Poultrymad Maran

One of the last breeds to be introduced to the UK the Maran was originally developed in France in the mid 1800's in the town of Marans, twelve miles north of La Rochelle.

Developed as a dual purpose breed i.e egg and flesh production, the eggs were imported into the UK by a London wholesaler and the dark brown eggs soon became popular, leading to many English farmers breeding the Maran. In the 1920's more work was done on the breed in Marans, France and in 1929 a Maran bird was first exhibited at the Poultry Breeders Society in Paris.

The majority of the British strain of Marans are cuckoo coloured ranging from very dark grey to silver with red to bright orange eye colour and white legs. The most notable characteristic of this very hardy chicken is it's chocolate brown, egg colour and succulent meat.

The Marans were once more popular as show or exhibition birds during a period just after the 1939-45 World War and were presented in several colourings including Gold Cuckoo and Silver Cuckoo but because the breed has lost popularity amongst exhibition breeders, these colours have almost disappeared until virtually all the British variety of the Marans, today are Dark Cuckoo in colour.

However, French Marans are becoming increasingly popular, mainly because of their darker chocolate coloured eggs.