How to Breed Dark Chocolate Egg Laying Cocoa Eggers

Everyone loves the deep dark chocolate brown Marans eggs! But with the darkest shades of these purebred hatching eggs now selling for $200 per dozen, many backyard keepers are looking for a more affordable option. Breeding hybrid colored egg layers has been done for years. The same process can be used for creating deliciously dark egg layers, too! Here is how to breed dark chocolate egg laying Cocoa Eggers:

a white carton holding a half dozen Cocoa Egger eggs in shades of dark brown with two that are very chocolate colored — Cocoa Egger describes a hybrid who lays a dark brown or cocoa colored egg in a range of tones. The speckled egg on the bottom right is probably too light in color.

How to Breed Dark Chocolate Egg Layers / Cocoa Eggers

The recipe for this hybrid is simple: cross the darkest egg line rooster you can with hens who lay dark brown eggs. Since the offspring inherit tint genes from both parents, they have a greater chance of laying a brown egg that may darken with continued breeding.

A row of ten digital egg shapes all colored in different shades of dark brown to illustrate cocoa egger eggs

How Dark Will the Eggs Be?

Like with any breeding project, egg color is going to vary widely. Most birds will lay shades similar to or slightly darker than their mothers if the rooster also carries dark tint overlay genes. There is ALWAYS the risk that some of the 13+ known genes that control tint turn “off” and you end up with a hen who lays a medium brown shade, not much darker than a grocery store brown egg. Because speckling is present in many Marans and Welsummer lines, speckled dark brown eggs can occur but speckling is never guaranteed.

Should I Cross Purebred Marans?

You do not need to use all purebred Marans birds for this breeding project. If you have “Olive” Egger hens laying deep brown shades or a Marans hybrid laying a lovely egg, try crossing them to the best dark egg line rooster you can obtain. Cocoa Eggers are a hybrid (mixed breed) chicken bred for egg color so there are no “rules” to follow other than crossing dark egg individuals to try to make more chocolate egg layers. If you do end up crossing purebred Marans with different feather colors, like Wheaten and Black Copper, you are creating a hybrid, not a purebred Marans, so make sure buyers know they are a Marans cross or a Marans Hybrid bred for cocoa eggs.

a young purebred black copper marans rooster stands on a wood floor inside a chicken coop — A young purebred Black Copper Marans rooster. He came from Clucks & Waddles Homestead in Montgomery, Texas.

Using a Marans Rooster

If a local farm or friend purchased expensive dark chocolate Marans hatching eggs, chances are there is an unwanted cockerel. Grab him if you can – he could be a great help in producing Cocoa Eggers! Marans roosters are probably the easiest to find for this breeding project.

five dark brown eggs, most of them a #6 shade laid by failed olive egger hens who did not inherit the blue egg gene needed to lay an olive green egg

Failed Olive Egger Cocoa Eggers?

Perhaps you have already created a Cocoa Egger from your Olive Egger breeding project? If you have back-crossed Olive Egger hens to a Marans rooster to darken the tints, you may find the 50% of offspring who did not inherit the blue egg gene lay deep colored brown eggs. These girls (who may have had straight combs at hatch) can be marketed as Cocoa Eggers. They help add interest to a rainbow egg carton!

breeding recipe for back-cross 1 olive eggers where a dark egg line rooster is bred to olive egger laying hens — This graphic illustrates how back-crossing an Olive Egger to a Marans can produce some offspring who lay darker brown tones. See our Breeding Recipes page for more graphics like this one.

Will The Eggs Be As Dark as the Darkest Marans?

No, that is not likely. You need the rooster and hens to all have extremely dark tint overlay genes if you’re breeding for the darkest eggs possible. Offspring can be expected to lay a shade similar to their mothers – and perhaps a shade darker – if the father also carries dark egg genes. You won’t suddenly get ultra dark eggs from two birds who carry medium-brown or terra cotta egg genes. Take a peek at Cackle Hatchery’s Chocolate Eggers for an example of what Cocoa Egger hybrids (with Marans ancestry) can lay.

Cocoa Egger Egg Colors Will Vary

When crossing with mixed breed hens and creating more hybrids, you cannot guarantee the shade of brown your offspring will lay. We show a mix of brown eggs from “failed” olive eggers, multi-generation Marans back-crosses, and speckled Marans eggs to illustrate the wide variety of shades possible.

a white carton holding a half dozen Cocoa Egger eggs in shades of dark brown with two that are very chocolate colored, shown at an angle — The “potato” brown eggs in the center are bred by back-crossing olive eggers to a dark egg line Marans rooster for 2+ generations. 50% of offspring will lay a shade of brown egg when back-crossing.

Need More Help?

Our Cocoa Egger breeding guide can walk beginners through every step of creating dark egg layers! We even include two breeding recipes for sex-linked Cocoa Eggers and sex-linked Olive + Cocoa Eggers from the same pen:

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How to Breed Dark Chocolate Egg Laying Cocoa Eggers