03/04/2023
Marans, egg color, pricing, and availability...an explanation.
No breeder can guarantee all their birds offspring will be super dark layers.
An ultra dark laying hen under the same rooster can through the season, produce 80 or more young hens that will lay across the spectrum. Half or less will lay as dark or darker than their mothers. The other half or less will lay dark, but not quite like their mother and another handful will lay much lighter shades. It's a crapshoot at best, but narrowing down the best genetics to carry forward is my end goal to hopefully, one day bring a little more consistency.
Marans are not consistent layers, decent at best giving on average 150-200 eggs per year. The darker a hen lays, the less eggs you'll receive, and the lighter one lays, the more eggs you'll get. Eggs moving through a hen more slowly receive more coating and vice versa.
I am only hatching from 7 hens currently whom are deemed good quality in terms of their conformation to the breed and in egg color. On good days, I get 5-6 eggs, on others maybe 2-3, so it can be tough to predict what is coming. I will be dramatically increasing this number for next year hopefully, expecting that my breeding efforts will yield consistently better birds this season, and allow me to keep a higher percentage of my growouts.
Why are hatching eggs, chicks and pullets so expensive?
First off, I have invested heavily in my parent stock, thousands of dollars literally. Secondly, I grow out and feed a ton of birds each year, only to keep a few of the best to go forward with. And lastly, as mentioned above, I get a limited opportunity by way of eggs produced to get a return on these investments. So when I charge what I do, you're getting a bargain off of the back of my hard work and prior financial investments. Believe me, I've paid MUCH more for hatching eggs and day old chicks from high end breeders than I could bring myself to charge someone else. I try to stay within reason without just giving them away because they're a breed I think everyone should have a chance to enjoy!
