Cuckoo Maran Point of Lay

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 sell. 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. In 2013 I managed to produce twice as many cockerels as pullets, which didn't help fulfilling orders, but it has enabled me to pick out two very smart young cockerels for 2014 which were both hatched out of very dark eggs.

Birds can be sent to all parts of the UK, including Northern Ireland, I have used two couriers that have both proved both reliable and reasonably priced.