off my list of potentials. There's supposed to be an "S" on the end of Marans.
My list quickly got whittled down to one breeder. A woman who was fairly close, just a few towns over from me. She was VERY into chicken breeding and had just listed a first spring hatching of Black Copper Marans. I was at the point in my search where I was just kind of browsing around and suddenly I was in a position where I had to make a decision. It was like browsing on the MLS and finding your dream home even though you had no real intentions of moving.
I emailed her, she emailed me, I emailed her back, I himmed and hawed. Then the chickens were gone. Sold. Shit.
You might be wondering why I didn't just snap em up like a pair of half price shoes. Well, the truth is buying a chick isn't quite that easy. For one thing you can't buy just one chick. You have to buy at least two and 3 or 4 are better. That's because chicks are flock creatures by nature and could die of loneliness if there's only one of them. They need each other for protection, warmth and companionship.
The other problem was, Black Copper Marans are very difficult to sex. So if you get one chick it could very well be a rooster, which aren't known for their fantastic egg laying ability. Plus if you get a rooster, you have to figure out a way to get RID of the rooster. If you get 3 or 4 chicks the chances of you getting a hen are greater and if one happens to die, you still have a few left.
Since I only needed one hen, the prospect of suddenly having to raise several of them kind of made my head explode and I just couldn't commit.
A month or so went by and I couldn't stop thinking about those chicks. So on a whim I emailed the woman back and asked if she happened to hatch anymore unicorn birds.
She said "As a matter of fact, yes". She had some in her incubator right now that would be ready in a few days. I said I'd take all the Marans she had. I now had a plan.
I have a couple of friends who have chickens. I contacted both of them to see if they'd be interested in a hen once I raised them. They both said yes. So if I have too many hens in my group of chicks, I know they have good homes to go to. As far as the roosters go, if I get any of those ,they are a rare and in demand enough breed that I'll have no trouble selling them on Kijiji.
In terms of how they look the Black Copper Marans is well ... black. They're distinguished as Black "Copper" Marans by the copper ring around their necks of the hen, which you can only barely see in this picture.
The below pictures, which is a rooster, shows how beautifully colourful they are.
The Marans fit my climate ... they were bred originally in a cold damp climate, so they're good in the cold winters of Ontario.
The other distinguishing feature in the Marans is their feathered legs. Which I love. Which is ironic, because when things begin sprouting out of my own legs I hate it. Their temperament is nice and not aggressive like a Rhode Island Red can be and they lay fairly regularly but not nearly as much as the more common breeds that are bred specifically for laying a lot of eggs.
There's one of me, and 4 chickens laying eggs. I can only eat so many pavlovas, so I'm O.K. with this particular breed only laying 3 or 4 eggs a week as opposed to 5 or 6.
The one thing no one tells you when you are looking to buy a Marans is this ... while most breeds start to lay eggs between 4 and 6 months of age, Marans have been known to wait until they're 8 or 9 months old. Of course there are exceptions.
So now that you know what chicken I chose you can go on with your day.
Tomorrow, I will have 20 photos of the chicks looking impossibly cute. This cute phase only lasts a couple of weeks before they hit the gawky teenage phase. At which point, I will have 20 more photos for you. Perhaps one of them will have a unicorn horn strapped to her head.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Mary Kay
Karen - I am so sorry to hear about Norma. And you are not crazy to bury her - I would of considered her a pet and done the same. But I am so happy to hear about your new feathered friends and can't wait to watch them grow and see some of the beautiful eggs! Best of luck with the new girls!
Pat
Yup, Norma would have had a lovely burial at my house as well. We're a bunch of saps for our animals. Hope that helps.
Tigersmom
Oh, and I'm so sorry about Norma.
Tigersmom
PS - The feathered legs undo me. It's like their wearing little chaps or leg warmers!
Karen
LOL. Yes. Teeny tiny leg warmers ~ karen
Tigersmom
Congratulations on your new babies.
I wish you much more success integrating your chickens than I have had integrating two female dogs that are jealous and both want to be the alpha dog. Bitches.
Ann
Karen,
It made me so happy to see how much good info you found on Marans. I wanted the Black Copper but ended up with Blue Marans. Mine lay pretty dark eggs the first few of their laying cycle then lighten up considerably. But what a lot of people don't know is that the egg from a marans has a shell with a much tighter matrix. Meaning nothing can get thru the shell, such as bacteria. Even after the bloom is gone in 7-10 days. So when ever I am going to use a raw egg for anything I grab their eggs over my other chickens, just to not take any chances.
I recently had to combine 2 flocks of chickens. They had been free ranging together during the day for approx a year. But separate coops at night. They knew each other very well. At first when I combined them they did great. Then they have had a period of adjustment with them picking on each other a bit. But it is not the old flock picking on the new. They simply re-established a pecking order, by some mysterious manner, and the stronger pick on the weaker.
Karen
HUh! Well consider me one of those who didn't know that. I knew their shell looked different (and in fact is silky and shiny looking as opposed to the matte chalky look of regular eggs). Thanks! ~ karen
Jody
Mon Dieu! French Chicks. I can't wait for the posts of making omelette du frommage and soufflé.
Erin
Your most made me squeal. I squealed! This is my breed - we have Black Copper Marans!
Several years ago I found myself obsessed with the dark eggs in the bottom row of your color chart. (Spoiler: I, too, was duped into thinking this was the norm.) We contacted a woman in the Finger Lakes on Craigslist (right?!) and set out one sunny Saturday to get some eggs. We incubated 2.5 dozen and had about a 50% success rate (which, apparently, is quite good with this breed).
Right now we have eleven hens, one rooster and eight chicks - two of our hens became broody in April and we decided to let them sit on eggs. They make great mamas! This week, they're bringing the babies outside and teaching them to use the ramp.
Oh, and most of our eggs fall in the 4-6 range.
I will anxiously await twenty impossibly cute photos!
Susan Preston
P.s. Wish we could keep a rooster! He's BEAUTIFUL!! Tee hee!
Karen
I know! He's a good lookin' roo. ~ karen!
Malaena
You can, I know this is a REALLY late post but try out the No-Crow Rooster collar. I got that for my boy because he's gonna make NOISE. Make sure you get it to the breed specification, and the only site I got it from was My Pet Chicken, which is also where I got my baby chickies.
Susan Preston
Oh!!oh!! I'm so excited!! I might just have to drop in and see the new babies!! I can hardly wait!! Squealing here!! What a way to start my day!! Xoxo
Cynthia Jones
They're beautiful Karen and I think the rooster has the most magnificent colouring. Wouldn't that make a great winter jacket. I wonder if the rooster mind a slight pluck before being shipped off to Farmer Joe's.
What a great post you wrote. I love chickens too, but find the whole thing a little daunting. I got day olds the first time and raised them and they were delightful. The breed I got was Silky Bantams. They have fluffy feet too.
They loved me and came running to mummy for food and nibbles when they were free range roaming in the garden.
One died and the other two turned out to be roosters so they had to go live on the farm 10 miles out of town. (really they did).
I decided the next time to get pullets to be sure I got hens. What a mistake that was. They were total nut jobs and ran screaming up the backyard every time I walked outside the back door. I guess they were not used to humans. The whole experience was ver unsatisfying. Then they started to do these huge half poo/half eggs called Thunder Eggs on the concrete slab just outside the back door. They had the whole garden to do their monstrosities in, for crying out loud.
Anyhoo, it was all getting too much and I decided there was only room for one neurotic in my garden so I gave them away to a nice little boy who had lost his chickens in a flood.
I am curious how you deal with the bedding inside their house. What do you use, how deep do you make it and how often do you clean it out? I tried the deep layer method and the shallow method which needs cleaning out once a week. I am totally paranoid about chicken mites which live in the mulch so I need an exact answer. Don't believe that chicken mites cannot infest humans cos they can and do. As I live in the tropics, the mite issue might be only relevant here.
I guess i need to do a search and find all of your past chicken posts. Sorry if I gave you any chicken mite paranoia. I am guessing it would not be a problem in your climate.
Karen
Hi Cynthia! I use the deep litter method with pine shavings in their indoor run. I clean it out twice a year. In their outdoor run I use straw and clean it out around once a month. I'm not sure if that helps you in any way, but I now know that I might be covered in mites. ~ karen!
Shauna
I use food grade diatomaceous earth in my coop and the chicken food to control the mites.
Malaena
If you ever decide to get chickens again and end up with a rooster or several, just go to My Pet Chicken online and get the No-Crow Rooster Collar. It's awesome, works, and comes in all sizes. Makes the males sound as quiet as hens so you can keep em anywhere if the city allows it.
Auntiepatch
So sorry to hear about Norma. Good luck with the chicks.
Karen
Thanks Auntiepatch. It was AWFUL! But, that's part of what you get when you have any pets or animals, right. :( ~ karen
Malaena
I had a funeral for my iguana, and will for my chickens. I have three BEAUTIFUL black copper Marans that are so well behaved as far as chickens go. These ones are not my meaties, they are just pets of 8 in the flock (1 Black Copper Marans rooster named The Doctor and 2 Marans hens; Molly and Dolly, 2 Silver-laced Wyandottes; Skunk and Louise, 2 Easter-eggers; Skye and Eep, and one Cream Legbar(bright blue eggs!) named Thelma. Thelma and Louise were supposed to be the Wyandottes because they looked identical and different from Skunk, but that's okay. Thelma and Louise were not related, anyway! Skunk and The Doctor are my spoiled babies because they react the most, but I would be heartbroken to lose any of my girls or boy.
judy
I love your posts...they are so gutsy and competent in every task (some quite daunting to a man much less a gal) But you just keep on keeping on and I believe that is a wonderful strategy for a life well and fully lived.
TucsonPatty
Wow! I had no idea...and I grew up on a farm. With chickens, when I was little. How cool is all this! I have a broken laptop and then a desktop computer that for some reason doesn't like to show YouTube videos, so I Googled quail chicks and penguin chicks and turken chicks and wow do I know a lot of stuff now! I think these guys are very handsome, but I hope you have ladies to lay your eggs.
Kat
Excellent info on this particular post Karen and good info on Toni's comment also! Are the coop cams ready yet? LOL!
Call Me Patty
What a good and interesting post. Thanks for sharing.
Karen
Thanks Patty! I figure most people like learning about chickens even if they don't have them. It's pretty fascinating stuff! At least I think so, lol. ~ karen!
Donna
How interesting, I do not keep chickens, but if I did I would want MaranS, they are very good looking. Do the eggs taste any different or is it just the shell that is unique?? Here's wishing you good luck with the little fluff balls, hope you get some good layers and not all roosters. Love your blogs, read you every day.
Karen
Thanks Donna, lol. Here's hoping! ~ karen
Toni
Hi Karen, I'm a long time reader, but I don't think I've commented before. I raise chickens on Vancouver Island, and just LOVE them. We have chicks right now that look exactly like those Marans chickies, but ours are Australorps being raised by their momma.
Just wanted to warn you, in case no one else has, that one young Maran hen is very likely to get picked on by your Rhodies. You may really want to consider keeping at least 2 (if you end up with 2 girls) so that they have a friend, or seeing if your chicken-keeping friends would take one or two of your older Rhodies when you introduce the youngsters to the flock, just to shake up the dynamics a bit. You've probably read the challenges of integrating new hens into an established flock--these issues can really be magnified by age/size/breed differences and by having a small flock overall. I'm sure you've thought about all this in your research, but just wanted to make sure. Chickens can be very brutal to each other, sadly.
Good luck with your chickies--Marans eggs are indeed very special in person!
Karen
Hi Toni! Yes, I've already hatched a plan. heh. If there are 2 layers I probably will keep them both. I only have 1 slightly aggressive hen in my bunch (which are actually mutts ... part RIR and part Ameraucana). I'm already letting the older hens see the chicks. I bring them out into the hot sun for 10 minutes a day within eyesight of the other flock. Because I have space issues, once the chicks are 5 weeks or so I'll be housing them in the same coop as the older hens but they'll only be able to see each other. Not contact each other. (separated by hardware cloth) THEN once things seem to be going smoothly after a few more weeks or so I'll try the introductions. I am hoping for 2 things. That my gals lay dark eggs and they all get along! ~ karen
Shauna
sounds like a good plan.
Toni
As stated above, hens can be brutal for no apparent reason. I would not assume everything will work out. Right now I have one old hen who used to be part of a flock of 24. Suddenly the other 23 decided they didn't like her any more and started beating her up. It escalated to the point where she was afraid to go into the pen at night and then one night I found her in the shrubbery by the house, all bloody. I have tried to reintroduce her to the flock but it hasn't worked. She is out. To save her life she is penned next to their pen with a friend who has gone broody.
Toni
Hah! Just wanted to say that the OP Toni and this above Toni are not the same person! What are the odds?!
OP Toni :)
Toni in Iowa
I realized that after I saw mine post! I didn't think about what name would show when I did it. I might not have even paid attention to the name of the original author when I made my post. I rarely reply but will try to remember to identify myself better.
dana
OMG! So cool. I had a bus driver in school that had chickens that laid blue eggs. The Ara-whatever chickens. The pics really do look like chocolate eggs. Now I can't wait to see the 20 pics.
Deb
"The Little Black Hen"
Said the little red rooster, "Gosh, all hemlock, things are tough!
Seems that worms are getting scarcer and I cannot find enough.
What's become of all those fat ones is a mystery to me.
There were thousands through that rainy spell, but now where can they be?"
The old black hen heard him, didn't grumble or complain.
She had gone through lots of dry spells; she had lived through flood and rain.
So she flew up on the grindstone, and she gave her claws a whet,
As she said, "I've never seen the time when there were no worms to get."
She picked a new and undug spot; the earth was hard and firm.
The little rooster jeered, "New ground. That's no place for a worm!"
The old black hen just spread her feet; she dug both fast and free.
"I must go to the worms," she said, "the worms won't come to me."
The rooster wanly spent his day, through habit, by the ways
Where fat worms had passed in squads, back in the rainy days.
When nightfall found him supperless, he growled in accents rough,
"I'm hungry as a fowl can be -- conditions sure are tough."
He turned then to the old black hen and said, "It's worse with you,
For you're not only hungry, but you must be tired, too.
I rested while I watched for worms so I feel fairly perk,
But how are you? Without worms, too? And after all that work!"
The old black hen hopped to her perch and drooped her eyes to sleep
And murmured, in a drowsy tone, "Young man, hear me and weep.
I'm full of worms and happy, for I've dined both long and well
The worms are there, as always, but I had to dig like hell."
Author: Anonymous
Phyllis Kraemer
Thanks!...that was lovely!!
Su
Nice!
Karen
I love that! ~ karen
Pat
LOVE IT! Sounds like a lot of human couples I know; the hen's in the kitchen slaving away to get supper ready for the family while simultaneously folding laundry and helping chicks with schoolwork while the rooster lays on the couch drinking beer and watching sports ... Just sayin'.
Ella
Awesome and amazing. This post is also brilliantly written! I want some!