Help! Ambiguous cream legbar sexing issues!

Hi there, I am new to the group but have often consulted the threads for advice.

Now, I have a problem and thought to go to you experts!

The story- I had a speckled maran that went broody and I was able to quickly get a dozen fertilized cream Legbars from a local breeder. This was a first time experience for me and my hen and she successfully hatched 10 of the dozen.

The markings seemed clear on 7 of the day old birds and 3 were questionable. However, as they started to grow their markings changed and I was convinced I had 5 roosters and 5 hens. BUT, now I am confused because one of the girls markings have changed and I wonder if she isn't a he?!

These cream Legbars are now just under 8 weeks old. Here are some pics.








The top pics show the questionable chick in front and a sister and brother in the back. The questionable chick looks hen-ish to me but her feathers are getting whiter and paler much like the boys.

In the other pics you could see the top of the ambiguous chicks head next to a brother at the water feeder.

What are your opinions? If this is a girl, I imagine she shouldn't be bred? Thanks for any help you can give!

Hi. Glad you joined the flock. Sorry but cream leg bars are not really my breed hope you get an answer soon. Good luck with your flock.

So, cream legbar chicks though "auto-sexing" can vary in shade quite a bit, but will have the sort of chip-munk pattern and all the males will have a white spot in the center of the top of the head, regardless of the darkness or lighness of the rest of the pattern. None of the females will have the white spot. As they mature, they can feather out with some variety and may go through sort of ugly stages like other breeds when their feathers are in between youth and adult, however, this has nothing to do with maleness or femaleness. I would go back to the way they looked at hatch for the white spot or lack thereof for 100% sex sureity. I find it helpful to band the males at hatch because the feathers later will not remain as definite as that spot on day 1. Greenfire farms has some great info and photos on their site as well.

Thanks for the info! Based on what you are saying, I think this might still be a she. But I will just have to keep a watch over her to make sure. I am running out of space so I do need to offload most of these birds but I want to keep at least one of the ladies. I am just struggling to decide on which to keep.

Do you have any opinions on the best characteristics of the breed? This way, I can be able to choose the best out of the flock to keep. Thanks!

Thanks!

I just checked out greenfire farms site for cream Legbars. Umm, they charge how much for 1 day old cl's?!

I am American but live in the UK. Clearly, I need to export my birds