cuckoo marans vs. new holland blue

Our supposed cuckoo marans more closely matches the description of the NHB, but they are supposedly rare outside of their native country. Our hen laid large eggs from the time she started to lay until the cold came. She never missed a day and even seemed to double up some days.

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Any connection there? Thoughts?

One diffeence would be egg color.

She always lays light brown eggs, sometimes speckled, but never have they been dark...not even at the beginning of her lay her first year. They are what you might expect to see out of an ISA.

Cuckoo marans, particularly hatchery lines, tend to lay a lighter brown egg then black copper or wheaten marans I'd be really surprised if it was something so rare! But hey you never know.

That is what I thought, but finding that bit on the NHB made me wonder just the same. I knew that it would be strange to have something so rare, and the guy who had these did claim that she was a cuckoo marans, but we all know that what someone says isn't always the case. People say all kinds of things. We wondered if she was a cross of some sort...she and the others didn't fully add up to what I had read that Marans were...egg color and rate of lay being the biggest things. I think, though, that if he had thought that he had the NHB, he would have said so and charged WAY more.

I will consider her to still be a Marans, just not of a good line, then. I had already accepted that. We certainly enjoy her calm demeanour and her generosity in lay. As a regular egg layer, she has been good, and she has come through the winter so far with no problems. She has been spectacular!

A hatchery line would explain a lot. There are often crosses/compromise found in hatchery stock, correct?

I am certainly looking forward to getting some Marans from good lines. I will be getting some from a member here, and she got the eggs from Dan. We are getting her extras. I love what I have seen of Dan's stock!

Thanks for all your opinions!

I curious what colour her legs are.

My daughter says very light pink, almost white, and she is clean legged. We haven't checked skin color. She went out to check both. She says her skin is how she described it before and her skin is white.

I found this bit of info too.
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I find it interesting that in Britain, they want the NHB feather legged and the cuckoo marans clean, when in both places of origin, it is opposite. That makes me think it would just cause more confusion.