Marans
The Rustic Farm Hen
We have a great passion for the Marans breed and like most others started out with a flock of Black Copper Marans years ago. We originally sourced our stock from BC and have spent many seasons working with this line, and still breed this line as straight black copper marans. We have sourced 2 additional Black Copper Lines and have spent the last 3 seasons pair breeding our top selections and have worked the offspring of these hatches into two distinct lines that we have continued to carry forward. If you choose to add our Black Copper Marans to your flock you will have eggs and chicks from 3 separate lines. Egg shades vary with some being as dark as an 8 and some as light as a 5. We do also have some heavy bloomers in our one Black Copper Flock. We will be exhibiting a select few for the 2026 season.
We have also been working with a Blue Copper Line which we breed for blue and splash birds to hatch. We have bred our Black Copper Roosters over blue and splash hens to diversify the genetic gene pool for this line. Our Blue line is carrying recessive white so you may receive the odd chick which matures to be a fully white hen or rooster. Hens from this line tend to lay a dark egg around 6/7 and majority are matt in texture (not glossy) we also have a few speckled layers in this flock.
We find that our Blue Copper hens are very productive ladies and they hold their egg colour most of the season, we are seeing a reduction in copper hackle feathers on hens that are molting in their 2nd and 3rd year. We are working towards improving this but it does take many seasons to see the results we hope to achieve.
Our newest Marans addition are our White Marans, we have one line which we brought to the homestead 3 seasons ago now and a second line which we selected for and pulled out of our Blue Line. We are working on a 3rd white line out of our Black Copper roosters we split into our white line. We plan on pair breeding these lines in 2026 and may have some availability for anyone interested in building a White Marans Flock. We plan on exhibiting our top choices from these lines in 2026.
Marans have been a part of our homestead for many years. We love the dark eggs in our egg basket and that rustic farm hen look, we do however love above all else their temperament. We have young children so roosters and hens which interact politely and are trustworthy around our kids are at the top of our list. We find marans Roosters to be some of the most laid back boys you can have on a farm, our kids run around, scream, cause mayhem of all kinds and they hardly notice. They are not the most fond of being picked up and toted around but are highly tolerant of it when they are. If you are a family in search of friendly easy to keep chickens that your kids can help out with Marans are a breed that I highly recommend adding to your farm or homestead.
Marans are average producers of large to extra large sized dark brown eggs. Egg shades do vary based on time of year and each individual hens laying cycle. We do our best to select for our darkest layers but do select for above all else their physical type, and temperament.
The Black Copper Marans along with Wheaten Marans were accepted into the American Standard of Perfection in 2011, the White Variety was accepted in 2014 and Black Marans in 2020. The Marans breed itself however has been around long before its recognition on North American Soil dating back as early as the 13th century during the breeds early development in France. Marans in their modern form started appearing in French poultry shows in 1914 and The Marans Club Of France was established in 1929, by 1931 The Marans Club of France established the first marans standard.
We do breed our Marans to the American SOP which does adhere to the French Standard, this means we do not breed clean legged Marans and select for the best shank feathering within our breeding flocks.
If you have questions about our Marans or are interested in adding some to your flock you can get in touch via email birchacreshomestead@outlook.com.