Gilded Martin
Breeding Project
For an in depth look at egg color genetics, be sure to check out our page All About Egg Colors.
Our Gilded Martin Breeding Project is an olive egger project using Silverudd’s Blue and French Black Copper Marans genetics. The long term goal is a birchen colored, dual purpose bird laying a darker green than Silverudd’s Blue.
In 2026, we are using grow-outs from our 2025 breeding pen. Our rooster is heterozygous for the blue egg gene, and, we hope, carries a good amount of dark pigment as he is 75% French Black Copper Marans and 25% Silverudd’s Blue, with the same golden birchen coloring as his father.
Our hens hatched in 2025 range from slightly oversized Silverudd’s Blue to hens virtually appearing to be full French Black Copper Marans. A couple of black hens have brown stippling showing through on their wing feathers. Our rooster carries a single silver gene, and most our hens have lacing about their neck in a range of silver, gold, and red, which we expect to continue in 2026. In 2026, we expect about 75% of the hatch to be black feathered and 25% to be blue.
In 2026 we are offering the Gilded Martin as an assortment, but we do have more Marans Line hens (50% will carry a blue egg gene) from 2025 than we do Silverudd’s Line (may carry up to 2 blue egg genes). You should expect an assortment of darker browns, olives, and the occasional teal (olive with heavy white bloom on top) or dark pink/purple (dark brown with heavy white bloom on top). We expect browns to be in the shade range of 4-6 on the Marans color chart with darker speckling overtop. Darker overall color is possible, but you will be lucky! We plan to add at least one full blooded French Black Copper Marans hen to this pen, but as of the winter, she is still maturing so we are not sure over her egg color yet.
Gilded Martin Breeding Project History
In 2024, a determined broody Silverudd’s Blue in a pen with a French Black Copper Marans rooster hatched our first Gilded Martin chicks on her own. Those chicks have turned into truly gorgeous, sizable hens laying the most unusual deep shades of olive, sometimes appearing almost mauve or a rich, earthy brown, leaving us no choice but to continue with this mix of genetics.
In 2025, we are taking a French Black Copper Marans x Silverudd’s Blue rooster (pictured) and breeding him back to unrelated splash Silverudd’s Blue and French Black Copper Marans, all from small-scale breeders. This rooster has absolutely gorgeous gold birchen coloring over black with a vibrant green sheen. His mother is a black Silverudd’s Blue with faint gold birchen markings who lays a bright blue-green egg with lavender speckling. His father is French Black Copper Marans; both parents are from Greenfire Farms. He carries a blue egg gene, so all offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting a blue egg gene from him.
2025 Marans Line
The Marans line is our Gilded Martin rooster bred back to French Black Copper Marans (pictured).
Offspring are expected to be black with copper or gold birchen markings, white leakage is likely.
Offspring are expected to lay deep brown or olive with speckling.
(FBCM x SRB) x (FBCM)
2025 Silverudd’s Line
The Silverudd’s line is our Gilded Martin rooster bred back to splash Silverudd’s Blue (pictured).
Offspring are expected to be blue, possibly laced.
Offspring are expected to lay speckled dark jade or olive eggs, though brown is possible.
(FBCM x SRB) x (SRB)
Our Other Breeds & Breeding Projects
Elk Creek Rock Breeding Project
Perennial Hill, LLC 