- Aug 5, 2013
- 82
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Mine are only about 35 grams. Hopefully they'll get bigger fast...
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Okay, I know this is a REALLY old thread by now, but I'm trying to figure out if I want to add a couple of Cream Legbars or true Ameraucanas to add color to my basket. Any idea which breed lays the bigger egg? Rate of lay? Health issues? Heat/cold tolerance?
Thanks for any input!!!!!!!
My dad ordered Qty (10) Araucanas from Myers hatchery for $0.10 each in the 1960's. He has a colored photo of an Austra While hens sitting on a clutch of eggs with a pale blue egg in it. The family farm have kept blue egg layers on it ever since. I loved going to my grand dad's as a child and collecting blue and green eggs from the laying flock. When we got chickens I told my wife I wanted Araucanas. We couldn't find any when we looked locally but learned about the Cream Legbar's Blue egg ability and we really prefered their look to that of the rumples Araucana with ear tuffs. So we set up a plan to recreate the Cream Legbar for our blue egg laying breed. They Cream Legbar was imported to the USA before we could complete that projected so to save time and money we got Cream Legbars as soon as they were available and have enjoyed them ever since. Our first year we worked with three pullets. Two started laying at 24 weeks with 35 gram eggs and one started laying at 24 weeks old with 45 gram eggs. The first two averaged about 61-62 gram hen eggs and the 3rd hens avereged about 70-71 gram hen eggs. If you are culling for production your keepers will all lay over 200 eggs in the first year (while the slack hens may will be around 180 egg layers).
As far as egg quality goes, we get a lot more matte shelled egg than glossy eggs. I actually like the glossy eggs better, but my mentor told me that she selected for the matte finish since the glossy eggs all appeared more green to her in color. The first egg show that I went to after I got legbars I noticed that the Americana eggs were all biconical in shape while the Cream Legbar eggs were elliptical in shape. I haven't kept in Americana but would love to see how the two breed compete against each other when put to the test. If you get one of each be sure to report back in a year on which one you like better.
And thanks for the history on the breed - WAY cool!!!!My dad ordered Qty (10) Araucanas from Myers hatchery for $0.10 each in the 1960's. He has a colored photo of an Austra While hens sitting on a clutch of eggs with a pale blue egg in it. The family farm have kept blue egg layers on it ever since. I loved going to my grand dad's as a child and collecting blue and green eggs from the laying flock. When we got chickens I told my wife I wanted Araucanas. We couldn't find any when we looked locally but learned about the Cream Legbar's Blue egg ability and we really prefered their look to that of the rumples Araucana with ear tuffs. So we set up a plan to recreate the Cream Legbar for our blue egg laying breed. They Cream Legbar was imported to the USA before we could complete that projected so to save time and money we got Cream Legbars as soon as they were available and have enjoyed them ever since. Our first year we worked with three pullets. Two started laying at 24 weeks with 35 gram eggs and one started laying at 24 weeks old with 45 gram eggs. The first two averaged about 61-62 gram hen eggs and the 3rd hens avereged about 70-71 gram hen eggs. If you are culling for production your keepers will all lay over 200 eggs in the first year (while the slack hens may will be around 180 egg layers).
As far as egg quality goes, we get a lot more matte shelled egg than glossy eggs. I actually like the glossy eggs better, but my mentor told me that she selected for the matte finish since the glossy eggs all appeared more green to her in color. The first egg show that I went to after I got legbars I noticed that the Americana eggs were all biconical in shape while the Cream Legbar eggs were elliptical in shape. I haven't kept in Americana but would love to see how the two breed compete against each other when put to the test. If you get one of each be sure to report back in a year on which one you like better.