A gorgeous bird hailing from Marans, France the Black Copper Marans is prized for both its egg and table qualities. Their egg quality is said to be unsurpassed however that tends to depend on who you ask.
French Marans eggs were noted as the preferred egg of James Bond in Iam Flemings book From Russia With Love.
They take around 6-7 months to start laying Marans will give you up to 250 dark “chocolate” brown eggs in a year. As a breed that is world famous for producing dark chocolate brown eggs, a hen that produces a light brown egg is not a Marans – even from thoroughbred parents! This standard of quality is vital to prevent what happened to the Barnevelders from happening to the Marans (the egg colour became lighter as a specific plumage pattern was selected for).
The Livingseeds Hatchery keeps Black Copper Marans – a variety with looks that are just as striking as their eggs with copper feathering along their necks on the hens and extra copper on the hackles on roosters. They have slate grey legs with a red single comb and wattles.
Depending on the standard that you follow Marans have either clean or feathered legs. The French standard is feathered and the British standard clean. Holding to the standard of the country of origin, we are thrilled to have three strong bloodlines currently in the French standards, although we occasionally have clean-legged birds come through too.