Hey guys- thank you!
Is a short back a fault or good? I will post photos of my hen Lovely (his daughter) and my new short rooster Jeffo (who has a crest, is not related to either and is my only current rooster).
Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection
- Thread starter redchicken9
- Start date
Is a short back a fault or good? I will post photos of my hen Lovely (his daughter) and my new short rooster Jeffo (who has a crest, is not related to either and is my only current rooster).
Short back is a fault. We want a long back and broad shoulders. You should be able to have a wedge shape when viewed from above, wider at the shoulder and tapering at the tail.
I was just rambling on about Legbars in a private exchange and realized perhaps I should introduce myself on this thread.
This is my first year with Legbars. I have an interest in the lavender dilution and got involved with Isabella Leghorns early last year, and through that learned of the "Opal" legbar. I'm very passionate about breeding and genetics, and the possibilities and problems associated with lavender genetics interest me. Since Legbars have a lot of other fascinating genetic traits, they were basically irresistible, though believe me I did try because I find them a bit... trendy, lol.
My selection criteria for all of my birds in these early stages is correct type and size without getting too "in the weeds" on cosmetic things. IE; I'm keeping an eye on things like color and pattern and combs and shanks and earlobes and won't breed in terrible flaws, but I'm not actively selecting for any of those things over type. In the Legbars, my line has problems with dropped wings in the males, and high tails which can be linked to shorter body length as y'all know, so that's my top priority—longer birds, with good depth and width, with well-filled breast because I'll be eating a lot of cockerels. Big believer in the "build the house before you paint it" approach which is kind of funny since I'm working largely with a "fad" color variation.
I struggled a lot to get my hands on good breeder birds this past year. I had actually ordered a big batch of Legbars from Cackle for a client that wanted a laying flock, and they backed out. I decided to grow them out and cull down to a few of the best pullets, and I located an opal cockerel from someone that got eggs from Candace Waldron. He's fine, but has similar faults to my Cackle birds. I hatched some birds from another local "breeder" that got her line from a "breeder" too, and feel the results were worse than my Cackle line. At this point, I'm not pushing too hard to find different stock. I think I can work with this. I'll be line breeding back these split chicks I'm hatching to the opal boy I have now to get my lavender foundation and will create some families from that, possibly adding another cockerel from Candance's stock if I need to.
My major goal after type and production quality is to break the link between lavender and fray so we won't have to breed back to cream/gold to keep these brats from looking like walking feather dusters.
Anyway, Happy New Year to you all! May all your Legbar dreams come true in 2021. <3
This is my first year with Legbars. I have an interest in the lavender dilution and got involved with Isabella Leghorns early last year, and through that learned of the "Opal" legbar. I'm very passionate about breeding and genetics, and the possibilities and problems associated with lavender genetics interest me. Since Legbars have a lot of other fascinating genetic traits, they were basically irresistible, though believe me I did try because I find them a bit... trendy, lol.
My selection criteria for all of my birds in these early stages is correct type and size without getting too "in the weeds" on cosmetic things. IE; I'm keeping an eye on things like color and pattern and combs and shanks and earlobes and won't breed in terrible flaws, but I'm not actively selecting for any of those things over type. In the Legbars, my line has problems with dropped wings in the males, and high tails which can be linked to shorter body length as y'all know, so that's my top priority—longer birds, with good depth and width, with well-filled breast because I'll be eating a lot of cockerels. Big believer in the "build the house before you paint it" approach which is kind of funny since I'm working largely with a "fad" color variation.
I struggled a lot to get my hands on good breeder birds this past year. I had actually ordered a big batch of Legbars from Cackle for a client that wanted a laying flock, and they backed out. I decided to grow them out and cull down to a few of the best pullets, and I located an opal cockerel from someone that got eggs from Candace Waldron. He's fine, but has similar faults to my Cackle birds. I hatched some birds from another local "breeder" that got her line from a "breeder" too, and feel the results were worse than my Cackle line. At this point, I'm not pushing too hard to find different stock. I think I can work with this. I'll be line breeding back these split chicks I'm hatching to the opal boy I have now to get my lavender foundation and will create some families from that, possibly adding another cockerel from Candance's stock if I need to.
My major goal after type and production quality is to break the link between lavender and fray so we won't have to breed back to cream/gold to keep these brats from looking like walking feather dusters.
Anyway, Happy New Year to you all! May all your Legbar dreams come true in 2021. <3
Araucana Nest
FreeBird
I'm raising this one's son to take over his father's work. This guy is a bit mean to me. Good with the hens though, best CL roo I've had in that regard. The issue I'm having is his chicks are clearly sex identifiable at hatching only about 70% of the time. Opinions on him?
Cull anything that isn't obviously sexable at hatch, always. Doing this for a couple of generations will greatly improve the issue. (If you sell, sell them as production blue egg layers, unsexed.)
He is very gold crele, decent crest/comb, good earlobes, but autosexing is definitely a sticking point for this breed. Can you post pics of chicks from him for me?
I'd like a longer back. If you could get down for a better profile picture, his legs seem short from this angle. Like color and his hackle/saddle match up pretty well.
Araucana Nest
FreeBird
Edited: CL Pullet at top and cockerel bottom. Others here are not CL
pullet left. Cockerel right
These look very sexable. I actually really like the shape of his comb a lot. I mean, I really wish my combs looked that nice. Can you give an example of a hard to sex chick? I am curious.
Araucana Nest
FreeBird
I thought the cockerel in the first photo was hard to sex. It looked like a pullet to me. Not the chick that is beneath the pullet (that is a Silverudd's Blue) but the chick that is at the very bottom of the photo. The following hatch, the second photo, I could tell easily the cockerels. They were all super light.
In my experience autosexing is a trait that has to be bred for carefully and gets muddled quickly if you outcross to another line. I just had my first test hatch from crossing two separate lines and I'm culling a third of the chicks for less than ideal markings. I have found that in all of my barred breeds that I can refine autosexing pretty quickly if I cull hard and stick within my own line without outcrossing to other blood.
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