A gorgeous bird hailing from Marans, France, the Black Copper Marans is prized for both its egg and table qualities. Their egg quality is said to be unsurpassed—though that often depends on who you ask.

French Marans eggs were noted as the preferred egg of James Bond in Ian Fleming’s book From Russia With Love.

They take around 6–7 months to start laying, and Marans will give you up to 250 dark “chocolate” brown eggs per year. As a breed that is world-famous for producing dark chocolate brown eggs, a hen that produces a light brown egg is not considered a true Marans—even if she comes from thoroughbred parents! This standard of quality is vital to prevent what happened to the Barnevelders, whose egg colour became lighter as a specific plumage pattern was selected for.

Greenhills Country Farm keeps Black Copper Marans—a variety with looks that are just as striking as their eggs, featuring copper feathering along the hens’ necks and even more pronounced copper on the hackles of the roosters. They have slate grey legs, with a red single comb and wattles.

Depending on the standard that you follow, Marans may have either clean or feathered legs. The French standard is feathered, while the British standard is clean. Holding to the standard of the country of origin, we are thrilled to have three strong bloodlines currently conforming to the French standard—although we occasionally have clean-legged birds come through as well.