Cuckoo Maran Chicks

Description

The Marans originated in western France at the beginning of the last century. They are named after a fishing village north of Bordeaux and were first introduced into this country in the 1930's. They are friendly robust birds that are easy to keep and generally disease resistant, but the Maran's hallmark is the superb dark reddish brown eggs that they lay, The breed will lay in excess of 220 eggs per year,and in a basket of mixed eggs the Maran eggs will  be the first ones to be sold. The Cuckoo Maran is the most widely kept, but finding good examples of the breed is becoming increasingly difficult and at poultry sales there are many birds being sold as purebred Marans that have got other breeds such as Speckledy in their make up. Only the very best eggs are kept for hatching, and occasionally birds from Pembridge Poultry have been taken to poultry sales where they do command the top prices, the Ross-on-Wye sale on March 2nd being a good example. I am running two breeding groups this season; one with a homebred cockerel that produced quality pullets last year,and the other with a young cockerel that arrived at the end of last year and shows all the signs of growing into a very fine bird. I have already got chicks hatched by both cockerels.