The Legbar Thread!

[Merrymouse]

Hello everyone,
I've stumbled upon these birds, and I am falling in love with their blue eggs.

Does anyone know the difference between "Crested Cream Legbar" and "Cream Legbar", or are they both the same thing?

Thanks!

I would love to know the answer to this. Here is a pic of my CL. She is about 3 weeks old and I think I'm starting so see some feathers on her head. May not show well in the photo but she looks like she has a mini Mohawk

Does that mean she's a crested? Or are they all crested? If yes at what age does the crest usually develop? Thanks

 

[dheltzel]

I would love to know the answer to this. Here is a pic of my CL. She is about 3 weeks old and I think I'm starting so see some feathers on her head. May not show well in the photo but she looks like she has a mini Mohawk


Does that mean she's a crested? Or are they all crested? If yes at what age does the crest usually develop? Thanks

All Cream Legbars are supposed to be crested. Some have better crests than others, but the ideal is a pretty and full crest. She looks very healthy.

 

[amanda1]

Maybe you are onto something here! Thank you for the suggestion. Her symptoms definitely fall under the gapeworm symptoms. Two questions- would I necessarily see the worms if I looked in her mouth? If she has gapeworms, wouldn't the rest of the flock also have them and need to be wormed?

 

[Merrymouse]

All Cream Legbars are supposed to be crested. Some have better crests than others, but the ideal is a pretty and full crest. She looks very healthy.

Thank you! I hope she has a nice but not too big crest. This is Kiki she's an excellent forager and kicks everything everywhere searching for food hence, the name Kiki for Kicker.

 

[sumi]

Doing you all's breed this week: Chicken Breed Focus - Legbar

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Maybe you are onto something here! Thank you for the suggestion. Her symptoms definitely fall under the gapeworm symptoms. Two questions- would I necessarily see the worms if I looked in her mouth? If she has gapeworms, wouldn't the rest of the flock also have them and need to be wormed?

I think you are supposed to be able to take a cotton swab and wipe it down their throats to find gape worms. I know that I've got a problem with Capillary worms in my flock. I've been worming every month with Safeguard but recently used another wormer just in case the capillary worms have built up a resistance. I had only one bird in my flock of about 60 birds gasping for breath like I have never seen before (and she was a Cream Legbar). I put her in quarantine and put some Safeguard right down her throat. Then I treated her for respiratory issues with a shot of Tylan and a dose of Denegard. She was much better by the next morning and seemed almost better a few days later. I kept her in quarantine for about a week and returned her to the flock and then wormed every bird by medicating their water (I don't remember the medication but it was given to me by a friend who had used it and recommended it). Mycoplasma usually stays dormant until something stresses the birds. I don't know why this lone bird would have been stressed (it could be that a worm load weakened her immune system) but I did lose another Cream Legbar hen out of the blue last summer where one moment she was alive and the next she was dead. It was also very hot last summer and that can cause stress as well.

 

[otakalhasas]

Hello everyone,
I've stumbled upon these birds, and I am falling in love with their blue eggs.

Does anyone know the difference between "Crested Cream Legbar" and "Cream Legbar", or are they both the same thing?

Thanks!

It is my understanding that the proper name is simply Cream Legbar. But some folk do call them Crested Cream Legbar - they are one in the same. But Cream Legbar is the correct name.

 

[amanda1]

I've bee reading up on the worms. I didn't swab her, I've been giving her VetRX for 3 days which hasn't changed anything. How long could they live with worms? This has been going on for over a month, maybe two. I did look down her throat last evening and it all looked clear and healthy. I guess it doesn't hurt to worm even if they don't have worms? Would I see worms in the poop? It is just so strange, she has no other symptoms except the head shaking, which I thought in the past had to do with her large comb bothering her.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Maybe you are onto something here! Thank you for the suggestion. Her symptoms definitely fall under the gapeworm symptoms. Two questions- would I necessarily see the worms if I looked in her mouth? If she has gapeworms, wouldn't the rest of the flock also have them and need to be wormed?

No, you usually don't see the worms, and swabbing the throat only shows worms if they are actively spilling up out of the trachea... and by then they are suffocating... if she has worms, then yes, it's a safe bet that the rest do as well...

I've bee reading up on the worms. I didn't swab her, I've been giving her VetRX for 3 days which hasn't changed anything. How long could they live with worms? This has been going on for over a month, maybe two. I did look down her throat last evening and it all looked clear and healthy. I guess it doesn't hurt to worm even if they don't have worms? Would I see worms in the poop? It is just so strange, she has no other symptoms except the head shaking, which I thought in the past had to do with her large comb bothering her.

VetRX won't help no matter what the cause is, it's simply the chicken version of Vicks Vaporub... no, you won't see worms in their poop, only through a fecal sample under a microscope would you see worm eggs, or a necropsy you can find the adult worms inside the trachea... if you can get a vet to do a fecal sample, that would be best as it would tell you exactly what kind of worms you might be dealing with... they can live quite a long time with worms and it's not uncommon for only 1 or a couple to show symptoms... it's only when they get overloaded beyond what they can tolerate that they show severe symptoms...

If you can't get a fecal done, isolate her and start her on Safeguard or Valbazen, and only that first... if it's worms, improvement will be seen by the next day and drastic improvement by day 2... if she improves within 2 days of dosing, then that's the issue... IMO, better to try dewormer before throwing an antibiotic at her in case it's unnecessary...

 

[amanda1]

Thank you for the advice. At this point I'm hoping it is just worms. Thinking back to how long she's been head shaking, this has been an issue for months. I just never realized her head shaking had anything to do with a problem, probably because I didn't see any other symptoms.

Now the challenge of getting a sample. I hope my local vet would test for me even though they don't see chickens. She freaks out if she is isolated, and since I don't want to stress her even more I hope I don't have to go that route.