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The Marans (always with an 's')breed was developed in thetown of Marans in thePoitou-Charentes region ofWestern France in the middle

of the 1800s for both the table and as anegg layer.

The fighting gamecocks brought ashore fromEnglish ships were naturally crossed with locallandrace hens and this resulted in birds with aproud bearing, heavy figure and of thesometimes quarrelsome character of the cocks.

The breed was created by crossinglocal feral chickens, (descended fromfighting game chickens) with Coucoudel Malines, Croad Langshan, Rennes,Faverolles, barred Rock, Brakel andGatinaise to produce a bird which providesa good quality meat as well as richbrown eggs.

Importing into EnglandPoultry lover, Lord Greenway was

fascinated by Marans he saw at the Parisexhibition in 1929 and though he was keen

to take some home, he was not allowed toimport any due to livestock restrictions.

To get around this, eggs were smuggled in,disguised as hard boiled eggs in a picnicbasket. These were duly hatched and thequality of the brown eggs produced by thehens impressed Lord Greenway's poultrymanager, J.S. Parkin. Brown eggs werealready available in the UK, but prior to theintroduction of Marans' eggs, white eggs hadalways been preferred as being superiour.The introduction of Marans' eggs were the

Picture:HeberH

argreaves

catalyst which changed the nation's perceptionof what a 'good' egg could offer. As soon aslivestock restrictions were lifted, LordGreenway imported some chicks which hadboth silver and dark markings, and from thesewere bred black, cuckoo and white Marans.

The first Marans entered into a poultryshow were by Lord Greenway at CrystalPalace in 1934 and accepted into the BritishStandard in 1935, which was drawn up byJ S Parkin and W Powell-Green. TheMarans Club was officially formed on 18thFebruary 1950.

Gold cuckoos were introduced in 1944 andblacks in 1952, the whites having died out.Black coppernecks, which were importedfrom France in the 1930s were not acceptedinto the British Standard.

Initially, it was the demand for the darkbrown egg, not their plumage which led theway for breeding Marans. Keen to producefemales for laying, breeders were determinedto find a way to sex the chicks. This wasachieved by crossing Marans with breedssuch as the Light Sussex, which are easilysexed as day-old chicks. The resultingoffspring were crossed back with Marans andtheir offspring sold on as pure Marans.This breeding was deemed a success as it

did offer breeders a way of determining male

chicks at a day old thanks to their lightercolouring. However, the genes had beendiluted resulting in paler and fewer eggs aswell as introducing more white into thefeather colouring.

France versus BritainFrench Marans have feathered legs but

when the breed was imported into the UK,the similarity between the legs of the CuckooMarans and the related North Holland Blue

(was already established) made them almostindistinguishable.

To resolve this, breeders deliberately choseclean legged offspring to breed from. Therewere still a lot of variations from the standardbeing produced thanks to the relatively recentdevelopment of the breed. While featheredlegs part of the breed standard in France, this isconsidered a fault in the UK.

Recent importations from France into theUK have resulted in both clean shanked andfeathered shanked birds being available. ThePoultry Club of Great Britain currently refusesto recognise the feathered birds, though theyare accepted by The Marans Club.

There are differences, too, in the coloursaccepted by the French and British breedstandards. In addition to black, gold cuckooand silver cuckoo the French Marans also havewhite, coppered black, wheat, black-tailedfawn, and ermine, and are also consideringadding the silvered black.

Breed standardLLaarrggee ffoowwll;; hheeaavvyy,, ssoofftt ffeeaatthheerr..Like other barred breeds, the cuckoo

Marans female can be mated with the malesof other suitable unbarred breeds to give thesex-linked offspring of the white head-spotdistinguishing characteristic

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Picture:GillianDixon

Picture:MeriBlack

A robust breed, Maransare fast growers and dowell in damp areas

English CuckooMarans bantams

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General Characteristics (male)CCaarrrriiaaggee:: Active, compact and gracefulTTyyppee:: Body of medium length with goodwidth and depth throughout; front broad,full and deep. Breast long, well fleshed, ofgood width, and without keeliness. Tail wellcarried, high.HHeeaadd:: Refined, Beak deep and of mediumsize. Eyes large and prominent; pupils largeand defined. Comb single, medium size,straight, erect, with five to seven serrations,and of fine texture. Face smooth. Wattles ofmedium size and fine texture.NNeecckk:: Of medium length and not tooprofusely feathered.LLeeggss aanndd ffeeeett:: Legs of medium length, wideapart, and good quality bone. Thighs wellfleshed, but not heavy in bone. Shanks cleanand unfeathered. Toes, four, well spread andstraight.PPlluummaaggee:: Fairly tight and of silky texturegenerally..HHaannddlliinngg:: Firm, as befits a table bird. Fleshwhite, and skin of fine texture.

General characteristics of the femaleare similar to those of the male, allowingfor the natural sexual differences. Table

and laying qualities to be taken intoaccount jointly.

The BlackMMaallee aanndd ffeemmaallee pplluummaaggee:: Black with

a beetle-green sheen.

The Dark CuckooMMaallee aanndd ffeemmaallee pplluummaaggee:: Cuckoo

throughout, each feather marked across withbands of blue-black. A lighter shaded neck inboth male and female, and also back in themale, is permissible if definitely banded. Cuckoothroughout is the ideal, as even as possible.

The Golden CuckooMMaallee pplluummaaggee:: Hackles bluish-grey with

golden and black bands, neck paler thansaddle. Breast bluish-grey with black bands,pale golden shading on upper part. Thighs andfluff light bluish-grey with medium blackbanding. Back, shoulders and wing bowsbluish-grey with rich bright golden and blackbands. Wing bars bluish-grey with black bands,golden fringe permissible. Wings, primariesdark blue-grey, lightly banded, secondariesdark blue-grey, lightly banded, with slightgolden fringe. Tail dark blue-grey banded with

black, coverts blue-grey banded with black.General cuckoo markings.

FFeemmaallee pplluummaaggee:: Hackle medium bluish-greywith golden and black bands. Breast darkbluish-grey with black bands, pale goldenshading on upper parts. Remainder dark bluish-grey with dark black bands. Cuckoo markings.

The Silver CuckooMMaallee pplluummaaggee:: Mainly white in neck and

showing white on upper part of breast, alsoon top. Remainder banded throughout, withlighter ground colour than the dark cuckoo.

FFeemmaallee pplluummaaggee;; Mainly white in neck andshowing white on upper part of breast.Remainder banded throughout, with lighterground colour than the dark cuckoo.

IInn bbootthh sseexxeess aanndd aallll ccoolloouurrss:: Beak, white orhorn. Eyes red or bright orange preferred.Comb, face, wattles and earlobes red. Legsand feet white. Weights are:CCoocckk:: 3.60kg (8lb)CCoocckkeerreell:: 3.20kg (7lb)HHeenn:: 3.20kg (7lb)PPuulllleett:: 2.70kg (6lb)

Picture:Matthew

Roynon

Marans bantams

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Scale of pointsType, carriage and table merits (to include

type of breast and fleshing, also quality offlesh) (40 points); Size and quality (20 points);Colour and markings (15 points); Head (10points); Condition (10 points); Legs and Feet(5 points) = Total 100 points

Serious defectsFeathered shanks. General coarseness. Lack

of activity. Superfine bone. Any points againstutility or reproductive values. White in lobe.

Defects (for which a bird may bepassed)

Deformities, crooked breast bone, otherthan four toes, etc. Defects (in blacks)Restricted white in undercolour in both sexes.A little darkish pigmentation in white shanks.

BantamMarans bantams should be true miniatures

of their large fowl counterparts. No blackbantam variety is standardized. Weights are:CCoocckk:: 910g (32oz),CCoocckkeerreell:: 790g (28oz),HHeenn:: 790g (28oz),PPuulllleett:: 680g (24oz)

ShapeThe Marans is a tidy bird and can be

described in every respect as being'medium'. A medium body, with a mediumsized beak, comb and wattles; mediumlength legs and neck.

PersonalityMarans don't like exercise preferring to eat

and rest and generally be lazy. They canbecome overweight very easily so care isneeded with feeding.

If given a large area to free range withplenty of places for foraging then they will beactive which will help to keep them fromgetting too fat. Marans are not as destructiveas other laying breeds and don't do as muchdamage to the ground.

A robust breed, Marans are a fast growerand does well in damp areas, having beendeveloped in a marshy area of France. Theyare generally quiet and while they can be veryfriendly but not as 'pet-like' as other breeds.Cockerels can be aggressive, possibly athrowback to their heritage as fighting cocks.Marans are generally a disease-resistant andhealthy bird.

EggsOne reason why people choose to breed

Marans is for their gorgeous, dark browneggs. Though you can expect around 150eggs a year, they can lay over 200 eggs andin the right conditions will carry on layingthrough the winter, though not necessarilyconsistently.

But the eggs are of the best quality andreceived the seal of approval from James

Picture:HaberH

argreaves

Marans lay gorgeous,dark brown eggs

Picture:HaberH

argreaves

Pict:M

athewRoynon

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Bond author Ian Fleming who ensured heordered Marans’ eggs for his breakfast.

However, although you may decided tobuy some Marans for the beautiful deep eggcolour, it's worth noting that not all hens areequal and that different flocks (and evenindividual hens within flocks) will producelighter coloured eggs. That is why it'simportant to obtain eggs or chicks from areputable breeder.

ColoursThe standardized colours in England

are the black, dark cuckoo, gold cuckooand silver cuckoo. 'Cuckoo' being a patternof irregular barring on the plumage of thebird. The black variety, though it doesn'thave the barring on its plumage, does havea lustrous beetle-green sheen. The mostcommon colour in the UK by far is thedark cuckoo.

What breeders say

Meri Black keeps bantam marans. Sheexplains she keeps marans because “theyare quiet, easily managed little birds. Theynon-aggressive, good foragers and generallyhealthy and hardy. They are also good layersand just a pleasure to have around.

Mathew Roynon breeds English CuckooMarans and explains what attracted himto them.

“Why do I breed ECM? For me, theyabsolutely typify what a good chicken breedshould look like; a robust dual purpose utilitybird that lays sensible quantities of large highquality eggs that are a wonderful colour.

“They have a calm, even nature andare much easier to keep in their pensthan other pure breeds. They are adisease-resistant breed and given thechance, they respond well to a freerange environment.

“Whilst the egg laying capability of theECM does not compare to a modern hybrid,they can easily lay in excess of 200 eggs perannum which compares favourably to mostpure breeds.

“As a dual purpose breed, surpluscockerels can be slaughtered to providemeat for the table. The males in particularquickly attain a good carcase size.”

Barry Symonds is another Marans breeder.“The first poultry I kept were five largebreed Cuckoo Marans, but when I found outthere was a bantam version, I replaced themwith bantams.

“I do prefer bantams rather than largefowl. I have five different breeds of bantambut it is the Marans that outlay everythingelse. They may not be as striking to look athas the other breeds, but lay the mostbeautiful brown eggs, where as the otherslay a white or tinted egg.

“My Marans' eggs have been really fertilethis year. I have four hens running with anunrelated cockerel and they have been layingthree to four eggs per day, from the end ofNovember.

“They are a very placid bird and reallyquite inquisitive. They are also quite a bigbird for a bantam and the other thing thatis very noticeable, when you are rearingthem is that they feather up very quicklyand by 10 weeks old you have a reallynice bird.

“I don't think they get the recognition theydeserve, but all I can say is that I have foundonce my customers try the Marans bantam,they always come back for more. I believethat is due to the egg colour and the quantity

Picture:GillianDixon

Copper and blackMarans, a cockerel

and a pullet

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they lay. I do hope that through that they willbecome more popular. “

Gillian Dixon breeds a number of differentbirds, including Marans. “If you want darkbrown eggs then look no further than thevarious varieties of Marans.

“Cuckoo Marans have been standardised inthis country since they were introduced in the1920's, and are layers of a good number ofrich brown eggs.

They have barred grey plumage, the hensbeing darker than the males. The day-oldcuckoo chicks can be sexed with relativeaccuracy as the male has a morepronounced yellow spot on his head,and as they start to feather up, themales are considerably paler. CuckooMarans in this country are clean leggedbut in France the breed standard is for

feathered legs. Both bantam and largefowl birds are available.

“In the last 10 years or so, the Frenchhave become very popular here, layingsuperb dark chocolate brown eggs.There are a number of colour variationsincluding Wheaten, Copper Blacks andCopper Blues (not to be confused withthe pale egg laying 'Blue Marans'),

both with some copper feathers in theneck and a small amount of feather onthe leg.

“When looking for breeding stock, I would askto see some eggs from the parent birds to besure they are from a good dark egg laying strain.

The egg colour does tend to fade slightlytowards the end of the laying season butreappears as a rich reddish brown in the spring.

“All Marans are classed as heavy birds sothey are not flyers as they are too heavy toget far off the ground.” n

With thanks to:MMaatthheeww RRooyynnoonn:: mathew.roynon@gmail.comBreeds Large fowl English cuckoo Marans

HHeebbeerr HHaarrggrreeaavveess:: Hargreavesheber@googlemail.comBreeder of large fowl English cuckoo Marans andFrench Marans.

MMeerrii BBllaacckk:: meridean@icloud.com BreedsBantam English Cuckoo Marans

BBaarrrryy SSyymmoonnddss:: www.pheasantcroftpoultry.com;baz@pheasantcroftpoultry.com; 01885410594Breeds Bantam English Cuckoo Marans

KKeevviinn BBoowwkkeetttt:: www.barrelsfarmpoultry.co.ukBreeder of Large fowl English cuckoo Maransand French Marans

GGiilllliiaann DDiixxoonn:: www.southyeofarm.co.uk or emailinfo@farmerdixon.co.uk Gillian and her husband Iankeep over 25 breeds of rare and traditional poultry.

Picture:GillianDixon

Picture:MeriBlack

An English CuckooMarans chick

Cuckoo Marans