Any Cream Legbar experts?

[Upstate_chicks]

It probably is possible for a Cream Legbar pullet to have a small spot on her head. The reasons I say this:

I find this online from one company that sells chicks:
https://www.durhamhens.co.uk/sexing-chicks
"Cream Legbar (Auto-sexing breed)
Females have dark stripes on their backs. They may have a tiny white spot on their head but much smaller than that on males (left)
Males are paler and duller than females and have a large white patch on their head (right)"

I looked at photos on Cackle Hatchery's website, and found one with a whole box of Cream Legbar chicks. Cockerels were in one side, pullets in the other, with labels. One of the pullets has a small light dot on her head.

The head spots are caused by the barring gene. Males have two copies of that gene (makes a bigger spot and overall larger color), and females have one copy of the gene. So having it cause a spot on a pullet's head seems at least somewhat reasonable. It certainly does cause light spots on the head of black-based pullets (example: Barred Rock and Dominique can be sexed by males having larger head spots and females having smaller head spots.)

I think the chick in your photo probably is female, although of course I can't be 100% certain. (I am not an expert on Legbars, just someone who reads about different breeds and then tries to make it line up with what I see.)

Thanks! I read something like that too. But then I looked at pictures of my first two cream legbars when they were chicks and there wasn’t any kind of spotting at all.
Better safe than sorry. This particular tractor supply has given me 3 cockerels out of a batch of 9 “pullets” I bought. (All from the pullet bin). So needless to say, I’m very skeptical of them.

 

[dheltzel]

This is great info! I just went to tractor supply and they had cream Legbar chicks. They’re such great chickens that I was about to buy four more! But I noticed that every single one had a white spot on the head. They did have the darker chipmunk looking stripe but that spot threw me off even though they were all supposed to be pullets. I can’t have any more roosters.
Is it possible to have a female cream Legbar that has a spot on the head?
They all looked like this picture:
View attachment 3618781
Thoughts?

No worries, those are definite females. They look like they are not homozygous for the cream gene, but will still be great layers. You won't find the very best looking Cream Legbars at Tractor Supply, but they do manage to get chicks to places the breeders are not.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks! I read something like that too. But then I looked at pictures of my first two cream legbars when they were chicks and there wasn’t any kind of spotting at all.
Better safe than sorry. This particular tractor supply has given me 3 cockerels out of a batch of 9 “pullets” I bought. (All from the pullet bin). So needless to say, I’m very skeptical of them.

With that experience, I probably would not trust them either!

 

[McChooky]

I couldn't find legbar pullets or any other breeds I wanted from our local TS store so I ordered chicks from Murray McMurray. They were sold out of legbars too but I managed to get the other breeds ( 2 cream legbar cockerels 13 pullets various breeds)All of them lived

 

[McChooky]

I've never seen such slim pickings for chicks at tractor supply.What happened this year?

 

[McHomestead]

So we've been offered some of these ladies. We are new to chickens and our flock is small and mixed. I only have 2 full sized hens, one bantam roo and hen at the moment. Alll around 19wks, same as the Cream Legbars we were offered. Would this breed be a good fit? Any opinions of the breed personality, etc.

 

[Muser]

This is great info! I just went to tractor supply and they had cream Legbar chicks. They’re such great chickens that I was about to buy four more! But I noticed that every single one had a white spot on the head. They did have the darker chipmunk looking stripe but that spot threw me off even though they were all supposed to be pullets. I can’t have any more roosters.
Is it possible to have a female cream Legbar that has a spot on the head?
They all looked like this picture:
View attachment 3618781
Thoughts?

Our one pullet had a white patch on her head. Here she is, about a week old and then gain at 10 weeks.

Hopefully that makes you feel a bit better