Are cream legbars suppose to have such color variations?

[Kristen D]

im curious about the coloring on the cream legbar females. Is the color suppose to be so dramatically different on females? I have females that have the brown/golden color pattern, and other ones with dark grey/light grey coloring. Are there such variations within the breed?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes, there is, but it will disqualify them in showing.

Cream Legbars are a gold based bird with also a gold inhibitor to produce cream.

Each bird can inherit a different amount of that inhibitor, which is why you will see varying gold/cream effects.

However, standard is cream...the almost silvery pale gold. Good breeders will take those birds forward and sell those that don't meet standard.

It can be frustrating because until you really perfect your line, you may have to deal with a lot of brassiness. And I think it can crop up in various generations too.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

...Also I should note that the Cream Legbar breed is not as carefully controlled as it should be, with the rush to get them and the desire to have them.

There are a number of "Cream Legbars" that are actually mixed birds. The crest and barring tends to be dominant so a lot of things get called "Cream Legbar" that aren't true CLs.

LofMc

 

[Kristen D]

Yes, there is, but it will disqualify them in showing.

Cream Legbars are a gold based bird with also a gold inhibitor to produce cream.

Each bird can inherit a different amount of that inhibitor, which is why you will see varying gold/cream effects.

However, standard is cream...the almost silvery pale gold. Good breeders will take those birds forward and sell those that don't meet standard.

It can be frustrating because until you really perfect your line, you may have to deal with a lot of brassiness. And I think it can crop up in various generations too.

LofMc

Would you mind showing me an example of what a cream legbar should look like? Great information thanks so much! I see so many variations, and see major variation in the cream legbar chicks I recently purchased. I have 5 females, one male. The females have two completely different looks. Two of the females are white/grey/black (I don't see any gold at all), and three of them have that rust color/white/black. It's really odd because two look identical, and the other three look identical. It just seemed like way too much of a difference.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hmmm...could be different Legbar variations (hopefully not wrong breeds!)

Good breed lines should have nearly identical chicks with only small variations in their line. Sometimes a throwback color becomes a problem (like wheaten in Rhodebars and brassiness in Cream Legbars).

Since I've began my Cream Legbar project (still in "infancy" with grow outs now after a raccoon set back), I've learned that in the UK, there is only the Cream Legbar variety, but in the US, Legbars come in Cream, Golden Crele, and White. In the US, the original cream pair were imported from the UK; however, some of the lines began to see a lot of robust gold/brassy coloring. That has actually been bred for in some US lines and has been named Golden Crele.

The genetic base for all Legbars is actually the gold crele...the cream is a gold inhibitor trait and the white is dominant white trait (covering the barring).

I'll post both the CL standards and a typical Cream Legbar below. (Sadly I lost my 2 CL adults to a raccoon so I've just got grow outs in juvenile molt right now...my roo is looking pretty good, but my CL pullet is a bit brassy...sadly the only 2 that hatched from my last batch of breeder eggs.)

http://creamlegbarclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CreamLegbarBreedGuide.pdf

And here you can see the CL Club's own show photos showing Creme, Golden Crele, and White (click on the photo to see the description of type).

There is much more gold in the Golden Crele, as you would expect.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/?page_id=195

I'm not sure yet if Golden Crele is recognized yet in standards or is still in development.

However, if you want Cream Legbar, you do need to focus on the gold inhibitor genes for the silver-gold (creme) effect rather than the gold-brassy effect of the Golden Crele.

And as stated before, there are some very sloppy breeders and actual fraud happening in the Cream Legbar community.

LofMc

 

[Kristen D]

Hmmm...could be different Legbar variations (hopefully not wrong breeds!)

Good breed lines should have nearly identical chicks with only small variations in their line. Sometimes a throwback color becomes a problem (like wheaten in Rhodebars and brassiness in Cream Legbars).

Since I've began my Cream Legbar project (still in "infancy" with grow outs now after a raccoon set back), I've learned that in the UK, there is only the Cream Legbar variety, but in the US, Legbars come in Cream, Golden Crele, and White. In the US, the original cream pair were imported from the UK; however, some of the lines began to see a lot of robust gold/brassy coloring. That has actually been bred for in some US lines and has been named Golden Crele.

The genetic base for all Legbars is actually the gold crele...the cream is a gold inhibitor trait and the white is dominant white trait (covering the barring).

I'll post both the CL standards and a typical Cream Legbar below. (Sadly I lost my 2 CL adults to a raccoon so I've just got grow outs in juvenile molt right now...my roo is looking pretty good, but my CL pullet is a bit brassy...sadly the only 2 that hatched from my last batch of breeder eggs.)

http://creamlegbarclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CreamLegbarBreedGuide.pdf

And here you can see the CL Club's own show photos showing Creme, Golden Crele, and White (click on the photo to see the description of type).

There is much more gold in the Golden Crele, as you would expect.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/?page_id=195

I'm not sure yet if Golden Crele is recognized yet in standards or is still in development.

However, if you want Cream Legbar, you do need to focus on the gold inhibitor genes for the silver-gold (creme) effect rather than the gold-brassy effect of the Golden Crele.

And as stated before, there are some very sloppy breeders and actual fraud happening in the Cream Legbar community.

LofMc

Wow thanks! That was phenomenally helpful! Thank you so, so much!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You are welcome.
Good luck with your CLs.
LofMc

 

[Kristen D]

You are welcome.
Good luck with your CLs.
LofMc

Thanks! I actually just got them from a Hatchery. I wanted to see if I liked the breed. I think they look beautiful, so now see if I like them personality, and foraging wise. I paid quite a lot $32 for pullets, $29 for cockerels. I didn't realize I could have gotten them from a Breeder for the same price (hatcheries are usually much cheaper). I also got blue ameracaunas. I got 4 of them (almost the same price as the legbars). I received 2 blues, 1 black, and one splash. The splash has a really messed up beak. They were all in terrible condition, or DOA. I'm done with hatcheries at this point. I've had great experience with one Hatchery that was great. The other one not so much. I'm going to deal with breeders from now on.

 

[Stormravyn]

Yes, there is, but it will disqualify them in showing.

Cream Legbars are a gold based bird with also a gold inhibitor to produce cream.

Each bird can inherit a different amount of that inhibitor, which is why you will see varying gold/cream effects.

However, standard is cream...the almost silvery pale gold. Good breeders will take those birds forward and sell those that don't meet standard.

It can be frustrating because until you really perfect your line, you may have to deal with a lot of brassiness. And I think it can crop up in various generations too.

LofMc

I have the exact same thing going on with two of my young pullets. One looks almost exactly identical to my welsummer pullets though her back is darker than the welsummers. Otherwise the pattern and color of her neck is identical. The other cream leg bar pullet is a very pretty black and gray or black and white speckled almost barred type pattern. I came here looking for the same answers lol.