Maran chickens

A breed of chickens that lay eggs with a beautiful chocolate-colored shell was registered in Europe only in the XNUMXth century, although its roots go back to the XNUMXth century. Maran chickens appeared in the swampy area around the French port city of Marans. From this city the breed got its name.

History of Maran chickens

In the 1914th century, when the Indian breeds of Brahma and Lanshan chickens came into fashion, French marans were crossed with these chickens. The French Maran is a breed of chicken with feathered legs. The first birds were presented at the exhibition in 1929. In 1931, the Maran Breeding Club was organized in France. The standard was adopted in 1934, where the maran is a breed of chicken, the description of which clearly indicates that the bird’s metatarsus must be feathered. In XNUMX marans were shown at an exhibition in England. It is not known why the English breeders were not satisfied with the small number of feathers on the metatarsus of chickens, but for breeding they selected only Maran with “clean” legs.

“Bare-footed” marans were bred in England in sufficient numbers, but France did not recognize this line in the breed. In 1950, the Maran Club was organized in the UK. And from that moment on, another “hundred-year war” began between France and England.

French chickens of the Maran breed in the photo (with plumage on the metatarsus).

Already at the beginning of the XNUMXst century, three English maran breeding clubs were created and dissolved again. America’s breeders kept up with the Old World, and the originally formed Association fell apart as a result of differing views on the Maran chicken standard. On its ruins, a new Maran Club of America was created, recognizing the French breed standard. The French standard is recognized by most countries. The only question is whether to “legitimize” both variants of marans in the national standard or only one of them.

Motley and today the most common color in marans, but in Our Country black and copper maran chickens are more famous.

Modern marana chickens: photo and description

Attempts to breed other colors than the cuckoo were quite difficult. Often the resulting birds did not meet the desired standards. In particular, laying hens may have had brown eyes instead of red ones. Roosters’ tails were raised to 75 degrees to the horizon, instead of 45. The hens were too small for marans. The worst thing was that the eggs came out too light.

As a result of long-term selection work, it was still possible to breed marans of other colors than the original. Almost every color has its own standard today. But first, about the common features for all marans.

General requirements for chickens of the Maran breed

The head is medium in size, long. The comb is leaf-shaped, medium, red. The texture of the comb is rough. It should not touch the back of the head. The lobes are tender, medium in size, red. Earrings are long, red, with fine texture. The face is red. The eyes are bright, red-orange. The beak is powerful, slightly curved.

The neck is long, strong, with a bend in the upper part. Covered with long thick feathers descending to the shoulders.

The body is powerful, quite long and wide. The bird is “strongly knocked down” because of which it does not give the impression of being massive, although it has a relatively large weight.

The back is long and flat. Slightly curved at the bottom. The loin is wide, slightly raised. Covered with dense long feathers.

The chest is broad, with well-developed muscles. The wings are short, tightly pressed to the body. The belly is full, well developed. The tail is fluffy, short. It is at an angle of 45°.

Shanks are large. Hocks of medium size, white or pinkish. In dark-colored hens, the metatarsus may be gray or dark gray. Nails are white or pink. The presence of a small amount of feathers on the metatarsus and fingers depends on the standard adopted in a particular country: in France and the USA only marans with feathered metatarsus are recognized; Australia allows both options; in the UK, marans can only be with non-feathered metatarsus.

The American Poultry Association allows marans to be white, wheaten, and black and copper.

Not allowed, but there are:

• cuckoo;
• silver black;
• lavender;
• salmon;
• silver lavender salmon;
• silver cuckoo;
• golden cuckoo.

At the same time, the Maran Club of America recognizes not only these colors, but also adds black, speckled, Colombian and black-tailed colors to them.

Today, all over the world, the black-copper maran breed of chickens is the most common and the description of the color most often refers to this particular variety.

Breed chickens Maran black-copper

Black body and tail plumage. Feathers on the head, in the mane and on the lower back should be copper in color. The copper shade can be of different intensity, but it is mandatory.

The color of the mane allowed by the standard for a black-copper maran-rooster.

On the back and lower back, the rooster may have more or less black feathers.

The color requirements for a chicken are the same as for a rooster: only two colors. Black and copper. The description of a maran hen by American club standards states that the head and mane are a fairly pronounced copper color. On the shoulders and lower back, the feather is black with an emerald sheen.

Description of the chicken breed of maran wheat color

In a rooster, the color of the head, mane and loin varies from golden red to brown red. The integumentary feathers are long, without a noticeable border. The back and loins are dark red. The shoulders and upper feathers of the wing are rich red in color.

Flight feathers of the first order are black with an emerald sheen. The feather of the second order is orange-brown. The throat and chest are black. The belly and inner thighs are black with gray down. The tail is black with a green tint. Large braids are black. Feather on the sides may be with a red tint.

In a hen, the color of the head, neck and back varies from golden red to deep red. The photo shows the wheaten color of maran hens well. The lower part of the body is wheat grain color. Each feather has a small stripe and border. The fluff is whitish. The tail and flight feathers are dark with reddish or black edges. Second order feathers appear red-brown. The color of the plumage may vary, but the basic requirement is that all three colors – wheaten, cream and dark red – must be present.

A little about breeding maran wheat color

Wheat marans are best not crossed with red-brown or silver-cuckoo varieties. The color of the second is based on another gene “e”. When crossing, a bird of a non-standard color will be obtained.

The second point of the “wheat” marans: autosex chickens. Already at 2-3 weeks, you can determine which of the chickens is a chicken and which is a cockerel.

In the photo above, wheat maranchiki that have begun to fledge. The dark feathers on the top chick indicate that it is a rooster. Red feathers are a sign of a chicken.

In the photo below, the chickens are older, with a clear division into a chicken and a rooster.

Silver cuckoo color

The breed of chickens Maran shown in the photo corresponds to the French standard of silver-cuckoo color. According to French requirements, a rooster is lighter than a hen. The plumage is equally variegated throughout the body and may have a reddish tint.

By British standard, the neck and upper chest of a rooster is lighter in color than the rest of the body.

In French: dark plumage with a rough pattern; subtle lines; grey colour.

British: The neck and upper chest are lighter than the body.

This means that black chickens may appear in their offspring. Silver-cuckoo marans can be mated with a black variety. When mating a silver cuckoo rooster with a black hen, the offspring will be dark roosters and lighter silver cuckoo hens. When mating a black rooster with a silver cuckoo hen, the offspring will be dark roosters and black hens.

Silver-cuckoo marans:

Golden cuckoo color

Sometimes golden cuckoo marans are called the “golden cuckoo” chicken breed, although this is still not a breed, but only a color variant.

The golden-cuckoo rooster has a head, mane and loin covered with bright yellow feathers. Shoulders are red-brown. The rest of the color corresponds to the standards of the silver-cuckoo maran.

The chicken is “more modest”; its yellowness on the pen is present only on the head and neck.

Breed of chickens Maran black color

The hen and rooster are completely black in color. Emerald tint is optional. The pen may have a reddish tint. This variety of color in maran is quite rare, although cuckoos are also genetically black.

White maran color

Chickens with pure white plumage. In roosters, the standard allows a yellow tint on the feathers of the mane, loin and tail, although this is contrary to logic. The genes responsible for the white color in maran are recessive. The presence of even a faint pigment in the feather indicates the presence of genes for a different color.

The metatarsus of a white maran should be strictly pink. If the chick has a gray or gray-blue metatarsus, it is a lavender maran that has not yet faded into an adult feather.

Lavender color

Lavender color can be in different variations, as it is based on black and red main pigments. The gene that causes these pigments to lighten to coffee-au-lait or blue is dominant in Maran. Therefore, from chickens of this color, you can get either black or red marans. Otherwise, the color of lavender marans corresponds to the options with non-clarified pigment.

Lavender cuckoo rooster

Black-tailed deer

Red body with black tail. Roosters have braids cast in emerald. In chickens, tail feathers may have a brown tint.

Speckled color

Completely white body with interspersed feathers of a different color. The colored pen can be black or red. The frequency of inclusions also varies.

French white and speckled maranas:

Silver-black color

An analogue of the copper-black color, but the red-brown color of the feathers on the neck and lower back of this type of maran is replaced by “silver”.

Marans with such plumage can be obtained by crossing silver-cuckoo and copper-black chickens.

Colombian color

The body is pure white with white down. On the neck is a mane of black feathers with a white border. The chest is white. Tail feathers are black. Small braids are black with a white border. The flight feathers are black on the underside and white on the top. So that with folded wings black is not visible. Metatarsus pinkish-white.

Productive characteristics of maran chickens

Marans belong to the so-called “Easter egg laying hens”. The breed standard is a maran egg, the color of which is not lower than the fourth number on the above scale. But the desired minimum egg color level is 5-6.

The coloration of the shell depends on the number and intensity of the functioning of the glands in the oviduct. In fact, the dried mucus secreted by the glands in the oviduct gives the maran egg its brown color. The true color of the egg in Maran is white.

The age when marana chickens begin to lay is 5-6 months. At this time, the glands in the oviduct are not yet fully functional and the color of the egg is somewhat lighter than normal. The maximum intensity of coloring of eggs in laying marans is observed by the age of one. The color lasts for about a year, then the egg shell begins to turn pale.

The egg production of the breed, according to reviews of Maran chickens, is up to 140 eggs per year. Whether it is necessary to believe these reviews is not known, since there are also statements that maran eggs can weigh 85 g, and even reach 100 g. While an egg weighing 65 g is considered large, it is quite possible that 100- gram eggs, but they are two-yolk. Since the non-commercial descriptions of eggs of the Maran chicken breed with the attached photo, it shows that the Maran egg does not differ in size from the eggs of other egg-laying hens. You can see it clearly in the photo below. The middle row is maran eggs.

In fact, marans carry large, but not exceeding normal sizes, eggs.

Maran has good meat characteristics. Adult roosters can weigh up to 4 kg, chickens up to 3,2 kg. The weight of one-year-old males is 3 – 3,5 kg, pullets 2,2 – 2,6 kg. The meat has a good taste. Thanks to the white skin, the maran carcass has an attractive presentation.

There are practically no disadvantages in the Maran chicken breed. These include perhaps low egg production and too much egg shell thickness, due to which chickens sometimes cannot break out. A certain difficulty for amateur breeders can present a complex scheme of inheritance of colors. But the more interesting it will be to study the genetics of maran chickens.

The advantages of the breed can be called a calm character, which allows you to keep them together with another bird.

Keeping maran chickens

The content of this breed is not fundamentally different from the conditions for any other chicken. As elsewhere, chickens need to walk all daylight hours. Do not allow dampness in the chicken coop. The temperature in the house should be +15°C. Maranas are satisfied with standard perches. If the chickens are kept on the floor, a sufficient layer of bedding should be laid out so that the birds can make a recess in it for sleeping.

Feeding is also similar to other breeds. Although foreign farmers believe that adding coloring feed to maranam improves the color of the eggshell. Such feeds can be any plants containing vitamin A in large quantities:

• carrot;
• beet;
• nettle;
• greens.

How true this is can be verified experimentally.

Much more difficulties are created by breeding maran.

Breeding maran chickens

For breeding, medium-sized eggs are selected.

Therefore, eggs are also selected for incubation by color. A thick shell, on the one hand, is good for the chicken, since salmonella cannot penetrate through it. On the other hand, chicks often cannot open eggs on their own and need help.

During incubation, due to the thick shell, air does not penetrate deep into the egg. Therefore, the incubator must be ventilated more often than usual to ensure that the air contains enough oxygen.

2 days before hatching, the humidity in the incubator is raised to 75% to make it easier for the chicks to exit. After hatching, maranchiki need the same care as chickens of any other breed. In general, the breed is unpretentious and hardy, chickens have a good survival rate.

Reviews about maran chickens

Conclusion

Marans in Our Country so far are more likely to be classified as decorative breeds than as a chicken for a personal farmstead. Their low egg production makes it difficult for owners to produce eggs for sale. And few people will buy eggs more expensive just because of the color of the shell. Although before Easter you can get some money. In the meantime, marans are kept by amateur poultry farmers, for whom chickens are a hobby, not an income. Or those who are trying to make money on colorful eggs by crossing different breeds of chickens.