When Do Marans Chickens Start Laying?
Marans pullets typically lay their first egg at 22–26 weeks old (5.1–6 months) — a late bloomer.
- First egg window
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- pick a hatch date to see your timeline
What to expect from Marans layers
| First egg | 22–26 weeks (5.1–6 months) |
| Egg color | dark brown |
| Eggs per year | ≈ 150–200 in the first laying year |
| Size class | standard |
The chocolate-egg breed — the darkest shells in the coop, prized by egg-color collectors. Darkness fades through each laying cycle and hatchery strains lay lighter than breeder stock.
Why your Marans might lay earlier or later
The 22–26 week window is typical, not guaranteed — individual hens vary, and hatchery strains of a breed often lay earlier than show-line birds bred for looks over production. The biggest wildcard is daylight: laying is triggered partly by day length, so a pullet reaching laying age in late fall commonly waits for the lengthening days of late winter, no matter what the calendar math says. Spring-hatched chicks usually run on schedule.
You'll know eggs are close when the comb and wattles flush red and the pullet starts squatting when you reach toward her — first eggs usually arrive within a week or two of the squat. Switch to layer feed around week 18 (or at the first egg), keep oyster shell available, and expect the first few eggs to be small or odd-shaped while her system calibrates. All normal, all edible.
Use the calculator above with your chicks' actual hatch date for the expected window, or compare all 30 breeds on the full First Egg Calculator.