# Cuckoo Marans - Chocolate eggs



## Rowena (Feb 7, 2008)

Are they nice and dark chocolate eggs? Are they good layers? Tell me what you think? I sell my eggs and the customers love the variety, would love to add if they are truly darker than other brown layers.


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## kathleena (May 12, 2005)

from my understanding they start out quite dark then by the second year lighten up......from pictures I've seen welsummers eggs are dark and are said to lay better and sooner.
just my 2 cents
Kathleena in Kentucky


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## kathleena (May 12, 2005)

here's a write up on welsummers.
http://www.whitmorefarm.com/welsummer.html
if you click on the word chickens on the left of the page then on marans there is an article about marans also showing eggs of both maran and welsummer both look alike to me.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

My Cuckoo Marans laid nice dark brown eggs. My Wesummers did also. But I have one Barnavelder that lays a copper dark brown egg also. She is also a very pretty bird with irridescent green running through her feathers.
Unfortunately, I lost the marans before their 2nd yr., and my welsummers are still in moult.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I always loved the Marans. Very good layers - consistent right through winter. They did take a little longer than the others to start laying. The roos are LOVELY birds. Very good flock roosters, and decently respectful of humans. 

A lot depends on the strain you purchase. There are some cuckoo Marans that lay nice milk chocolate colored eggs. Others that lay a little darker. Some that lay a lighter color. Some strains were crossed with Barred rocks to get a better layer, but that also lightened the egg color.

The darkest of the marans' eggs come from the copper blues, apparently. 

And yes, the color is very dark at first. The French Marans society counts color of eggs to register a flock/hen. They wait until the hen has laid 1 dozen eggs before they'll look at the eggs. 

In GENERAL, Marans lay an egg that is JUMBO in size, and has to be at least the color of a terracotta pot to be considered a "good" marans.


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2009)

They're OK layers. I'd put them on par with a Barred Rock, but not as good as a sex-link. If they're well bred the shell color can be pretty dark. My kids call them chocolate eggs.

But as with any dark egg layer they cannot maintain that color over the course of their lay cycle unless you feed them in such a way as to slow down their rate of lay. By the end of their cycle they'll lay a speckled egg not much different in color than a Barred Rock. Once they've molted the shell color will come back to start the cycle all over again.

Good sized meaty birds too.

.....Alan.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

The color of marans eggs can vary a lot by strain. In general the hatchery marans eggs lay a lighter colored egg than some birds you can get from private breeders. But all will be darker than your normal brown egg laying breeds.
Marans are true dual purpose birds, they have a large carcass and excellent meat. To grow and maintain that body they eat a fair amount.
If you just want egg layers and aren't interested in butchering, get welsummers. They have a much lighter body, eat less and lay a little better. Their eggs are just as dark, but a different shade and texture often with lots of darker speckles.
Have almost 10 yrs experience with both breeds.
Someone mentioned barnevelders - they lay a dark egg but the eggs tend to be on the smaller side and they just aren't great layers in general. Had those for only about 3 yrs, they just weren't worth it.


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

we have all kinds of chickens & the marans produce a darker egg than our other brown egg layers, but they were not at all as dark as I'd expected - not chocolaty, more rusty colored. Here is a photo of some of the egg colors we get (at the time the golden phoenix hens had not started laying - they have little off white eggs)








From the large egg at top clockwise to the right: Australorps, Ameraucana, Duck, Cuckoo Maran, Buff Orpington

All but the Buff Orpington egg are smaller than average because they are from the pullets' first couple of weeks laying. As the hens mature a bit more their eggs gain size and become more consistent. Pullets who have just started laying will have some tiny eggs and some huge double yolk eggs and they lay sporadically. After a month or so they get the hang of it


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

We bought our spring 2009 chicks from Welp in Iowa.


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## Rowena (Feb 7, 2008)

I knew you guys would come through, thank you so much. ACountryMomma, that is about the same color as my black sex links so I don't know if I will try that. Maybe I will just hatch out some more Americana and get some more green/blue eggs or maybe some Rhode Island/Americana mixes. My daughter hatched one out and she lays olive green eggs!


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Some of my cockoo marans lay darker and some lay lighter then the one acountrymama posted, but they are also from a hatchery. Get some black coppers or wheaten or blues from a good breeder that has the really dark eggs -I'd sure like to find some here in Canada :fl


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## Shagbarkmtcatle (Nov 1, 2004)

ACountryMomma said:


> we have all kinds of chickens & the marans produce a darker egg than our other brown egg layers, but they were not at all as dark as I'd expected - not chocolaty, more rusty colored. Here is a photo of some of the egg colors we get (at the time the golden phoenix hens had not started laying - they have little off white eggs)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing your pic. This is the first time I have Australorps, they should start laying in about 5 weeks and the size of the pullet egg is encouraging. I also have silver laced wyandottes for the first time too this year. I try to rotate my flock color every 2 years so I can keep track of how old the birds are. This year is the dark year. Two years ago, it was Rhode Island Reds, before that it was Barred Rock and Dominekers


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

You are welcome! Good luck with the Australorps - they are great foragers, quite broody & excellent mothers. Because of our Australorps we will not be buying chicks next year - we'll let the hens do the work for us!


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

Shoot - I misspoke the other day... that big Australorp egg is the one egg on the plate _not_ from a pullet. The Australorps did lay smaller during their first few weeks... But they more than make up for it in size and quantity as they mature. The Buff Orpington egg (at about 11o'clock on the plate) _is_ from a pullet - those will be larger as the BO matures as she will be about the same size as an Australorp.


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## Shagbarkmtcatle (Nov 1, 2004)

Wow, I didn't realize that about the Australorps. That makes me really happy. I ordered mine from Murray McMurray and I haven't lost one of them yet. But I have lost 3 Silver Laced. Two because they escaped the chicken house and got stuck under it and I couldn't get them out. And one yesterday, I noticed she was not on her feet right and thought about removing her to isolate her and see if putting vitamins in her water would help but when I went in this morning, it was too late.

I think I need to order more birds as I can't keep my egg customer's satisfied, they are overwhelming me with orders. I hope the Australorps come thru and produce eggs that look like yours.


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

For consistent laying we like New Hampshire Reds, Australorps and Light Brahmas. This year we are new to Cuckoos, Buff Orpingtons, Partridge Cochins and Dark Brahmas... So far the Cuckoos & Cochins are laying earliest & most... 

I'd love to sell eggs, but in Illinois we are only allowed to sell to people who come to our home unless we get all tied up in USDA grading, inspections, and all that bull... We live about 12 miles from the nearest town and quite off the beaten path. So what we don't use we give to neighbors and friends. Our eggs are very popular for their color and rich free range taste.

Congratulations on your egg loving customers! The more people turned on to good, home-raised foods of all kinds the happier I am.


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## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

We have Black Copper Marans and the eggs are a deep , rich mahogany color. I bought hatching eggs from a breeder and not from a hatchery to try to ensure that I got the really dark eggs.


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## switchman62 (Oct 19, 2007)

I got Cuckoo Marans from McMurray's 2 years ago. I think they are a good dual purpose bird and mine do have the nice speckling effect to them.

Dave


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

here is a pic of my eggs
white spitzhaubens, brown buff O, green EE, dark blue copper marans


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Nice marans egg tailwagging  Where did you get your marans?

I like the black marans because they are really huge, much bigger than the cuckoo. That's the only two colors I have experience with though.

We had a black australorp hen for years. I was impressed with her. She came from a hatchery and didn't seem the least bit broody for years, she actually learned to set and raise chicks from the other broodies. Never seen that happen before. When she was about 4 I noticed her walking around fluffed up and clucking like she had chicks lol. She had not been broody. The next yr she sat but not long enough. The next year she finally hatched some but only kept a couple alive. The next yr she raised chicks and did a good job. After that she raised one or two clutches a year till she died. She laid well too, one of the few who layed further into the winter before molting.


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## egg head (Nov 11, 2009)

We received some wellsummers from Ideal the worst batch of birds for health three out of ten died. Though two of them have been laying for about ten days. The eggs are dark brown.


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## Left-Handed Dog (Jan 12, 2007)

We bought 25 straight run Cuckoo Marans from Privett last spring because we wanted a dual-purpose breed and throught the dark brown eggs would be a bonus for our egg customers. We had trouble getting this breed at first due, I suppose, to the increased demand for chicks this year.

The good news was that we have found them to be good layers, with nice dark eggs and good production even through the winter so far. We picked the best roo for breeding because we want to work with these birds to develop the best possible bloodlines. The remaining roos went into the freezer and we are very pleased with their flavor, texture and weight. The "winning" roo was based on appearance, temperment (all were friendly enough), forage ability and size.

The only bad news was the "variety" of birds we received as Cuckoo Marans! Various leg colors, several different patterns of cheques, varying combs, etc. Some were clearly more closely related to a Barred Rock than Maran. By purposeful breeding we plan to improve our flock and enjoy their dual-purpose nature!

BTW - we also have a collection of bantams, Polish, Buffy's and less certain breeds as well as guinea hens, Midget White and Royal Palm turks.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Left-Handed Dog said:


> We bought 25 straight run Cuckoo Marans from Privett last spring because we wanted a dual-purpose breed and throught the dark brown eggs would be a bonus for our egg customers. We had trouble getting this breed at first due, I suppose, to the increased demand for chicks this year.
> 
> The good news was that we have found them to be good layers, with nice dark eggs and good production even through the winter so far. We picked the best roo for breeding because we want to work with these birds to develop the best possible bloodlines. The remaining roos went into the freezer and we are very pleased with their flavor, texture and weight. The "winning" roo was based on appearance, temperment (all were friendly enough), forage ability and size.
> 
> ...


Some advice if you want decent bloodlines... in the spring find a breeder and buy some hatching eggs or chicks. A good breeder will have worked for many years on their flock and you won't receive mutts like you did from the hatchery. Hard to "improve" your bloodlines when you only have mutts to work with 
Eggbid.com is a good place to start looking for a breeder. Won't be much on there till late winter/early spring though.
Also google and read as much as you can, you can find breeders that way too.


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

I got my marans from a lady in NC, who got her's from a man, who got his from Bev Davis.
I waited about a year to get them. And of coarse out of 4 chicks I got 3 roos.


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## eatmorechicken (Dec 13, 2009)

What about Penedesencas? They lay dark eggs as well. No experience with them and others I have talked to have said Welsummers trump them all for personality and laying frequency, and Marans are the best at getting the darkest eggs. 

Just curious what others think about Pennies and how you would rate them against the other 3.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

tailwagging said:


> I got my marans from a lady in NC, who got her's from a man, who got his from Bev Davis.
> I waited about a year to get them. And of coarse out of 4 chicks I got 3 roos.


Oh cool, I got my black marans from Bev Davis. Very nice lady, wouldn't even let me pay for the hatching eggs, just for shipping.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Here's Bev's website, very informative:
http://www.bevsmarans.com

Oh, and I didn't mean to imply above that she gives all her hatching eggs away, she wouldn't let me pay for the black marans eggs at the time because the variety was still in development and some of the hens were showing up with black combs.


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