Marans

The Marans breed, was developed in Marans, France between the 1920's and 30's. There are several breeds of fowl said to make up the the Marans such as; Coucou del Malines, Croad Langshan, Rennes, Faverolles, Brakel and Gatinaise.

Marans are a relatively new breed of chicken in general, even more so in America only having a few recognized varieties starting in 2013.

These particular birds were sought after for their extraordinarily red egg with the potential for dark chocolate shells, aside from that, both eggs and meat of this breed are said to be richer and more flavorful than the average meat bird.

The bird's body structure, across all

varieties of feather color, should remain the same

according to the American standard to be true Marans we breed our flock to French standard since our variety is not yet approved in our country.

Features such as; body width, back length, eye and skin color, tail angles, beak shape among many other minute traits play a huge role in keeping all poultry breeds true and well-bred to their purpose.

One of the reasons we chose to work with this breed is the history of origin along with their purpose.

Many here in Louisiana are of Acadian ancestry,

although the Acadians left France about 200 years before the Marans were developed, the people here and the environment

is representative of where the Acadians & the Marans

both originally hail.

Making the Marans a perfect fit to our French culture,

mixed together with southern native heritages,

here in the swamps of Louisiana.

Golden Cuckoo Marans

The Golden Cuckoo is a color variety of Marans

that is not yet recognized in the US but is and has been recognized

in France since the introduction of the breed in the 1930's.

This color is an autosexing variety of Marans,

which means their offspring will continue to be sexable by their colors at hatch.

They are bred by using a Cuckoo Marans Rooster over Black Copper Hens

{Roosters genetically carry a heavier barring pattern}

This crossing takes several generations of breeding before being consistent and accurate.

In the Golden Cuckoo variety, day old chicks

should be black with a white mark as the gender identifier on the head of the males.

In some places you may come across 'Golden Cuckoo Marans'

as brown chicks these are considered to be the result of crossing Wheaten Marans with Cuckoos

which can be identified in adults that have red in the tip of the wing, in the flight feathers which is inconsistent with the French Marans description.

Marans lay several shades of brown to red to chocolate,

eggs can lighten in color as the hen age.

In addition to that, their shells tend to be much thicker sometimes with heavy 'bloom'

which provides extra bacteria resistance and making some eggs look purple!