The Marans hen is the only hen, with a Spanish breed, able to lay cocoa-colored Easter eggs. In his "Rendez-vous at the farm", Friday, Fanny Agostini looks at the characteristics of this somewhat particular gallinaceous.
Fanny, as Easter approaches, you wanted to paint a picture of the real chocolate hen.
It really exists in pulpit and in feathers! It is the hen of the Marans breed, native to the Poitevin marsh. Its characteristic, it is the eggs which it lays, eggs pigmented in a unique way, to be mistaken, one would believe eggs grand cru in chocolate! It is one of the only hens in the world with another Spanish breed to successfully lay cocoa-colored Easter eggs.
These hens are so popular that there is even a color scale to measure the good conformity of the breed!
The hen will be approved as an authentic Marans hen if and only if the color of its egg reaches 4 on an internationally recognized scale of up to 9, the 1 corresponding to the classic white egg of the Gallic hen, to go there. 'extra red see black ebony of the Marans hen. When the color reaches this exceptional level, this indicates that the hen has enough protoporphyrin, a protein that will tint the egg and also strengthen its shell.
A thicker shell which has a big advantage!
Indisputable competitive advantage compared to other hens, the shell is thick to the point that the eggs do not break easily which facilitates their transport. And also the thickness of the shell will limit its porosity with the ambient air, these are eggs which are therefore not affected by salmonella, a bacteria transmissible to humans. To have Easter eggs all year round, the trick is to have a Marans hen in your chicken coop!