Maran chicken breed: description, photos, reviews

The breed of chickens that lay eggs with beautiful chocolate-colored shells was registered in Europe only in the 20th century, although its roots go back to the 13th century. Maran chickens originated in the swampy area around the French port city of Marans. The breed got its name from this city.

History of Maran chickens

In the 19th century, when Indian breeds came into fashion chicken brama and Lanshan, 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 1914. In 1929, the Maran Breeding Club was organized in France. The standard was adopted in 1931, where the Maran is a breed of chicken, the description of which clearly states that the bird's metatarsus must be feathered. In 1934, 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 marans 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, Great Britain established its own Marans Club. And from that moment on, another “hundred years war” began between France and England.

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

Already at the beginning of the 21st century, three English clubs for breeding Marans were created and dissolved again. America's breeders kept pace with the Old World, and the original Association fell apart as a result of differing views on the standard of the Maran chicken. On its ruins, a new Marano Club of America was created, recognizing the French breed standard. The French standard is recognized by most countries. The only question is whether to “legalize” both versions of marans or only one of them in the national standard.

Interesting! Initially, marans had only a cuckoo color.

Motley is still the most common color among Maranas today, but in Russia the black-and-copper Marana chickens are better known.

Modern Marana chickens: photo and description

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

Important! According to the French standard, the color of a Maran egg should start from the 4th order and higher, as in the bottom picture.

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

General requirements for Maran chickens

The head is medium 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-sized, red. The earrings are long, red, and have a 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 curve at the top. Covered with long thick feathers descending to the shoulders.

The body is powerful, quite long and wide. The bird is “strongly built”, which is why 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 thick long feathers.

The chest is wide, with well-developed muscles. The wings are short, tightly pressed to the body. The belly is full and well developed. The tail is bushy and short. Located at an angle of 45°.

Important! The slope of the tail of a purebred Maran should not be higher than 45°.

The shins are large. The hocks are medium in size, white or pinkish. In dark-colored chickens, the metatarsus may be gray or dark gray. The claws are white or pink. The presence of a small number of feathers on the metatarsus and toes depends on the standard adopted in a particular country: in France and the USA, only marans with feathered metatarsals are recognized; Australia allows both options; in the UK maranas can only have unfeathered metatarsus.

Important! The soles of Marans are always white.

The American Poultry Association allows marans to have white, wheaten and black-copper colors.

Not allowed, but exist:

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

At the same time, the American Marano Club recognizes not only these colors, but also adds black, speckled, Columbian and black-tailed colors to them.

Today, the most common breed of chickens all over the world is the Black-Copper Maran, and the color description most often refers to this particular variety.

Breed of chickens Maran black-copper

Black plumage of the body and tail. The feathers on the head, mane and lower back should be copper in color. The copper tint can be of varying intensity, but is required.

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

A rooster may have more or less black feathers on its back and lower back.

The color requirements for a chicken are the same as for a rooster: only two colors. Black and copper. The description of the Maran chicken according to American Club standards states that the head and mane have a fairly pronounced copper color. On the shoulders and lower back the feather is black with an emerald tint.

Description of the breed of wheat-colored Maran chickens

The color of the rooster's head, mane and waist varies from golden red to brownish red. The cover feathers are long, without a noticeable border. The back and loin are dark red. The shoulders and upper wing feathers are deep red.

The flight feathers of the first order are black with an emerald tint. The second order feather 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 black braids.The feather on the sides may have a red tint.

The color of the chicken's head, neck and back varies from golden red to dark red. The photo clearly shows the wheat color of Maran chickens. The lower part of the body is the color of wheat grain. 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 look reddish-brown. The color of the plumage can vary, but the basic requirement is that all three colors - wheaten, cream and dark red - must be present.

On a note! In the wheaten color variant, bluish-gray shades are undesirable.

A little about breeding wheat-colored marans

It is better not to cross Wheaten Marans with red-brown or silver-cuckoo varieties. The color of the latter is based on another gene “e”. Crossbreeding will result in a bird of non-standard color.

The second point about the “wheat” marans: the chickens are autosex. Already in 2-3 weeks you can determine which of the chickens is a hen and which is a rooster.

In the photo above are wheatears 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.

The photo below shows older chickens, with a clear division into hen and rooster.

Silver cuckoo color

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

According to the British Standard, the neck and upper chest of a rooster are a lighter shade 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.

Important! Silver cuckoo marans are genetically black.

This means that their offspring may produce black chicks. Silver cuckoo marans can be mated with the black variety. When a Silver Cuckoo rooster mates with a black hen, the offspring will be dark roosters and lighter Silver Cuckoo hens. When a black rooster mates 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 lower back covered with bright yellow feathers. The shoulders are red-brown. The rest of the coloration corresponds to the standards of silver cuckoo marans.

On a note! Sometimes there may be more yellow, giving the chest a golden-white color.

The chicken is “more modest”; its yellow feathers are present only on the head and neck.

Black Maran chicken breed

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

White Marana color

Chickens with pure white plumage. In roosters, the standard allows for 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 Marans are recessive. The presence of even weak 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's metatarsus is gray or blue-gray, it is a lavender maran feather that has not yet matured into an adult feather.

Lavender color

Lavender color can come in different variations, as it is based on black and red main pigments. The gene that causes these pigments to lighten to a “café au lait” or blue color is dominant in Marans. Therefore, from chickens of this color you can get either black or red marans. Otherwise, the color of lavender marans corresponds to variants with unbleached pigment.

Lavender-cuckoo cock

Black-tailed Maran

Red body with black tail. The roosters' braids are emerald-colored. In chickens, tail feathers may have a brown tint.

Mottled color

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

White and speckled marans of the French standard:

Silver-black color

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

On a note! The silver-black color is not recognized in France, but is recognized in Belgium and Holland.

Marans with this 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 edged with white. The chest is white. The tail feathers are black. Small braids are black with a white border. The flight feathers have black undersides and white upper sides. So that when the wings are folded, the black color is not visible. Metatarsus pinkish-white.

On a note! There is a dwarf form of marans: rooster 1 kg, hen 900 g.

Productive characteristics of Maran chickens

Marans are the so-called “chickens that lay Easter eggs.”The breed standard is a Marana egg, the color of which is not lower than number four on the above scale. But the desired minimum egg color level is 5-6.

The coloring of the shell depends on the number and intensity of functioning of the glands in the oviduct. In fact, the brown color of a marana egg is given by dried mucus, which is secreted by glands in the oviduct. The real egg color of Marans is white.

The age when Marana chickens begin to lay eggs is 5-6 months. At this time, the glands in the oviduct are not yet working at full capacity and the color of the egg is somewhat lighter than normal. The maximum color intensity of eggs in laying marans is observed at one year of age. The color lasts about a year, then the shells of the eggs begin to turn pale.

The egg production of the breed, according to reviews of Marana chickens, is up to 140 eggs per year. Whether these reviews should be believed is unknown, 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 non-commercial descriptions of eggs of the Maran chicken breed with the attached photo show that the Maran egg is no different in size from the eggs of other egg-laying chickens. This is clearly visible in the photo below. Middle row - maran eggs.

In fact, marans lay large, but not larger than normal, eggs.

On a note! The real distinguishing feature of Marans is the almost regular oval shape of the egg.

Marans have good meat characteristics. Adult roosters can weigh up to 4 kg, chickens up to 3.2 kg. The weight of one-year-old cockerels is 3 – 3.5 kg, pullets 2.2 – 2.6 kg. The meat has good taste. Thanks to the white skin, the carcass of the marana has an attractive presentation.

The Maran chicken breed has virtually no disadvantages. These include, perhaps, low egg production and too thick eggshells, due to which chickens sometimes cannot break through. A certain difficulty for amateur breeders can be presented by the complex pattern of color inheritance. But it will be all the more interesting to study the genetics of Maran chickens.

On a note! Some hens like to be distracted by other activities.

The advantages of the breed include their calm nature, which allows them to be kept together with other birds.

Keeping maran chickens

The maintenance of this breed is no fundamentally different from the conditions for any other chicken. As elsewhere, chickens need to walk all day long. Do not allow dampness in the chicken coop. The temperature in the poultry house should be +15°C. Maranas are provided with standard roosts. If chickens are kept on the floor, provide enough bedding to allow the birds to make a hole in it to sleep.

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

carrot;
beet;
nettle;
greenery.

How true this is can be verified experimentally.

Breeding Marans creates much more difficulties.

Breeding Maran chickens

Medium-sized eggs are selected for breeding.

Important! It is believed that the best chickens come from the darkest eggs possible.

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, chickens 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 needs to be ventilated more often than usual to ensure that the air contains a sufficient amount of oxygen.

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

Reviews of Marana chickens

Victor Stepanidov, village Dedovo

I moved to the village and decided to start raising chickens. I searched and read a lot about different breeds. I liked the Maran chicken breed, I looked at the description, photos and reviews, it seems like a very interesting breed for breeding. I bought a hatching egg and hatched chickens. The chickens grew up, and it turned out that in our village no one needed beautiful brown eggs. Since I planned to sell not only brown ones, but multi-colored ones in general, I also had Ameraucans. And I decided to try to cross breeds. So now I don’t breed pure Marans, although I have no complaints about the breed itself.

Nadezhda Reukhova, D. Cherny Ruchey

This is now one of my favorite breeds. Very calm chickens. When we introduced them into our herd, they didn't make much fuss even while they were establishing a hierarchy. Unfortunately, maranas lay a small number of eggs. But they provide an excellent opportunity to experiment with crossing.

Conclusion

Maranas in Russia are still classified as decorative breeds rather than as chicken for personal backyards. Their low egg production prevents owners from producing eggs for sale.And few people will buy eggs at a higher price just because of the color of the shell. Although before Easter you can earn some money. In the meantime, Marans are kept by amateur poultry farmers, for whom chickens are a hobby, not a source of income. Or those who are trying to make money on colorful eggs by crossing different breeds of chickens.