Assorted Rare Marans chicks for sale
Chicks hatching February to November.
When you place an order for Assorted Rare Marans you can expect to receive any of the following:
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Birchen Marans
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Black Copper Marans
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Blue Copper Marans
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Blue Wheaten Marans
These will all be Feather Legged Marans chicks from a private breeder who is working toward the standard.
birchen: There are 2 lines of birchens that I have been working with. The Wade Jeane line has nearlly perfect conformation but light collored eggs. The Bev Davis line has good egg color, but has gold in the back and wings, and the hens have silver that extends past the hackle: neither of which is to standard. If you look on the green fire farms website, they have Bev's birds, and as you can see from the photo there is gold on the roosters back. These birds are a work in progress like many of the Marans lines. As far as I know, no one in the US has a birchen line that is true to conformation, and has dark egg color, but there are certain breeders that are getting close, myself included.
black copper: I have been working with the Wade Jeane and Bev Davis black copper lines for several years now. I have been mostly working on uniformity by crossing these lines. The Wade Jeane usually has to much copper on its chest and has trouble with a 90 degree tail. The Bev Davis line has many chicks that hatch out with no feathering on their legs, and the hens are many times solid black. With many crosses and a great deal of culling I have come up with a line with much better uniformity. This line has very consistent dark egg color with a red "bloom," and does very well at egg contests.
blue copper: Wade Jeane/Bev Davis copper splash over black copper hens that has great egg color and good conformation.
Wheatens: Bev Davis line birds with outstanding egg color that is almost as good as my black coppers. More of a golden chocolate egg that is just beautiful, and the birds are excellent as well. The blue roosters of this variety are stunning.
Any blue variety ordered from Purely Poultry may include chicks with black, blue or splash plumage patterns.
All of these color varieties are in high demand, due to the fact Marans lay very dark brown eggs. The darkest eggs are come from Black Copper Marans, but the others lay darker-than-average eggs as well.
Aside from laying very dark brown eggs, all Marans make great dual purpose birds. They are productive, and they grown to a good table weight.
Marans originated in France, and like many old breeds, their early history is not clear. They are named for the port town of Marans, France, which is surrounded by wetlands. In the 12th century, English ships would dock at Marans, and other towns along the coast of western France, and release game roosters. Those English game roosters bred with the local, native "swamp hens" that populated the wetlands of the area.
Those crosses gave us the breed that eventually became the Marans. As a whole, the breed enjoyed periods of popularity with poultry fanciers, as well as suffered through periods when they were out of favor. Currently, they are enjoying a time of renewed interest and are one of the most sought-after breeds.
Marans have not always been easy to obtain in the United States, and demand still out-paces supply. Black Copper Marans are particularly difficult to come by, but all of the colors included in this assortment are rare.
Aside from their dark eggs, their practicality, and their rarity, there is one more reason many people want to raise Marans: their beauty. Regardless of the color, Marans are gorgeous birds.
