Marans Club

02/05/2020

23/03/2020

Stay at home' - Doctors and nurses appeal to UK
Doctors and nurses on the front line in the coronavirus crisis have made a direct appeal to the UK public.

"If you choose to stay at home, you will save lives," say healthcare professionals from the Belfast Trust respiratory team in a video that has been widely shared on social media.

It comes as the number of UK deaths reached 281, including a person aged 18 with an underlying health condition.

"If you choose to stay at home, you will save lives," say those on the front line in the coronavirus crisis.

16/08/2017

Life on the River: Flooding Resilience in Bangladesh

23/05/2017

We are deeply shocked by last night’s terrible events at the Manchester. Shocked. Can't believe what happened last night. Our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

20/03/2017

Happy 100th birthday of Dame Vera Lynn.

07/12/2016

Poultry keepers have been told to keep their birds inside to protect them from a highly-infectious strain of avian flu in Europe.
Chicken, turkey and duck owners must keep them indoors for 30 days or take steps to separate them from wild birds.
The H5N8 bird flu strain has been found in poultry and wild birds in France, Sweden and other nations.
The government's chief vet Prof Nigel Gibbens said the risk to humans was low and no UK cases had been found.
The precautionary measures announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) apply to farmers and anyone in England who keeps any birds, even those with a few chickens in their back garden.
Farmers are being asked to look for signs of infection and to take robust disinfectant measures.
Members of the public are also being told to report cases of dead wild waterfowl - such as swans, geese and ducks - or gulls, or five or more dead birds of other species to Defra.
Defra said it had increased its surveillance, and keepers are being urged to make sure feed and water is not accessible to wild birds.
'Happy birds'
Daniel Brown, a chicken farmer from Cambridge with 40,000 hens in three sheds, said Defra had made the correct decision.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We'll be shutting them in this morning. We'll be putting in extra toys for the birds - straw bales, empty bottles, cardboard boxes - anything to give them something else to think about.
"They love going outside, and now they can't for their own safety so we'll be doing anything we can just to keep the birds happy."
Prof Gibbens said: "We are closely monitoring the situation across Europe and have scaled up surveillance in response to the heightened risk.
"As a precaution, and to allow time for poultry and captive bird keepers to put in place appropriate biosecurity measures, we have declared a 30-day prevention zone to reduce the risk of infection from wild birds."
Prof Gibbens said the disease can get into housed birds and urged farmers to increase and maintain their biosecurity.
Last month, 190,000 ducks were culled in the Netherlands to try to prevent the spread of bird flu across northern

Poultry keepers have been told to keep their birds inside to protect them from avian flu in Europe.

13/06/2016

Monique, the hen who is sailing around the world

Frenchman Guirec Soudee is sailing the world - with a hen. Why exactly?

14/11/2015

As a mark of respect to the Paris victims

29/06/2015

R.I.P to all the victims in France Tunisia and Kuwait

18/01/2015

The Marans, French: Poule de Marans, is a breed of chicken from the port town of Marans, in the département of Charente-Maritime, in the Poitou-Charentes region of western France. It was created with the local feral chickens descended from fighting game chickens carried from Indonesia and India. Those original Marandaise fowl were "improved" for the table through recombination with imported Croad Langshans. A favourite at poultry shows, it is a dual purpose fowl known both for its extremely dark eggs and fine meat qualities.

Appearance

There are 9 recognized colours in the French Standard: Cuckoo, Golden Cuckoo, Black, Birchen, Black Copper, Wheaten, Black-tailed Buff, White and Columbian. Black Copper (black with copper feathers on the neck) and Cuckoo (barred feathers, giving a black and white speckled appearance) are the most common of these. Other colours not officially recognized (such as Blue Copper, Blue, and Splash) also exist.

They should have orange eyes. The shanks are usually slate or pink, the soles of the feet should always be white as Marans have white skin, not yellow. Though the original Marans could also be feather legged birds, British breeders preferred the clean legged version, and thus feathered legged Marans are now mainly found in France.

Characteristics
Marans eggs

Marans are generally quiet and docile; but they are quite active, taking well to free ranging in rough terrain and are also tough and disease-resistant.

Marans lay around 150 dark brown eggs each year. Marans are historically a dual-purpose bird, prized not only for their dark eggs but for their table qualities as well.