International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[wrathsfarm]

Oh wow that's really different so really there's no way to be sure until my chicks lay eggs. Dang those are dark beautiful eggs. I really love those dark eggs.

No way to tell... When your pullets start laying follow and document their first 20-30 eggs that should be their average egg color they will lay.

That little one is tiny and cute with heavy speckles. You have a nice line of birds.

Thank you...

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

These were the best eggs from when Chanel started laying. Stayed pretty consistent across the year but after each moult there was a decline.

her eggs are on the left in either photo, Natasha’s on the right. Still above average (for non-prize winning birds) but notice the lack of shine and how the colour now seems to be both paler and patchier. She is three years old this September I think.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I got home from work and compared my Delaware eggs next to the Marans eggs. Wow. They are much darker than they looked in the pictures my husband sent me. You can easily tell how much darker they are than Delaware.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

View attachment 4089319View attachment 4089320View attachment 4089321These were the best eggs from when Chanel started laying. Stayed pretty consistent across the year but after each moult there was a decline.View attachment 4089322View attachment 4089323her eggs are on the left in either photo, Natasha’s on the right. Still above average (for non-prize winning birds) but notice the lack of shine and how the colour now seems to be both paler and patchier. She is three years old this September I think.

So is it common to decline every year in the darkness of the egg? Or only if they stop laying for the winter and then return to laying in the spring? That's really different from the best eggs to the lighter eggs

 

[wrathsfarm]

View attachment 4089336View attachment 4089337
I got home from work and compared my Delaware eggs next to the Marans eggs. Wow. They are much darker than they looked in the pictures my husband sent me. You can easily tell how much darker they are than Delaware.

That's usually the case. My Marans and OE eggs are hard getting the right light for correct color. They always seem lighter in pics, so I try to get multiples in different lighting and pick the closest to the correct color.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

So is it common to decline every year in the darkness of the egg? Or only if they stop laying for the winter and then return to laying in the spring? That's really different from the best eggs to the lighter eggs

It’s inevitable that the eggs get lighter at some point. Always with age and commonly thought out the season. The hen can produce eggs faster than she can produce the pigment to coat the best eggs, so eventually it reduces the colour. She will produce more pigment during rest, hence why eggs are usually darkest immediately after, but they never replenish the original levels, so the get paler with age.

The best egg colour comes from hens that lay only 2-4 eggs a week, they spend more time in the system being darkened and also don’t deplete the pigment as much. They also need good genetics too.

Honestly the best way to think of it is a bit like a printer.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

That's usually the case. My Marans and OE eggs are hard getting the right light for correct color. They always seem lighter in pics, so I try to get multiples in different lighting and pick the closest to the correct color.

I second this, the pictures never do them justice!

 

[wrathsfarm]

View attachment 4089319View attachment 4089320View attachment 4089321These were the best eggs from when Chanel started laying. Stayed pretty consistent across the year but after each moult there was a decline.View attachment 4089322View attachment 4089323her eggs are on the left in either photo, Natasha’s on the right. Still above average (for non-prize winning birds) but notice the lack of shine and how the colour now seems to be both paler and patchier. She is three years old this September I think.

Gorgeous as ever...

When is your pullets coming? Did the breeder have any cockerels available?

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

@wrathsfarm my first ‘olive’ eggs, from the new pullets. Not my own bred, so don’t have Wellie or Marans genes, so just a nice mint green, but I can’t wait to add some darker egg genes.

This olive egger hen keeps jumping the fence to lay her egg in the house Napoleon and the silkie boys sleep in, so she clearly wants to see marans x olive eggers too!

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Gorgeous as ever...

When is your pullets coming? Did the breeder have any cockerels available?

They’re hatching in the next week, I’m going to pick them up at six weeks ish, so a while yet. If I can sort a pen out I’ll ask for a boy as well (I assume he’ll have plenty spare), but I still have too many cockerels that need to be moved around at the moment.

Alternatively I’ll hatch some eggs out from a third bloodline to better set up a clan system, I’ve seen some good looking cuckoos on eBay.

But I do fancy a pair of pure English cuckoo males called Nelson and Wellington, to be the counterparts to Napoleon, also for the sake of having barred F1 hens.