Considering Marans chickens? The 14 things you must</em> know first
Marans chickens are famous for laying incredibly dark brown eggs. These birds are friendly, do well both in confinement and on the range, and they get along great in mixed-breed flocks. They have much to offer for backyards and barnyards alike.
But before you get your own Marans chickens, there are many things about these birds you need to be aware of. For example, did you know that most of them don’t actually lay those gorgeous dark eggs you see in the photos? Or that you may need to make some accommodations for the feather-legged type?
There’s really a lot you need to know before you commit to this bird, and in this article, I cover all those things.
You’ll learn:
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How do you pronounce “Marans?”
Many people pronounce “Marans” incorrectly. This included me for years. French speakers are probably rolling their eyes right now, but the rest of us need this lesson.
“Marans” is always spelled in the plural. A single chicken is a “Marans” and two chickens are “Marans.”
And the “s” is silent. It’s spelled “Marans,” but it’s pronounced, “Muh-ran.” In America, we pronounce the “ran” as in “I ran away.” (The French have a more elegant pronunciation, as with most words).
Now you can say it with confidence!
Although, really, enough Americans are pronouncing the word with the “s” sound at this point that we might consider it colloquially correct. (Translation: You might not want to be the snob who corrects them.)
What are Marans chickens?
Marans chicken facts
Category: Pet, eggs, & meat
Origin: France
Egg-laying ability: Good
Broodiness: Low-moderate
Meat production: Good
Cold tolerance: Poor-good (depends on comb size)
Heat tolerance: Moderate-good
Predator evasion: Good
Foraging ability: Good
Toleration for confinement: Good
Temperament: Friendly
Aggression toward flock members: Low-moderate
Noise level: Moderate
Why are they called “Marans” and where do they come from?
Marans are named after their town of origin, a place called Marans, in France.
The breed was developed in the late 1800s by mixing a number of breeds with local game-type birds. Although nobody knows the exact breeds that were used to create the Marans, Langshans were certainly used and possibly Faverolles.
The early breeders were more interested in breeding for dark brown eggs than they were for appearance, so a couple of different types emerged. One type has feathers on its legs and feet. Today, these are called “French Marans.”
The strains that do not carry feathers on their legs are known today as “English Marans” or sometimes just “Marans.”
The English Marans was once more common in America than the French Marans. However, in recent years, French Marans are more readily available. This is because the American Poultry Association (APA) chose to standardize the French variety only, meaning only this variety can be shown in poultry exhibitions.
A bantam (i.e., miniature) form of Marans was developed in the 1950s.
The video below gives an excellent and brief summary of the Marans breed.
What do Marans chickens look like?
Marans feather colors and patterns
You can find numerous varieties of Marans (although not all are recognized by the APA).
These varieties include:
Birchen
Black
Black Copper
Black-Tailed Buff
Blue
Blue Copper
Blue Wheaten
Brown Red
Columbian
Golden Cuckoo
Salmon
Silver Cuckoo
Wheaten
White
Of all these varieties, the Black Copper Marans and the Cuckoo Marans are likely the most popular in the United states.
Below, you can see a video of a beautiful flock of French Black Copper Marans.
And here, you can see what a Cuckoo Marans hen looks like.
And in the video slideshow below, you can see some of the other, less common varieties—Wheaten, White and Splash, Golden Cuckoo, and Blue Copper (with Black Copper) Marans, respectively.
Other notable features of Marans chickens
Marans chickens have what’s called tight or hard feathering. This type of feathering is typically found on game birds—the feathers are short, narrow, and somewhat rigid without much fluff.
Marans have medium- to large-size, upright single combs, although some females do have combs that partially flop to the side. The birds have medium-size wattles and red earlobes.
The French Marans, as mentioned above, has feathering on the legs, whereas the English Marans (sometimes just called the “Marans”) does not. Most of the French-type birds have lightly feathered legs, which is what the APA requires for show birds.
However, you will see some hatchery websites showing photos of Marans with heavily feathered legs.
How big do Marans chickens get?
Roosters: 8 lbs
Hens: 6.5 lbs
Bantam roosters: 32 oz
Bantam hens: 28 oz
What do Marans chicks look like?
The different varieties of Marans chicks all have different shades and patterns.
Below, you can see what chicks from the Black Copper variety look like.
And here, you can see Cuckoo Marans chicks.
And below, you can see a couple videos of what older Marans chicks look like.
These are 5.5 week-old French Black Copper Marans.
And these are 7 week-old Cuckoo Marans.
The 14 things you must know before getting Marans chickens
#1 Marans with feathered legs need extra care.
Because the French type of Marans have feathers on their legs and feet, they are a little higher maintenance than the clean-legged, English type of Marans.
Breeds with feathered legs and feet have some cleanliness problems. Their foot and leg feathers can get incredibly muddy. Even worse, they can get covered in droppings. Not only is this bad for your chickens, but they also drag this filth into the nesting boxes and onto their eggs. You may need to periodically clean your French Marans’ feet.
Chickens with feathers on their feet are also more susceptible to scaly leg mites, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for that. And they may have ingrown feather problems, as this Brahma chicken keeper attests.
If you’re keeping your French Marans with non-feathered breeds, these other breeds may also pick the foot and leg feathers off of your Marans. This can be incredibly painful and even lead to bleeding. Make sure you have plenty of space in your coop and run for your Marans to get away.
And the biggest concern for feather-footed breeds is the risk of frostbite. If their feet get wet in the snow or rain and temperatures drop below freezing, your chickens may get frostbite because their feathers can’t dry off and they freeze.
The more heavily-feathered your chickens’ feet are, the more this is a problem. Thankfully, most French Marans have only lightly-feathered feet. You will certainly want to make sure your birds have an ultra-dry coop. And sand bedding will also really help to clean and dry your chickens’ feet.
For more on sand bedding, check out my article, Using sand in the coop.
If you decide to get the clean-legged type of Marans instead, then you don’t have to deal with any of these problems.
#2 French Marans chicks can be difficult to sex, so you might end up with roosters when you wanted hens.
I’ve not been able to find details about why this is, but for some reason, French Marans chickens are difficult to vent sex. Vent sexing is how hatcheries determine if their chicks are male or female.
Cackle Hatchery has this to say about it:
“…Most of our breeds we can average 90% accuracy on gender sexing. However, with the French Marans breed, it is more difficult for the vent sexor to make this determination, so for this breed our guarantee is 75% accuracy.”
Does this apply to all French Marans or only some strains of the bird? I don’t know. When I asked the good people at Cackle Hatchery, they didn’t know either.
This is definitely something you need to be aware of if you don’t want roosters. The English Marans may be a better choice for you (or, better yet, see #14 below!). Remember, the English type is often just referred to as “Marans.” You can always ask your hatchery or breeder if their Marans are clean-legged or feather-legged if you’re not sure.
#3 Marans hens are good layers.
Egg color: Brown
Egg size: Large
Age of lay: 5-6 months
Eggs/week: 3-4
Eggs/year: 150-200
Marans hens lay 150-200 large brown eggs a year. Some hatchery strains will lay even more.
The egg color can vary from dark brown to very dark brown. The eggs may be a chocolate brown, reddish or russet brown, or even a coppery brown. The hens who lay the extremely dark brown eggs that are characteristic of the breed are typically not the best layers—it’s a trade off for sure.
Marans eggs are a little bit different from eggs of other breeds. Many of the eggs are often spherical in shape, which makes it very hard to figure out how to store them (because you can’t tell the broad end from the narrow end).
And, interestingly, some Marans eggshells are actually thicker than eggs from other breeds—according to a French study that was conducted at the Institute des Sciences et Vie de la Terre.
In the video below, you can see Pharoah, a 26 week-old Black Copper Marans, lay her very first egg. She then erupts into an energetic egg song (the vocalizations hens make around laying time), and you can hear a rooster in the background singing along with her.
#4 Some Marans hens lay very dark eggs, but most don’t.
Marans chickens are definitely best known for their dark eggs.
Many backyard chicken keepers are disappointed when they buy Marans hens who end up laying brown eggs that aren’t all that dark.
One chicken keeper had this to say: “I was a bit disappointed in this breed. The eggs really aren’t ‘dark,’ just a smidgen darker than our Rhode Island Red eggs. Sometimes you can’t even tell the difference.”
This is a very familiar sentiment among new Marans keepers. The eggs are on the darker side of brown, but they’re just not that dark.
We’ve all seen the gorgeous photos of the super dark Copper Marans eggs. And we’ve all heard how Marans chickens lay these incredibly dark eggs. So, what gives?
The truth is, very few strains of Marans chickens will lay the uniquely dark and beautiful eggs you see in all the photographs. Those dark eggs require very specific genetics (which aren’t well understood at all), and it’s hard for breeders to get it right.
When breeders do breed for those extra dark eggs, they frequently end up also passing along other undesirable traits into their birds. The birds may lose a lot of the physical traits the APA calls for in the Standard of Perfection, or they won’t lay very many eggs, for example.
Marans eggs can really come in any shade of brown. Check out the video below, where you can see a whole lot of Black Copper Marans eggs. You’ll notice they are all varying shades, shapes, and sizes.
If you really have your heart set on those dark, dark eggs, then your best bet is to buy your chickens through a reputable breeder who’s been breeding for that trait.
Other chicken keepers go the route of buying hatching eggs and incubating the chicks at home in incubators. If you decide to do that (which I don’t recommend for a brand-new chicken keeper), then make sure you purchase the darkest eggs you can find—or whatever shade it is you’re going for.
Below, you can see some Marans chicks hatching from eggs of variable shades of brown. But the key is to choose the eggs that are the color you want your future hens to lay.
And this last video really isn’t relevant to this discussion, but it’s such a cool video I wanted to include it. You can see a guy crack open a giant Marans egg only to find a second egg inside of it!
How cool would it have been if the smaller egg had an even smaller egg inside? We can dream.
#5 Your Marans hens will lay lighter eggs over time.
Even if your Marans eggs start out very dark, your hens will lay lighter eggs over time. This is true of all breeds, no matter what color their eggs are, but it’s especially important for you to know if you’re counting on a supply of beautiful dark eggs.
Your Marans hens will lay their darkest eggs in their first 6 months of laying. Their eggs will very gradually lighten over these first months. By the time your girls have laid for 6 months, their eggs will be noticeably lighter, although they should still be darker than other breeds.
Additionally, your hens’ eggs will gradually lighten within each lay cycle. So, for example, if you have a hen lay 4 days in a row before she takes a day off, the 4th egg will likely be lighter than the 1st egg was. After her day off, her new 1st egg should be a bit darker again.
And, here’s some good news. After an annual molt or a broody period, your hens will layer darker eggs than they were laying before they molted or went broody.
Let me try to illustrate some of this. The picture below shows a color chart that breeders and poultry judges use. To be considered a decent Marans by show-quality standards, the hens must lay eggs that are at least a #4. However, many hatcheries don’t follow the same standard.
Photo from The French Marans Club.
Some Marans hens can actually lay eggs that are a #9 on the color chart. But, if you have Marans hens that are laying #8 or #9 eggs, they wouldn’t continue to produce eggs this dark for all that long.
As the French Marans Club says, “The best shell colors stabilize around 6 and 7” and “A good stock can produce a proportion of eggs [at] 5 and 6.”
#6 Most Marans hens do not want to hatch their eggs.
Marans hens may occasionally go broody, but many never will.
One chicken keeper said this of her Marans: “I’ve only had one or two hens go broody. Only one hen successfully hatched a clutch (they were duck eggs and she was a great mom). All the other times a bird went broody, moving her to a private pen to sit on her clutch always broke her brooding.”
Below, you can see a video of a broody Black Copper Marans hen. This hen should be wearing a hen saddle. Over-mating with the rooster has caused her to loose her back feathers which is very uncomfortable and leaves her open to injury from further mating. Hen saddles protect these bare backs, and will even prevent this from happening altogether if put on early enough.
And here you can see a new Black Copper Marans mama with her baby chick—this girl also needs a hen saddle, although her back isn’t as bad as the hen in the previous video.
#7 Marans chickens provide flavorful meat.
Marans chickens have historically been used as a dual-purpose breed, and many homesteaders like them today for the same reason.
These chickens produce a decent amount of meat with an excellent flavor.
As one Marans keeper said, “We have culled a few of our standard Cuckoo Marans, and were very pleased, even with them being older hens. Better than any of the other layers we have tasted.”
Another said, “We eat our Marans rooster culls. They are decent sized and good tasting.”
#8 Marans chickens are not economical as meat birds.
If you want a really good meat bird for your homestead, this isn’t it. Marans are great if you just want to eat your old layers or extra cockerels. But they take a really long time to grow and they eat a whole lot of food before butchering age.
#9 Marans chickens are prone to frostbite on their combs.
Marans chickens, like so many breeds with single combs, are prone to frostbitten combs.
Check out the comb on the Black Copper Marans rooster below. I’d be worried about keeping this guy in freezing temperatures with no supplemental heat in the coop.
Luckily, there’s an easy solution to this problem, and that’s the Sweeter Heater. This is a radiant heater that you hang above your chickens’ roosting bars. It doesn’t heat the coop, but it warms the chickens underneath it on the roosting bars, and it prevents comb frostbite on those miserably cold winter nights.
You can find small Sweeter Heaters here on Amazon, medium Sweeter Heaters here, and large Sweeter Heaters here. I use them in all my coops and I seriously can’t recommend them highly enough. They are a must-have for all single-combed breeds!
#10 Marans make excellent free-range birds.
Marans chickens love to range, and most varieties are in colors and patterns that blend in well with their surroundings. The White variety, of course, sticks out like a sore thumb, so you probably don’t want to keep this kind in a setting where predators are on the loose.
But all Marans are excellent foragers. They love to spend their days exploring and scratching around.
In the video below, you can see Wheaten Marans foraging with ducks and turkeys.
And here, you can see a Black Copper Marans hen happily foraging, scratching around in the leaves.
#11 Marans are excellent birds for backyard runs.
Although Marans chickens love to free range, they also tend to thrive in a backyard. Of course, the more space you can give them, the happier they’ll be. The bigger your run, the better.
Below, you can see Wheaten Marans chickens confined to a run, and having a great time pecking at a swinging apple.
The other reason Marans chickens do well in backyards is because they’re not one of the noisier breeds of chickens.
If you’re new to chickens, you do need to understand that all chicken breeds are a little bit noisy. Roosters will always crow. Hens will always cackle a lot around egg-laying.
But some breeds are decidedly noisier than others, constantly talking and squawking. Marans chickens are not one of these breeds. They’re pretty average in the noise department.
Below, you can hear a Cuckoo Marans singing the egg song—these are the typical squawking vocalizations all egg-laying hens make. You can also hear a kind of agitated growling-type sound. That’s also a sound many hens make before settling in to lay.
And here, you can hear the beautiful crow of a Black Copper Marans rooster.
#12 Marans chickens are friendly, but not necessarily docile.
Some Marans chickens are flighty and skittish. Others are sweet and docile. The temperament of this breed really does vary.
But one thing’s for sure, Marans chickens tend to be friendly. If you’re kind to them and you spend some time around them, they’ll like you. They’ll run out to greet you. They’ll want to be around you, and they may follow you around. But they might not want to be handled, or even touched.
Most hens, however, will be happy to eat out of your hand, as you can see in the video below
And you might be lucky enough to end up with sweet, docile hens who like to be held.
In the video below, you can see some 7 week-old Marans who are already super friendly, even at this young age when most chicks are skittish.
Be aware that you may end up with an aggressive Marans rooster. This breed is not known for aggression, but every breed comes with some aggressive roosters.
Overall, though, Marans roosters tend to be quite friendly and peaceful.
One chicken keeper, told this story about hers:
“Axl, my French Black Copper Maran rooster, is as close to perfect as one could hope for. If any of my ladies make any sounds of alarm or distress, he is there in a flash. If it’s me or my family picking up one of the girls, he will follow us step-for-step until we put her down safely, but he never displays any aggression towards us… If I could, I would clone Axl and hand copies out to anyone who has had bad experiences with roosters.”
#13 Marans chickens get along well in a mixed-breed flock.
Marans chickens tend to be very easy going and peaceful. They will likely get along very well in a mixed-breed flock with other standard-size chickens.
In the video below, you can see some Black Copper Marans foraging happily in a mixed flock.
#14 Many Marans crosses are Sex Links, so you won’t get roosters if you don’t want ‘em!
Urban chicken keepers, take note! Marans crosses create sex-linked birds. You definitely will want to consider one of these crosses, rather than a purebred Marans.
What’s a sex-linked bird, you ask? This is a chicken that can be sexed at birth to an extremely accurate degree (near 100%). The male chicks look different than the female chicks.
If you’re new to chickens, you might not think that’s a big deal, but here’s something the hatcheries don’t like to advertise:
When you order female chicks, you will commonly end up with one or more roosters.
What? It’s true. Most chicks’ sexes are determined by the vent-sexing method. This is when an expert checks inside their vents to determine if the baby is male or female, but it’s only about 90% accurate. And your odds are much worse than that with many hatcheries.
So, it’s very, very common for you to end up with some male chicks. And if you live in an urban or suburban environment, you know that may be a real problem. Most places don’t allow roosters in the neighborhood.
If you have no problem killing your roosters, then you have nothing to worry about. But, if you’re like me, and you get attached to your birds, this may be devastating for you. Do yourself a giant favor and get Sex Links.
Some Marans Sex Links are crosses between two different varieties of Marans, such as between a Black Copper Marans rooster and a Cuckoo Marans hen.
Other Sex Links are hybrids, such as the popular Midnight Majesty Marans, also known as the Mystic Marans, Noir Marans, and Rustic Rambler. This Sex Link is a cross between a Black Copper Marans rooster and a Barred Rock hen.
For more info on Sex Links, check out my article, Sex Link chickens: The perfect layers for any backyard.
Breeds you may want instead of Marans
If you’re interested in other breeds that lay dark brown eggs, you may also want to consider Welsummers and Barnevelders. These are both dual-purpose birds that share much in common with Marans.
And you may also like the Mediterranean egg-laying breed, the Penedesenca. This is a breed that lays gorgeous dark red-brown eggs.
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Marans sources
Bassom, Frances. Mini Encyclopedia: Chicken Breeds and Care. Dorking: Interpet Publishing, 2011.
Damerow, Gail. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2017.
Damerow, Gail. The Chicken Health Handbook. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2015.
Ekarius, Carol. Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams: Storey Publishing, 2007.
Hobson, Jeremy and Lewis, Celia. Choosing & Raising Chickens: The Complete Guide to Breeds and Welfare. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 2009.
Verhoef, Esther and Rijs, Aad. The Complete Encyclopedia of Chickens. Lisse: Rebo Publishers, 2005.