Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

[Sherol]

Some of my birds..
the first a hen. I like her a lot. My females had longer back lengths than the males and was hoping for improvement in the offspring.

Top male is main breeding male right now. The young cockerel is his offspring. I like this bird a lot. I got better length of back and a better tail set. Also have higher and tighter wings.

I am also getting some nice female offspring as well. I like the back length and slope on this female.

 

[flowerfaeiry]

I would love to follow! Not sure I can check in every day but I will be sure to read through and catch up.

 

[Sherol]

This is another male I really like body wise. He has no crest.. but everything else I like. i think the back is of good length and has a good slope to it. He is a stout bird as well.. lot of depth to his body. With no crest I have a nice comb. If he continues to look good in a few months I am seriously considering putting him in with a couple of well crested females to see what we get offspring wise.

IMG_9420

• Sherol
• Jun 23, 2018

 

[rottlady]

I personally prefer melanized hens and no chestnut roosters
Not exactly sop
But I don’t show the chickens so view them differently than the dogs

 

[Bantambird]

I personally prefer melanized hens and no chestnut roosters
Not exactly sop
But I don’t show the chickens so view them differently than the dogs

Love that bottom hen

 

[GaryDean26]

Welcome Bantambird, rer49, flowerfaeiry, and rottlady. Thanks everyone for posting your birds. I hope everyone has looked through them (especially your own) and picked out the ones that have the best backs and noted the ones that you wish were better.

I see a lot of downward sloping backs which is good and I am seeing a lot of birds with long backs. I got some brown leghorn for a project several years ago and comparing the length of backs between the Leghorns and the Legbars was really eye opening. The legbars had backs between 5 to 6 fingers fingers long and the leghorns had backs that were as much as 7-1/2 fingers long. The longer the back the more room for the internal organs. This increased room frees up constrictions in the egg factory allowing eggs to move through faster and increase the rate of laying of the hen. So...longer backs are always better in laying breeds. The longer back also means more meat on the cockerels. Legbars are a laying breed but cockerels don't lay eggs so increasing their length improves the breed too.

I will highlight a few birds backs. Don't feel bad if you don't high light all of your birds. We will look at them for other points of the SOP and they may get highlighted later on.

My first 3 years of working with the Legbar I was breeding to the APA leghorn back because I didn't have a good understanding of the SOP or what the terms in the SOP meant. This hen was my ideal. After have a judge in the UK point out the differences to me between the APA Leghorn type I had been breeding for and the English Leghorn Type that the Legbar Standard was based on this hen was culled (given to a friend for a laying flock). She has the curved saddle shaped back of the APA Leghorn which is not what I wanted to use to build a Legbar flock with. So pretty hen but not a breeder in my flock.

This gold legbar is the one that I feel had the best back of the ones I posted. It has no curves, the slight downward slope, and has good length.

Of the "Cream" Legbars I posted. This is the one that I feel has the best back. It is not perfectly straight. It has some curves but the length is better than others. The curves can be straightened out through pairing but the length is harder to increase than curves are to straighten out.

This cockerel has the appropriate downward slope with out curves. More length to his back would improve him.

This one also has the downward slope. Her back is rather short to where the neck and the tail almost sweep together. more length on her back would also be an improvement.

Sherol, I like this hen a lot better than your yellow, black, green banded pullet. She does have the slight curve to her back though. The yellow/black/green banded pullet has great length to her back and a straighter line but doesn't seem as developed and full and this hen. What are the ages at the time of the photo for your two ladies?

Rottlady,

There are no curve on the backs of any of your birds and they all have the correct downward slope. They look very compact. The breast of this cockerel is about twice as width as his back is long. Compare the width of breast and length of back with Sherol's birds. The strength in her birds is the length of back. The strength in yours is the defined downward slope. Very different look with just one change in strengths of just one point in the SOP.

 

[Sherol]

GaryDean26, the difference is the first is more mature and laying. may actually be a hen at this time. The other is still very young not quite to the point of lay. She has a bit of maturing to do yet, and I am hoping when mature is a better bird then the first girl.

 

[GaryDean26]

The next section is the tail.

Shape—Male
Tail: Moderately full, carried at an angle of forty-five degrees above horizontal.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/
Main tail—feathers broad and overlapping.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/
Sickles—long and well curved.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/
Lesser Sickles and Coverts—long, of good width, nicely curved and abundant.
Shape—Female
Tail: Moderately long, carried at an angle of thirty-five degrees above horizontal.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/
Main tail—feathers broad and overlapping.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/
Coverts—broad and abundant, extending well onto main tail.

Below are a few tails.

Note that the tail angle is from the horizon and not from the line of the back. Also note that the cockerels tail is specified at and angle 10 degrees steeper than the hen. Males have sickle feather and females don't.

Which tail or tails do or don't meet this description as defined by APA?


1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

 

[Sherol]

1] male maybe, female too high
2] yes to both male and female
3] male to low and female seems closer to 45 than 35
4] way too high
5] both too low
6] little confused as 2 angles in that tail. seems low as it comes off the back

 

[GaryDean26]

You nailed this on the angles. I was also trying to get a mix of lengths, curvedness, abundanceness, and broadness.