Marans

The Marans is a dual purpose chicken that started out in western France. Keepers value it above all for eggs in deep reddish brown shades, from milk chocolate to near mahogany. Shell colour is what draws most people to the breed, and clubs grade it on a comparative colour scale.

Birds are medium sized. Hens run from about 2.5 to 3.5 kg, with cocks a bit heavier. The body is broad and deep, so the breed also works as a table bird rather than a pure layer, hence the dual purpose label. Several colour varieties are recognised, and Black Copper is by far the most common on local smallholdings and show benches.

Temperament is a strong selling point. Marans are generally calm, good natured, and busy foragers that handle well, and they settle into a family flock or a small breeding camp without much fuss. Egg numbers stay moderate rather than high, a trade off most keepers here accept for the shell colour.

Who it suits

The Marans suits keepers who rate egg colour and a steady temperament above peak production. It does well in a smallholding flock with room to forage, and it copes with confinement reasonably if given enough space. Those who want a calm bird that can also be used as a table bird tend to pick it. Keepers chasing the highest possible egg count year round are better off with a dedicated laying breed.

The breed is named after the town and port of Marans, in the Charente Maritime region of western France, close to the Atlantic marshlands. Local fowl in this low lying, waterlogged country were a mixed bag kept by farmers and shaped over generations by the damp climate.

From the nineteenth century, fowl arriving through the nearby port of La Rochelle were crossed into the local stock. Game birds and other imported types went into the mix, and the resulting birds proved hardy, with eggs noted for their colour.

The breed was fixed into a more uniform type in the early twentieth century and was shown at a poultry exhibition in La Rochelle in 1914. A French standard followed in the 1920s, and a breed club worked to settle type and to define the dark egg colour that sets the Marans apart from other breeds.

The Marans later spread well beyond France. Stock reached Britain and other countries, including South Africa, where breeders and clubs settled their own standards on points such as feathered versus clean legs. The breed is now kept worldwide, and on local smallholdings and show circuits alike, the dark egg remains what most keepers still know it for.

The Marans carries a broad, deep, and fairly long body that gives it a solid, well fleshed look. The back slopes gently, the chest is full, and the tail sits at a moderate angle. Comb, wattles, and earlobes are red, and the eyes run orange to reddish. French type birds usually carry light feathering down the outer legs, while some other standards call for clean legs.

Coat and colours

Several colour varieties are recognised, and which ones count depends on the standard in use. Black Copper is the most widely kept locally, showing a black body with copper or red feathering across the neck hackles and, in cocks, the saddle too. Cuckoo, with its irregular grey barring, is the older traditional pattern from France. Other varieties on record include Black, Wheaten, and Silver Cuckoo. Shank feathering varies by country, so leg type gets checked against the relevant standard rather than assumed as a fixed trait.

Marans have a name for being calm and even tempered. They handle well, seldom panic, and stay quieter than flightier breeds, an easy trait to manage in a backyard or smallholding setting. At the same time they are active and enjoy foraging, so they do best with room to range: a fenced camp on a plot outside Pretoria suits them as well as a patch of garden in the suburbs.

With family members the breed is generally friendly and puts up with regular handling, and many birds tame down with routine contact. Around strangers they tend to be wary rather than aggressive, and they settle once a person becomes familiar. In a mixed flock Marans usually sit in the middle of the pecking order: not especially pushy, and most get along fine with other placid breeds.

Cocks are often described as steady, though temperament differs between individual birds and lines. As with any breed, early handling and calm management produce the most settled birds. A quiet nature paired with a strong foraging instinct is a large part of why keepers rate the breed beyond its eggs, and why it copes so well with the predator pressure typical of a South African smallholding, from mongoose and genets prowling at ground level to the occasional black sparrowhawk overhead.

Grooming

• Check feathered shanks (on French type birds) for caked mud and signs of scaly leg mite
• Inspect feet and footpads often, since heavy birds can develop bumblefoot on poor footing
• Watch for external parasites such as lice and red mite, especially around the vent and under the wings
• Trim nails only if overgrown; active foragers usually wear them down naturally
• Provide a dry dust bathing patch so birds can manage their own feather condition

Exercise

• Allow daily access to a run, or supervised free range time, for foraging
• Give at least 1 square metre of run space per bird, more if the plot allows
• Add perches at different heights to encourage natural movement
• Scatter feed or greens to keep active birds occupied and cut down on boredom pecking

Environment

Marans are cold hardy and cope with damp conditions better than many breeds, a trait inherited from their marshland origin. Even so, they need a dry, draught free, well ventilated hok. Keep litter dry under feathered legs to stop mud balls and skin problems, and on the Lowveld or the KwaZulu Natal coast provide shade and fresh water in hot, humid weather, since heavy birds feel the heat more than lighter types. On the Highveld, watch instead for hard overnight frosts in winter.

A complete commercial poultry feed should form the base of the diet, matched to the bird's life stage. Chicks need a high protein starter, growers move onto a lower protein grower ration, and laying hens need a layer feed with added calcium for shell quality. Because the Marans is a medium dual purpose bird, it eats a moderate amount and is not prone to running thin on a balanced ration. Fresh, clean water should always be available.

Treats and supplements

Keep treats to around 10% of the daily intake so the ration stays balanced. Suitable extras include leafy greens, vegetable scraps, mealworms, and a small handful of mielies or other grain. Offer insoluble grit so birds can grind their feed, and provide crushed oyster shell or limestone free choice for laying hens to support shell strength. Foraging birds also pick up a fair share of their own protein from insects in the veld.

The Marans counts as a hardy, disease resistant breed, with no widespread breed specific genetic disorders on record. With good husbandry hens commonly live 6 to 8 years, though laying tapers off well before the end of that span. Most problems that crop up are the ordinary poultry conditions seen in any flock, with a couple of issues tied to the feathered shanks carried by French type birds.

Preventive care

• Keep the hok dry, clean, and well ventilated, and refresh litter on a regular schedule
• Check legs, feet, and vent for parasites on a routine basis
• Quarantine new birds before adding them to the flock
• Provide balanced feed, grit, and free choice calcium for layers
• Keep vaccination and deworming on a plan suited to local conditions, including tick and mite pressure in warmer regions

As an active, medium sized forager, the Marans does best with a solid hok and a generous run. The hok must stay dry and well ventilated without being draughty, and the run needs to be predator proof and well drained so it does not turn into a mud patch. The breed copes well with cold and damp, but standing wet ground causes the most trouble, particularly for feathered legs.

Setup checklist

• Dry, insulated or well littered hok with vents above the birds
• Roost bars set higher than the nest boxes to stop birds roosting in the nests
• Predator proof run with buried or aproned wire against diggers such as mongoose
• Shaded area and reliable fresh water for hot spells
• Dust bathing spot kept dry under cover

Marans eggs hatch on the usual chicken timetable of roughly 21 days, whether under a broody hen or in an incubator. The main practical snag is the dark shell, which is harder to candle, so checking fertility and development takes more light and a bit more patience. Marans hens go broody now and then, but reliability varies between lines, and many breeders use an incubator to protect the dark shelled hatching eggs, particularly where load shedding can catch a broody hen, or an incubator, off guard.

Hatching steps

1. Set clean, well shaped eggs at the start temperature after a short rest at room temperature
2. Hold steady heat and humidity and turn the eggs through day 18
3. Candle around day 7 to 10 with a strong light, allowing for the dark shell
4. Stop turning at day 18 and raise humidity to about 65 to 70% for lockdown
5. Leave hatched chicks to dry and fluff in the incubator before moving them to a warm brooder