Cream Legbar questions for breeding.

[Bufforpington10]

Hi all!

Long time lurker but a first time poster. I have hatched my second batch of Cream legbars and initially thought that maybe my Butf Orpington roo had got in with my CL hens because I had several males that did not look like the CLs I’ve saw. Second hatch, and I have the same issue which is more so just the poor genetics from hatchery’s. My question is, what traits should I look for on baby chicks to continue to breed a better blood line? I have some males that are all yellow, some that have the large white dots and some that look like a pale brown CL pullet. I e attached a picture. I believe I have 2 pullets and 6 cockerels. Which would be a good male to keep from this hatch? Any other guidance or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[DLA]

Hi all!

Long time lurker but a first time poster. I have hatched my second batch of Cream legbars and initially thought that maybe my Butf Orpington roo had got in with my CL hens because I had several males that did not look like the CLs I’ve saw. Second hatch, and I have the same issue which is more so just the poor genetics from hatchery’s. My question is, what traits should I look for on baby chicks to continue to breed a better blood line? I have some males that are all yellow, some that have the large white dots and some that look like a pale brown CL pullet. I e attached a picture. I believe I have 2 pullets and 6 cockerels. Which would be a good male to keep from this hatch? Any other guidance or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

@dheltzel is a cream legbar expert!

 

[Bufforpington10]

@dheltzel is a cream legbar expert!

Great thanks! Maybe they’ll stop in and I can pick their brain.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I e attached a picture.

 

[dheltzel]

The cream gene makes the chick color a little less clear. The lavender gene also messes with chick down color some. With Creams, I keep the male chicks that have no striping at all and a medium to large yellow head spot. Females should have distinct body striping and no head spot, but some have a small head spot. A small head spot is probably a female, but not one I would breed from.

If the chicks lack the cream gene, as in the "Gold Legbar" and most Opals (Isabel Legbar), then the pullet chicks have very clear triangular head markings. The lavender gene makes the colors more muted in the Isabel/Opals, but it is still there and easy to see when you know what to look for.

The easiest chicks to sex are the autosexing breeds without Cream or Lavender, for example: Welbars, Bielefelders. Rhodebars.

I am making Isabel Welbars and they are exactly like Opal Legbars with regard to sexing.

 

[Sdisme]

The cream gene makes the chick color a little less clear. The lavender gene also messes with chick down color some. With Creams, I keep the male chicks that have no striping at all and a medium to large yellow head spot. Females should have distinct body striping and no head spot, but some have a small head spot. A small head spot is probably a female, but not one I would breed from.

If the chicks lack the cream gene, as in the "Gold Legbar" and most Opals (Isabel Legbar), then the pullet chicks have very clear triangular head markings. The lavender gene makes the colors more muted in the Isabel/Opals, but it is still there and easy to see when you know what to look for.

The easiest chicks to sex are the autosexing breeds without Cream or Lavender, for example: Welbars, Bielefelders. Rhodebars.

I am making Isabel Welbars and they are exactly like Opal Legbars with regard to sexing.

What is the welbar mix??

 

[dheltzel]

What is the welbar mix??

Welbars are a breed created about the same time that Legbars, Rhodebars and others were created (in the UK). Welbars have never been successfully imported (Greenfire tried and failed to get then autosexing right). I created my own line of Welbars about 10 years ago. I used a commercial Barred Rock hen and a Welsummer roo. The whole "recipe" is well documented on the internet, and I have linked on my webpage: http://welbars.com/index.php/welbars/
As a result of using a Barred Rock (Silver base) and Welsummer (Gold base), I have both gold and silver Welbars. They are both pretty and lay the same color eggs.

A few years ago I acquired some Opal Legbars (Legbar with the lavender gene, they are more correctly called Isabel Legbars, but Opal is what has stuck). Right away I saw the potential for an Isabel Welbar and started crossing in the Opals to some Gold Welbars. I am now hatching F5's from the original cross and while the egg color is not as dark as the pure Welbars, I am making progress. The blue egg gene is also in some of the birds in this flock and my intention is to diverge them at some point into pure Isabel Welbars (dark brown eggs) and a line of (autosexing) Isabel Crele Olive Eggers.