Cream Legbar Pictures

[Amy King Hanson]

Why do some Cream Legbar roosters have one white tail feather? Is it a flaw or is it normal. I've been studying pictures while I look for stock to buy. I, personally, don't need show quality but curious.

 

[GaryDean26]

It is a flaw. The tails feather should be black and white barred.

 

[Fullofstitches]

It is a flaw.  The tails feather should be black and white barred.

Several of mine have this. How best do we breed for barred tail?

 

[GaryDean26]

The way to breed for barred tails is to cull the one that have white tails. Yes you may have to grow out 30 cockerels to get 2-3 that that don't have white tails to choose from, but that is how breeds are improved. In the first APA breed review/feed back that I attended we were advised that the Cream Legbar needed a lot of dedicated breeders to get it to where it needs to be for APA breed consideration. It was suggested that grow out groups in the range of 100 birds would be required for several years to establish a flock. If you can't do 100 in one year hatch from the foundation stock for a few years to get your 100. Don't breed the offspring from the foundation stock until you have replacements that are better than the foundation. Never breed a younger bird unless it is better than an older bird.

 

[Bantambird]

what should I do with the hens I have and what should I be selecting for? Color is certainly off. My birds get to free range an acre of Central Montana rangeland everyday so they do get rather worn around the edges, but my boxer dog and the Tom turkey keep track of intruders. These are first and second line imports, won a bid on hatching eggs in 2012 from ewecrazy farm in GA. They no longer sell cream legbars. One strange note, I lost a bird tonight due to an enlarged liver that was pink and friable but not fatty. I lost another bird to this early about 2 years ago to this, both livers were huge and neither hen was active laying. My 7 year old plays with the cream legbars all the time and they are good natured. A few of them insist on picking at your pants to get your attention for petting or a lap sit.

 

[Bantambird]

I figured out how my hen died. She was poisoned by blue board styrafoam.

 

[rottlady]

Here are my Legbars. They are still itsy bitsy though

 

[GaryDean26]

what should I do with the hens I have and what should I be selecting for? Color is certainly off. My birds get to free range an acre of Central Montana rangeland everyday so they do get rather worn around the edges, but my boxer dog and the Tom turkey keep track of intruders. These are first and second line imports, won a bid on hatching eggs in 2012 from ewecrazy farm in GA. They no longer sell cream legbars. One strange note, I lost a bird tonight due to an enlarged liver that was pink and friable but not fatty. I lost another bird to this early about 2 years ago to this, both livers were huge and neither hen was active laying. My 7 year old plays with the cream legbars all the time and they are good natured. A few of them insist on picking at your pants to get your attention for petting or a lap sit.

Bryce's (EweCrazy) original CLB hen died at about a year old. He and others who got hatching eggs from that hen reported that she laid Huge eggs. I wonder if your hen is that that line. After his hen died I got him in touch with a lady in Texas (Navidad Ranch) that was working with the breed and she started shipping chicks that he had commitments for. Neither of them are working with the breed any more.

What show you do with the hens you have? If they are 4year old hens hold on to them. There aren't many of hens left in the country that are as close as yours to the original imported lines. I see that they have lost a lot of white from their ear lobes. Is that an age thing or was there that much red on their ear lobes when they were younger too. If they ear lobes are not keeping at least 50% white into the later years and are not 100% white as pullets, then one thing to select for wouldbe for white ear lobes. You may want to just choose a single hen in the flock that has the most white and get a dozen offspring from her and breed the cockerel with the best white lobes back to the rest of the hens to try to improve on the white ear lobes.

The comb looks nice as straight on you boy. Some of the newer lines don't have straight combs on the boys so keeping that in the flock would be a good thing to do for the breed.

What size eggs do the hens wight. 60 Grams? 65 Grams? 70 grams? 75 grams? If you have any laying over 70 grams that is another thing you may want to breed for. Some of those early hens were laying over 70 grams but very few bred for that trait and so that egg over 70 grams is not something that is seen in a lot of flocks. If you have hens that are laying that size egg, that is another thing you may want to select for.

 

[Outpost JWB]

GaryDean26, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the CCLs. I clicked on the link at the bottom of your page and stumbled across a big puzzle in my flock. White resessive gene. Last spring I had 3 ccl roosters and 2 CCL hens in my flock. I separated the 2 hens, the best rooster, and 2 barred rock. A dog attacked that flock & killed all of the hens. I had been saving back eggs though for incubation and hatched them out. One rooster is solid white and has white ears. I'll try to post a pic later today.

I just assumed he was a product of my leghorn mix male fathering with an Easter egger.

 

[sol2go]

GaryDean26, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the CCLs. I clicked on the link at the bottom of your page and stumbled across a big puzzle in my flock. White resessive gene. Last spring I had 3 ccl roosters and 2 CCL hens in my flock. I separated the 2 hens, the best rooster, and 2 barred rock. A dog attacked that flock & killed all of the hens. I had been saving back eggs though for incubation and hatched them out. One rooster is solid white and has white ears. I'll try to post a pic later today.

I just assumed he was a product of my leghorn mix male fathering with an Easter egger.

Hi, I've also seen recessive white offspring in one of my breeding flocks. Do you notice any difference in size or vitality? All the normal active chicken behavior?