[pandora]

I have 4 copper black maran hens, hatched early last spring from the darkest brown eggs I could find. I also kept a cockerel from a separate hatch, also extremely dark brown eggs. I kept 5 cockerels for a while, picking the best of them to keep for breeding, and he is a nice specimen. The hens came into lay in the autumn, had a break for the winter and are now laying again. I have set half a dozen eggs in the incubator and 5 were fertile, 4 hatched. The chicks should be good producers of very dark brown eggs, certainly darker than anything that is currently available on eBay.

The problem lies with the cockerel. I know he will sire layers of good egg colour, but after his first moult his tail feathers came back white at the base.

I keep marans predominantly for the egg colour, and this will be good in his chicks, but while I try and find another cock bird who comes from as good provenance would I find a market for the eggs my hens are laying now? They really are fabulous eggs, but I can't get past the white feathers!

[joyfull]

hatch a few batches first to see how they turn out and also to check the fertility rate..

[Casey76]

Can you post a photos of the cockerel?

White feathers sometimes come and go with the moult, unfortunately.

I'd set a couple more batches to get a better idea of fertility. Then I would advertise them, however, be honest with the white feathers which appeared after the moult