Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

[bullets]

Well...my mentor in the UK got the breeding flock from a lady who had breed it for five years. Then she breed it for another 7-8 years. It was a really good line and she told me that the longer she work with the breed the more consvinced she was that she never has seen a Cream Legbar that match exactly the standard of perfection and the more convinced she was that she never would. Breed standards of perfection (SOP) are not written to describe what a bird is but rather what we would like it to be if we could pick and choose the best of the best. We may never see a bird that matches exactly the SOP but do our best to produce what we feel is the best live bird representation of an idealized standard. You really should go back through the first 50 pages. You will learn what went into the writing of the proposed APA standard of Perfection for the breed and get ideas of how you want to breed your flock in the process. Here are some "Idealizations" that I did. I am not an artist so they are limited but I created them to help people who what to learn. I did a presentation at one of the Cream Legbar Club's on-line meetings a while back. I gave a club member in Australia name Terry Hill permission to use all the photos and information from that meeting on a website that Terry was building to educate breeder over there. You can get all the information Terry posted HERE. It covers what the head, neck, wings, feet, tail, etc. Should look like. My source for that presentation was the English SOP (HERE) and the first 50 page of this thread. So once you read the beginning of this thread you will have all information you need to understand the SOP. Then you can spend the next 15 years trying to see how close you can breed your flock to the Standard.

Dang! That is one handsome dude!

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi, I have not been on or following this thread like I should have.


I was going to join the Legbar club, as I should have years ago, BUT I have some questions and cannot find any contact information on the website.

It is probably my error, But if someone could find contact info or if there is a board member here and they could send me a PM I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[ChicKat]

A couple years have gone by since I left the club -- so I have no idea what's going on now.

This link
http://www.creamlegbarclub.com/99-contact-us-for-more-information

Used to generate an alterting email to the board of directors to answer requests. Good luck with your quest.

 

[GaryDean26]

Hi, I have not been on or following this thread like I should have.


I was going to join the Legbar club, as I should have years ago, BUT I have some questions and cannot find any contact information on the website.

It is probably my error, But if someone could find contact info or if there is a board member here and they could send me a PM I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

PM'd you.

 

[Shilo7]

Do the hens only lay for 3 years and then stop

 

[Bantambird]

Do the hens only lay for 3 years and then stop

Most chickens slow down after three years. They can continue laying well after 3, but just with less frequency.

 

[GaryDean26]

It depends on how you breed your flock. Some breeders start breeding lines with 5 year old hens. Those lines as you can imagine will lay longer than 3 years because the breeder is selecting for hens that have good longevity. Commercial hens typically are selected for the number of eggs that they lay in their first year.

I had some high production white leghorns and they started to have internal problems after 18 months. half of them didn't make it though their 2nd laying season. They were bred to lay for one year and that is about all they did. None of the white leghorns that we had were laying more than 3 eggs a month in their 3rd year of laying. They were disposable laying machines.

A Dutch Bantam breeder that I was in contact with to learn about the Cream Gene in that breed had imported hens that were 12 years old that she was still breeding.

A man at a research center in Canada who worked with the Hungarian Yellow breed has a hen that was more than a decade old that was still laying 13 eggs a month.

I know a Cuckoo Marans breeder who still has all her 8 year old foundation stock.

The breeder is a much bigger component in the performance of a chicken than the breed is. There are lots of different ways to manage and breed chickens and the out come will be different for each even though it is all the same breed.

 

[duluthralphie]

It depends on how you breed your flock. Some breeders start breeding lines with 5 year old hens. Those lines as you can imagine will lay longer than 3 years because the breeder is selecting for hens that have good longevity. Commercial hens typically are selected for the number of eggs that they lay in their first year.

I had some high production white leghorns and they started to have internal problems after 18 months. half of them didn't make it though their 2nd laying season. They were bred to lay for one year and that is about all they did. None of the white leghorns that we had were laying more than 3 eggs a month in their 3rd year of laying. They were disposable laying machines.

A Dutch Bantam breeder that I was in contact with to learn about the Cream Gene in that breed had imported hens that were 12 years old that she was still breeding.

A man at a research center in Canada who worked with the Hungarian Yellow breed has a hen that was more than a decade old that was still laying 13 eggs a month.

I know a Cuckoo Marans breeder who still has all her 8 year old foundation stock.

The breeder is a much bigger component in the performance of a chicken than the breed is. There are lots of different ways to manage and breed chickens and the out come will be different for each even though it is all the same breed.

This is a misleading statement based on the Cuckoo Marans I just got rd of, and 8 year old Cuckoo Maran will have laid 15 eggs in her life..........stinking freeloaders!

 

[Shilo7]

I have 9 male chicks and want to start putting them up for sale around 4 wks old. At 4wks old what can I look for to determine the roosters to keep and the pullets to keep? thank you

 

[duluthralphie]

I have 9 male chicks and want to start putting them up for sale around 4 wks old. At 4wks old what can I look for to determine the roosters to keep and the pullets to keep? thank you

I am not the expert, but the first thing I look at is the feet.

Good straight legs, toes and over all posture. I also look at tail and head. Body size and shape. You can't tell the great ones but you can see the bad ones.

Can you actually sell 4 week old roosters? No one wants them around here, they become soup.