Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

[GaryDean26]

These are two of my suspected culls as their combs are very crooked. How easy is that to fix thru breeding? The one on the left is the widest and longest in the back, and probably the largest so far.

Welcome to the group BenTN. The method that I follow for combs is from an old breeding guide for for the Miorca breed published in the UK. They found that cockerel from hens that had sires with erect combs would have erect combs even if the cock bird used in the pairing had a large comb. So if you breed any cockbirds with good combs keep track of his daughters because they will produce sons with good combs. If you don't have any cockerels with good combs then the strategy is to select hens with small combs. The smaller the combs of the parent stock the better chances you have of getting some straight combs to work with in the offspring. You may have to start with smaller combs than the standard call for but will be able to work towards larger combs by using daughters of the smaller erect combed cockerels and pairing them to larger combed cocks.

 

[GaryDean26]

Welcome to the Group ReLova. Glad to have you here.

 

[ReLova]

I've had legbars for about a year now. (Had bym as a child got back into chickens in 16 with Easter Eggers but i hate waiting to know the sex) Started with a trio of legbars. Bought a few hens from a guy getting out of legbars this spring. My first growouts are about 11-13 weeks old now. I'm stoked you're doing this group. I struggle to translate what I read to my own flock and learn much better with a chance to apply our discussion to my own flock.

My main focus this year (not knowing much about breeding) was tail angle. I had a lot of high tails. Seeing some improvement on that aspect I think especially in the boys girls still need some work but I'm seeing some combos I'm excited to try next season.

I'll post some photos in just a moment.

 

[ReLova]

So here's a good idea of my foundation flock. About a dozen hens 2 roosters. Definitely some faults in this group but I didnt know what I was really looking for. They were colored better than my original trio and had prettier crests. Oops.

 

[ReLova]

Here are some of the oldest growouts (11-13 weeks with pictures over the last 2 weeks)

Better tail angles and longer backs that slope more appropriately (I think)

 

[GaryDean26]

I've had legbars for about a year now. (Had bym as a child got back into chickens in 16 with Easter Eggers but i hate waiting to know the sex) Started with a trio of legbars. Bought a few hens from a guy getting out of legbars this spring. My first growouts are about 11-13 weeks old now. I'm stoked you're doing this group. I struggle to translate what I read to my own flock and learn much better with a chance to apply our discussion to my own flock.

My main focus this year (not knowing much about breeding) was tail angle. I had a lot of high tails. Seeing some improvement on that aspect I think especially in the boys girls still need some work but I'm seeing some combos I'm excited to try next season.

I'll post some photos in just a moment.

I have been working with Legbars for 7 years. My first year I had a lot of high tails too. Tails were also something that I started to work on early in the process. Tail angled come from both parents. If you have a high tailed bird paired with a low tailed bird you can expect to get a few of the offspring with tail angles right in the middle of the two parents. Some could still be high and some may even be low but the tails tend to always be higher than the average of the two which is why many people who struggle with a lot of high tail angles will use cockerels with tail angles a lot lower than 45 degs. After breeding correct tail angles together for 2-3 years and culling the tail angles that are too high or two low you will start to see consistency in the tail angles to where nearly all of the offspring have the right tail angle. If you breed correct tail angled birds who have parents and grandparents that were too high then you will still get a large range of tails. It takes a few generations for things to settle.

 

[GaryDean26]

They were colored better than my original trio and had prettier crests. Oops.

You crack me up.

Here are some of the oldest growouts (11-13 weeks with pictures over the last 2 weeks)

Better tail angles and longer backs that slope more appropriately (I think)

And yes, the 11-13 week grow out group looks really good with the longer backs that slope more appropriately. Are they offspring of the older birds your posted?

 

[ReLova]

There were other hens in that breeding group but some came from the hens pictured all came from the roosters pictured. Here are a few of the other hens.

I'm thinking that for next year I'll keep just a few of these hens (there are 11 running around) and pair with one of the lower tailed boys (if any stay super low) and see what comes on out.

I picked up a few chick pairs intending to keep the boys to pair with this years growouts from the og hen/cecil pairings. But only one boy looks good and one of the pullets I bought in those six has turned into something strange. It looks like the androgynous ccl that popped up on the fb page earlier this spring (I think that post was deleted because I cant find it) Should I be wary of using the boys if one of the 'girls' had this issue?

Will the next point be wing carriage? I'm struggling with what's right and wrong on that point. I think I know what high enough is but...

The last picture is the strange 'girl'

 

[ReLova]

That last reply got a little wonky but the strange girl is the dark weirdo.

 

[BenTN]

That's a girl?