Cream Legbar Pictures

[GaryDean26]

As far as working with lines that have floppy combs, entire chapters in breed books, magazines, club newsletters, etc, have been written on breeding strategies. I would suggest for starter to trying to breed the hen in the flock with the smallest combs to the cockerel with the straightest comb. Hopeful that will bring improvements to the comb in the first generation. If you do get any cockerels with good combs I would then pedigree your flock so you can keep track of which birds hatch from what pairing. You then could pair cockerels with poor combs if they were needed to improve other areas of type as long as they are only breed to hens that hatch from cockerels that had good combs. That may be over simplifying the process, but yes you can take a line that has floppy combs and improve it through culling and selection. It will take several generations though and you have to hatch in quantity to get the required selection to make any significant progress.

As for an individual cockerel with a twisted comb...there are some thing that can be done, but they are called "faking" and if you get caught doing them at a poultry show will be expelled. The bird needs to grow and form naturally. Artificially manipulating the bird to look different doesn't make it a better bird and I am not aware of any natural way of improving a floppy comb (although some swear by raising them in the winter so that the combs stay smaller or other things like that I am not sure would be a good long term solution)

 

[ChicKat]

HI all! Is there anything you can do about a floppy comb? It isn't a desirable trait, right? Do you just cull the birds with it or ?? It seems I have a few cockerels with floppy comb which is upsetting considering how much I paid for them.

I had a cockerel with a floppy comb - that later became upright. I sometimes wonder if there is a 'pecking order' thing -- seems like if you happen to have only 1 -- or only 1 in that pen -- you may be more likely to have one that is correct. Once I had a cockerel that was very ill - while he was ill his tail pointed downward instead of overly high and his comb flopped over. When he became well, his comb and tail were restored to their normal upright positions.

Not sure the ages of you cockerels and their housing...the lines that they come from - and what the parent birds are like -- but like many things I have seen in CLs - that one is subject to some changes....... HTH

 

[chicken pickin]

Here are a few pictures of my young Legbar grow outs. They are 8.5weeks old.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

HI all! Is there anything you can do about a floppy comb? It isn't a desirable trait, right? Do you just cull the birds with it or ?? It seems I have a few cockerels with floppy comb which is upsetting considering how much I paid for them.

Many of us with big crested CLB are dealing with floppy and twisted combs. I just looked at 6 Jill Reese cockerels with floppy combs and came home empty handed. I am currently growing out 2 cockerels, one has the smallest of crests and a reasonable straight comb, the other has a large crest and his comb is twisting. My strategy is to breed the one with the straight and smaller comb to my hens with straight combs and see if that will help. None of these chickens started out cheap. Even if you start with perfect stock you still have to be thoughtful and selective, deciding what to breed and what not to.

 

[ChicKat]

Great photos chicken pickin--- what a nice bunch of juveniles. -- flaming chicken - good strategy -- you will keep us posted on the progress...right?

 

[sol2go]

Here are a few pictures of my young Legbar grow outs. They are 8.5weeks old.

I'm all about the barring right now, do you have any pictured above that you prefer?

 

[chicken pickin]

I'm all about the barring right now, do you have any pictured above that you prefer?

I do not prefer the light barred males like the males pictured in the bottom picture (those are my Rees males), I also dislike the males that have muddied barring on the breast.

I don't like the brest barring, but I like the male pictured in pics 8 and 9. I also like the male laying down in picture 12(it might be the same male as pic 8and 9)

I do prefer the darker barring on males. I like many of the males pictured above, my current favorite is the male pictured in pic one(he is also in other picutres above) I like his dark barring and to my eye he has seemingly cream crest and hackles rather than gray and white. All my males so far also have barred wing triangles which is what I was hoping for in this years breeding.

I have another male similar to the male in pic one that I like though his barring looks darker gray and light gray (making his barring look a bit muddy) though he is creamer than male in pic one.
Hes the male at about 8o'clock

Another one of my favorites is dark barred and would have been a nice contender but he has wry tail (my first wry tail CL, he is a cull) He is at 11o'clock.
I also like the male to the right of the wry tail male(though he is so far small). The one next to the blue cap is the male in pic one and the male at 9o'clock is the creamy but dark blurred barred male.

Many have nice qualities but at least half are culls already due to overly large crests, one has a crooked toe, one had wry tail, one already has a nasty personality etc. Im going to band the culls soon and grow them out for the freezer and then I can start better evaluating the potential keepers.

They are still so young and many look quite similar, time will tell.

 

[sol2go]

I do not prefer the light barred males like the makes pictured in the bottom picture (those are my Rees males), I also dislike the males that have muddied barring on the breast.

I don't like the brest barring, but I like the male pictured in pics 8 and 9. I also like the male laying down in picture 12(it might be the same male as pic 8and 9)

I prefer the darker barring on males. I like many of the males pictured above, my current favorite is the male pic one(he is also in other picutres above) I like his dark barring and to my eye seemingly cream crest and hackles. All my males so far also have barred wing triangles which is what I was hoping for this year breeding. I have another male similar to the male in pic one that I like though his barring looks darker gray and light gray barring though he is creamer than male in pic one.


Another one of my favorites is dark barred and would have been a nice contender but he has wry tail (my first wry talk CL, he is a cull).
I also like the male to the right of the wry tail male(though he is so far small). The one next to the blue cap is the male in pic one and the male at 9o'clock is the creamy but dark blurred barred male.

Many have nice qualities but at least half are culls already due to overly large crests, one has a crooked toe, one had wry tail, one already has a nasty personality etc. Im going to band the culls soon and grow them out for the freezer and then I can start better evaluating the potential keepers.

They are still so young and many look quite similar, time will tell.

Thanks for illustrating your comments =)

 

[chicken pickin]

I'm all about the barring right now, do you have any pictured above that you prefer?

What do you look for in a male as far as barring goes in your flock? Im sure different people prefer different things, some may like dark others may like light barred birds, maybe some are looking for crisper, or more evenly spaced barring.

 

[KendyF]

This little hen is a very pretty girl. You can't tell from this angle, but she has a nice heavy body and lays a beautiful large egg. Her crest and comb are pretty nice. She came from FMP's culls. She isn't very dark, but there is nothing gray about her. Any one of you genetic experts want to talk about brown vs gray. Different genes, or diluted colors... or...? Her foot isn't twisted, just the way she is standing, and I only have 2 birds with yellow legs. They have other issues. So, I am thinking her type is good, can I use her to move to gray, if I so desired?