I wanted to share the result from my Cream Legbar Hatch a few days ago.
Background: All of the eggs were home grown from our three Cream Legbar Flocks. Liam and Ice were both hatched on Greenfire Farm from their 2011 flocks (B & C respectivly). Blaze is our 2013 breeding cockerel that was breed on Pollo Poco Farm in Oklahoma from stock from Greenfire Farms. Blaze was paired with hens from Greenfire Farm's 2011 flock "A" as well as three pullets that were offspring from one hen paired with Liam and one hen paired with Ice.
Results: - 100% of the pullets from Blaze were the light down color. We only got one cockerel that was the light down color (shown in photo). We got 3 dark downed cockerels (not shown).
- Large head patches were visible on the pullets from Ice. Both cockerels and pullets had the dark down type.
- We only got pullet in this hatch from Liam. They also were the dark down type, but I was able to distinguish them from the pullets from Ice because the stripes were more a tan color from Liam and more a white color from Ice. Liam's chicks also seamed to have more a brown tone to the dark down than Ice's chicks.
Conclusion: The fact that 100% of the pullets and only 1/4 of the cockerels from Blaze were the light color seems to support the theory that the down type is a result of the sex-linked barring type. It also is telling me that at least one of the hens is that pen is carrying the light type.
Follow-up: I already know one hen that is carrying the light type because I did a test hatch with three eggs from each of the two foundation hens just a week after they were moved to the 2013 breeding pen with Blaze. I hatched the eggs in separate compartments in the incubator and one hen produced a light and dark colored cockered (The light surely sired by Blaze and the Dark possible by Blaze or Ice) and the other produced two dark Pullets (Both pullets I am guessing sired by Liam) and a darck cockerel (which could be sired by Liam or Blaze). Below is a photos of the cockerel from the test hatch with a pullet from the other hen next to it.
Every hatch is a new lesson to be learned!!!