• Opening Hours
• Rehomes
• Chickenalia
• Weaners

Cuckoo Marans

We do not have Cuckoo Marans pullets in stock.

The Marans is believed to originate from the French town of Marans, near La Rochelle, on the Atlantic coast. Its origins can be traced back to the 12th century when Henry II married Aleanour of Aquitaine, who brought with her a good section of the South West of France. English domination of this area lasted 2 centuries and during that time English ships would dock in La Rochelle. Surviving fighting cocks, taken on board for ‘in voyage entertainment’, were off loaded and hens were taken on board to provide eggs and meat. This interchange of chickens, and the introduction of the fighting cockerels to the wild hen population, led to the Maran breed and accounts for the sometimes aggressive nature displayed by the cockerels. Our cockerel, Rocky, is as sweet as can be, but does possess an impressive set of spurs, another legacy from his fighting cock heritage.

The breed was largely untouched until the second half of the 19th century when a French breeder, Louis Rouille, brought Langshan chickens from Asia, famed for dark brown eggs, and farmed them in Fouras, very near La Rochelle. The colour of the egg is passed from the cockerel to his daughters. Escapee cockerels from the farm found their way to the wild Marans of La Rochelle and the result was the now trademark dark brown egg.

Marans were first shown at the National Exhibition in La Rochelle in 1914. They created great interest because of the dark egg, but there was a large variety in the colour of the hens. Madame Rousseau in L’lle d’Elle was inspired and started a breeding programme to standardise the colour of the chickens and that of the eggs. In 1929 an Englishman, Lord Greenway, attended the Paris Exhibition and was so taken by the Marans bred by Madame Rousseau that he brought some back to England and set about selectively breeding them to standardise the colour. He reduced the colour range to dark cuckoo, silver cuckoo and golden cuckoo. Meanwhile, selective breeding was continued in France and a colour standard was defined and published by the French Authorities in 1931. The English and French standards are different as a result.

The popularity of the Marans continued until after the 1939/1945 war, but then suffered a decline as other breeds were introduced. It didn’t disappear because of the very dark brown egg and its dual capacity as a meat bird. It had one big disadvantage as the poultry world became more commercial in that the chicks were impossible to sex until they were much older. Whilst the cockerels can be kept for meat, this is a specialised area and they are far more costly to rear than the commercial meat hybrids. In order to develop chicks which could be sexed on hatching, Light Sussex hens were introduced and the resultant offspring were mated back to the Marans. Thus the colour of the bird did not change, but the chicks are now distinguishable as the hens are darker than the cockerels. The disadvantage of this is that the birds with the Light Sussex strain lay a lighter colour egg and generations with this strain will continue to do so. As they look exactly the same, there is a current danger of the dark brown egg feature being lost. However, our cockerel, Rocky, is proven to pass the dark egg shell power on to his daughters.

Price:

We only sell point of lay. They are £30.

Click here for link to buy dark brown fertile eggs from traditional English Cuckoo Marans DarkBrownEggs