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It was created with the local feral chickens descended from fighting game chickens carried from Indonesia and India. Those original Marandaise fowl were "improved" for the table through recombination with imported Croad Langshans.[citation needed]
It was first shown in La Rochelle in 1914 under the name poule du pays or 'local chicken'. A breed society was formed in 1929, and in 1931 the first breed standard was drawn up.[8]:56
Several clutches of fertile eggs were imported to the United Kingdom in or soon after 1929 by Charles Kelvynge Greenway, the second Baron Greenway, and some were hatched.[9]:126 However, it is not certain that the Marans – with unfeathered shanks – shown by Lord Greenway at the Crystal Palace in 1934 descended even partly from this French stock.[9]:126 According to the Poultry Club of Great Britain, the British Marans derives from cross-breeding of a variety of breeds including the Braekel, the Coucou de Malines, the Coucou de Rennes, the Croad Langshan, the Gâtinaise, the Faverolles and the barred Plymouth Rock.[6]:194[7]:172 It may be a distinct breed, unconnected to the French Marans.[9]:127
Characteristics
Ten colours are recognised in the French breed standard for large fowl: white, wheaten, silver cuckoo, golden cuckoo, black, copper-black, silver-black, copper-blue, black-tailed buff and Columbian.[1] Bantam colours are black, white, copper-black and silver cuckoo.[1] Fourteen colours are listed by the Entente Européenne.[3] The British type, with unfeathered legs, is not recognised in France.[1]
In the United Kingdom five colours are recognised: black, dark cuckoo, golden cuckoo and silver cuckoo, with unfeathered shanks; and copper-black, with feathered shanks.[6]:195[7]:172
They should have orange eyes. The shanks are usually slate or pink, the soles of the feet should always be white as Marans have white skin, not yellow. Though the original Marans could also be feather-legged birds, British breeders preferred the clean-legged version, and thus feather-legged Marans are now mainly found in France and the United States. The Australian Poultry Standard recognises both feather- and clean-legged.[10] The American Poultry Association only recognises feather-legged.
Use
Marans eggs
Marans hens lay around 150–200 dark brown eggs each year depending on the variety. Marans are historically a dual-purpose bird, prized not only for their dark eggs but for their table qualities as well.
2nd Australian Poultry Standard, 2012, published by the Victorian Poultry Breeder Association (trading as Poultry Stud Breeders and Exhibitors Victoria)
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