The World of

Marans
Presented by the Marans of America Club-Marans Club of France
All materials copyright by MOAC-MCF Clubs 2014

The World of Marans is a simple publication for many of us to get a better understanding
of what to look for in this wonderful French breed of poultry.
We will do our best to give your prime examples of the breed without trying to explain all
the mathematics of the breed. I (Brenda Little) am not an expert in the genetics of the
breed and wont try to explain something I cant. I humbly apologize for this handicap,
but with all earnestly give you my best shot with what I do know.
Many request the APA SOP to use a guideline within their breeding program. I wont
provide those, but I can tell you that if you use them in your program that Im sure you
will receive many rewards and theyre not that much different from the MCF Standards.
Genetic are wonderful, but personally I prefer to define with the eye. Someone could tell
me what my bird is genetically and it would go though one ear and out the other. But
they can show me physically and that I can heed and understand. Its the laymans way.
So lets get down to business in what we are looking for in a Marans and go from there.
Two things we look for from a Marans are body breed type and egg color.

Pretty simple right?

Without enclosing in a too specific schema, the silhouette of the Marans is simple but
feature:
Back, slightly sloping, not short, participates in the implementation of the particular
type of Marans.
The body, when in a rectangle, reveals what minimum length coveted for a good
perception of the standard type.
By its tarsi particular, still rather average size throughout the animal fits together,
meanwhile, in an almost perfect square.
The inclination of the tail forms an angle of 45 to 60 maximum relative to the
horizontal
Beyond 60 , the tails too straightened, said vertical tails , are often too long so wrong but

more importantly, the tails "squirrel" (more than 90 ), are a very serious fault.

Figure 1

Standards of breed type for all Marans

1 - Abdomen well developed and broad.

2 - Wings: Quite short, tight body and horizontal ranges.
3 - Wattles: Red, medium, fine texture.
4 Beak: color according to variety, strong enough, slightly convex.
5 - Body: strong, rectangular, fairly long and wide.
6 - Neck: Long, strong enough, abundant cape covering the shoulders.
7 Comb: red, simple, straight, fairly thick, medium size, slightly coarse texture. Lobe does not
touch the neck.
8 - Thighs: Strong, no fluff or headlines.
9 Toes 4, sometimes slightly feathered outer toe, white soles in all varieties.
10 - Back: long, flat, slightly tilted backwards.
11- Shoulders are board.
12 - Face: red, with light down.
13 Ears Lobes: red lying flat
14 - Plumage: tight to the body.
15 - Chest: Strong, broad, deep.
16 - Tail: Strong at the base, full, rather short, slightly raised without exceeding 45 from the
horizontal.
17 - Saddle: wide, without a cushion, covered with abundant lancets.
18 - Shanks: color according to variety, medium, slightly feathered.
19 - Head: rather strong, and slightly elongated.
20 - Eyes: orange-red iris.

So first a breeder starts with the overall basics of the breed type and then the variety standards
are applied.

The cock should be: black"... except black hackle, saddle, shoulders, and copper lancets.
Chest slightly enameled red ... ".
No more than 10 % enameled in the breast.
The hen must be black except cape is said: "... the golden feathers piped" and may have
"red reflections especially on the chest

..."!

Notice reflections on the hens Breast.

The fine turning of the Black Copper Marans Bird

According to the Marans Club Of France
DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOSTER BLACK-COPPER
Background black plumage, head and hackle, saddle and lancets must be copper
colored. In terms of defining the copper color variations are quite accepted but still must
remain on all, ie copper-copper-red means.
We must reject the colors too bright, yellowish, also known as strawy at the cape.
Shades reminiscent tan or gold colors are incorrect. What is copper is not tan but still
enough support for any ambiguity is avoided about these different tones.
Some birds, especially in the lower and hackle lancets may be more or less black flamed.
Shoulders (small wing-coverts) are crimson red.
This color appears quite velvety appearance and may tend toward the mahogany
especially when the overall tone of the copper is copper-red guy. This red shoulders
must be sufficiently extended to all small wing-coverts, forming a uniform mass, if
possible not mixed with black.
Such black marks when they appear mixed in the red shoulders and the saddle and
lancets are indicative of an imbalance of colors (too much dominance of black compared
to copper).
In this case, it is always too black cocks to remove the selection. Their chest is
then black while the ideal is a chest and throat and bib well marked tasks without too
much excess copper.
Another index is indicative of an imbalance between black and copper: the color of the
down ear called the "ear Bouquet". Circular, it is colored more or less tawny-brown to
copper roosters correctly while for black cock too, she rather closer to blackish tone as
hens when it is not completely black.
For good roosters, tawny color "ear tuffs" should more or
less confused with the overall color of the copper head. The
shoulders should always show good copper. Even if they have a
black breast without russet spots, such cocks give excellent
results for livestock and exhibitions.
The copper-colored shoulder and ear tuffs sign a very
positive influence in the genetic balance of copper at the expense
of black.
Roosters tuffs blackish ears and shoulders stained black, so insufficiently copper,
and any black chest, will generate a very high proportion of all black pullets with low
copper hackles too. They are rejected.
Roosters that, unlike too colorful chest with strong tan or red marks to the thighs are
much worse, and in turn, to reject unless it is to test to find if they do not have certain
alleles of the other colors of Marans (wheat, Fawn with black tail, Partridge, Goldensalmon ..).

In fact, they tend to give birth to some pullets to incorrect color drawings by the
presence of staining the chest, and the rest of the body and with stems clear
feathers. These chicks must be rejected without hesitation if it is to focus on the only
selection of the NC variety.
On the other hand, green reflections in the black plumage are not required previously in
the Marans Black-red. The absence of bright reflections (also known as "green beetle") is
a quality that is considered to be correlative to the presence of a gray down instead of
black, red-orange rather than black or brown or eyes tarsi pinkish-white ie a relatively
mild amount of melanin in the skin and throughout the body to promote the maintenance
of quality standard.
This balance of colors Black-red should be understood to be characterized in the
following way in breeding cocks:
coppery enough support without excessive black with red shoulders.
a chest slightly marked coppery-red.
black chest provided the shoulders and ear Bouquet are pure.
orangey red eyes and tarsi rather clear.
Moreover, when a strain very coppery red is selected, it seems more difficult to contain
an excess of black on the whole body. The black tone is often deeper and shiny. Looking
for a beautiful copper supported, but no more, thus appears highly recommended when
you want to stabilize the color better.
In contrast, copper light strains facilitate more widely dominance golden tones depends
incorrect to black.
On this point, it should remain cautious because this dominance should be considered
deviant to a defective tone tan instead of coppery red color desired.
It should be added that the color of hackle roosters often has a two-tone shade lighter
because the fringe is more intense color than the rest, it is thus similar to that of
lancets. This character is of course correct and this contrast is of variable intensity
(though less marked in red copper supported).

DESCRIPTION OF BLACK COPPER HEN

For hens, the basic rule of color is the same as for roosters:

Black, copper hackles and nothing else!

The head and cape are more or less supported copper color, ranging from
medium copper coppery-red. Again it seems much more color about to undergo
predominantly black.
Therefore, it is a little harder to master the perfect balance with coppery-red with
golden-copper incorrect tone hackles sometimes encountered.
These hackles too bright, yellowish or straw-, are again avoided. Hackle feathers are
black flamed, the "ear tuffs" is usually darker than the cock blackish fawn. The rest of the
body, including the chest must be black without white feather or other tawny shade and
without green reflection required.

For against the copper color of hackle can also mark the front of the neck or throat and
spread to the limit to plastron. Hens and copper properly give a sizeable proportion of
the cockerels marked ideal color of red on the chest.
The USA America Poultry Association disqualifies for the following:

Yellow shanks or toes. Black or pearl eyes and non-feather shanks.

You do lose points for white feathers which is a disqualification in the French Standards.
APA and MCF Standards are pretty much the same. Remember to apply the breed type
standards to your variety type.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOSTER WHEATEN

Head, hackles and lancets red-gold to red-brown, uniform, without apparent flame
required.
Lancets being a tone a little further argued that hackle. Back, saddle and rump red
mahogany cover wings and red mahogany shoulders very strong.

Greater coverts form through the wing black armbands to reflect green .The secondary
flight feathers are the wing mirror triangle "cinnamon-brown" with wing closed. Throat
and chest are black
Below, thighs, abdomen blackish with gray under color.
Black tail, but possibly with reddish shades on the edges and bright pink or purple or
typical particularly for large sickles green hues.

Shanks and toe color of wheatens are a little different from Black Copper Marans. MCF
Standards calls for Shanks: of average size, Slightly feathered and white with a pinkish
tinge with whitish sole.

Description of the Wheaten Hen

Different anatomical parts of the golden wheat HEN, in detail:

1 - Abdomen well developed and broad.

2 - Wings: Fairly short, tight body and horizontal ranges.
The triangle of the wing mirror or closed (secondaries) is cinnamon brown.
3 - Wattles: Red, medium, fine texture.
4 - Beak: strong enough, slightly convex. Beak color: Light horn
5 - Body: strong, rectangular, fairly long and wide.
7 Comb: red, simple, straight, fairly thick, medium size, slightly coarse texture.
8 - Thighs: Strong, no fluff or headlines.
9 - Toes: 4, sometimes slightly feathered outer toe, white soles.
10 - Back: long, flat, slightly tilted backwards.

11 - Small blankets called "Shoulder" wide.

Coat: shoulder or blankets, back and rump: wheat color (grain of wheat)
12 - Face: red, with light down.
13 - Mumps: red means lying.
14 - Plumage: tight to the body. Each feather coat to the shaft and the lighter border.
Sub-whitish
15 - Chest: Strong, broad, deep. Chest and below the body cream.
16 - Tail: Strong at the base, full, rather short, slightly raised without exceeding 45 from
the horizontal. Tail has blackish feathers with peppery wild black edges.
17 - Saddle: wide without cushion.
18 - Tarsus: Average, slightly feathered.
19 - Head: rather strong, and slightly elongated.
Head and red cape gold brown red sometimes with slight black flames at the bottom of
hackle.
Down the ear (or ear tuff) cream. wheaten, red-brown and cream
A-Wheat is medium beige in sharp contrast with the lighter chest and rather dark
reddish-brown hackle.
B - Select the "reddish-brown" (Warm color) and not brown (cold color).
C - The cream light colored chest and ear tuff cohabiting with dark cape coat and
medium color.