Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

[ChicKat]

Interesting--

July I hatched my crossed White Leghorn(utility) to my Legbar roo and at first glance all hatched like typical little Leghorns with a few black random specks--but very random. But then at a few days old(I did not specifically look earlier) I noticed that a certain # of the hatched chicks--4 out of 6 had a darker yellow patch on their heads while the balance did not. So--the auto sexing passed and was visible. My goal was just egg production with a larger blue egg. So I decided to forgo the utility white hatchery Leghorn. I am getting some heritage Leghorns(all colors but buff) and going to go at it again, but that will not produce any data until next Spring. Replicating and testing is a valid scientific method, so why not? It's all just very interesting to me.

Has anyone else crossed Leghorns recently? I did it without knowledge of the developmental research so that's kinda cool Mr. Punnet. I was just thinking about a larger blue egg.

Sadly--I was very short sighted. I have none of the ones I hatched. Didn't really think of the value to retain at least 1 each. Uggh.

In the UK a Cream Legbar X white leghorn -- or vice versa...is sold as a hybrid that lays blue eggs...they call it a 'Sapphire'.

 

[enola]

Interesting--

July I hatched my crossed White Leghorn(utility) to my Legbar roo and at first glance all hatched like typical little Leghorns with a few black random specks--but very random.  But then at a few days old(I did not specifically look earlier) I noticed that a certain # of the hatched chicks--4 out of 6 had a darker yellow patch on their heads while the balance did not.  So--the auto sexing passed and was visible.  My goal was just egg production with a larger blue egg. So I decided to forgo the utility white hatchery Leghorn.  I am getting some heritage Leghorns(all colors but buff) and going to go at it again, but that will not produce any data until next Spring.  Replicating and testing is a valid scientific method, so why not?  It's all just very interesting to me.  

Has anyone else crossed Leghorns recently?  I did it without knowledge of the developmental research so that's kinda cool Mr. Punnet.  I was just thinking about a larger blue egg.    

Sadly--I was very short sighted.  I have none of the ones I hatched.  Didn't really think of the value to retain at least 1 each.  Uggh.

I hatched a pair of Cream Legbar/Brown Leghorn chicks earlier this hatch season that I posted about. I wondered about their markings, since they 'seemed' to be sexlinked on some level. But in order for them to be sexlinked the mother had to be the barred parent, we all know that to be fact.

However, I lost that pair to dog attacks........

But! I have hatched another pair of chicks from the same cross. The one I am assuming is male has a spot on his head, blurred chipmunk stripes, yellow legs - also eye liner. The assumed female has the same eyeliner, definitely defined chipmunk stripes and 'pinkish' legs.

I have these chicks in the house, where there is NO danger to them. When they go out side to the big brooder, the brooder will be in my livestock trailer, so there will be no danger of a dog attack!

I cannot post pictures from this phone, so maybe with help from ChiKat they can be posted. (ChiKat perhaps I can text pictures to you and you can post them. Pm me Iif interested)

 

[KPenley]

I hatched a pair of Cream Legbar/Brown Leghorn chicks earlier this hatch season that I posted about. I wondered about their markings, since they 'seemed' to be sexlinked on some level. But in order for them to be sexlinked the mother had to be the barred parent, we all know that to be fact.

However, I lost that pair to dog attacks........

But! I have hatched another pair of chicks from the same cross. The one I am assuming is male has a spot on his head, blurred chipmunk stripes, yellow legs - also eye liner. The assumed female has the same eyeliner, definitely defined chipmunk stripes and 'pinkish' legs.

I have these chicks in the house, where there is NO danger to them. When they go out side to the big brooder, the brooder will be in my livestock trailer, so there will be no danger of a dog attack!

I cannot post pictures from this phone, so maybe with help from ChiKat they can be posted. (ChiKat perhaps I can text pictures to you and you can post them. Pm me Iif interested)

Because of the nature of autosexing, the chicks should be identifiable (from Legbar roo over Leghorn hens). If the pullet offspring are crossed back to their Legbar father the offspring will be Autosexing! (Cockerels will not pass on Autosexing feature though) Pease recommended this pairing for introducing new blood to Legbars.

 

[sweetdreaming]

I don't know if this will contribute anything of use at all, but here's a pic of 2 Roos: the right one (yellow saddles) is the father of the left roo. The hatch the Left roo came from was from one of 5 fairly homogenous girls. From that hatch, I got Roos of varying down color: charcoal, light and darker neutral "taupe", and beige (more yellowish than the taupe). The Left roo in the pic was the CHARCOAL chick. All of the others had greater amounts of both russet and gold, w/ the "taupe" Roos having LESS gold than the beige, but still more russet than the charcoal chick. Hope this adds to the discussion and doesn't just create more confusion!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Interesting--

July I hatched my crossed White Leghorn(utility) to my Legbar roo and at first glance all hatched like typical little Leghorns with a few black random specks--but very random. But then at a few days old(I did not specifically look earlier) I noticed that a certain # of the hatched chicks--4 out of 6 had a darker yellow patch on their heads while the balance did not. So--the auto sexing passed and was visible. My goal was just egg production with a larger blue egg. So I decided to forgo the utility white hatchery Leghorn. I am getting some heritage Leghorns(all colors but buff) and going to go at it again, but that will not produce any data until next Spring. Replicating and testing is a valid scientific method, so why not? It's all just very interesting to me.

Has anyone else crossed Leghorns recently? I did it without knowledge of the developmental research so that's kinda cool Mr. Punnet. I was just thinking about a larger blue egg.

Sadly--I was very short sighted. I have none of the ones I hatched. Didn't really think of the value to retain at least 1 each. Uggh.

Because of the nature of autosexing, the chicks should be identifiable (from Legbar roo over Leghorn hens). If the pullet offspring are crossed back to their Legbar father the offspring will be Autosexing! (Cockerels will not pass on Autosexing feature though)

Pease recommended this pairing for introducing new blood to Legbars.

Just to clarify this will still autosex if they are BROWN Leghorns not WHITE leghorns.

@Chickencame1st yes I have several of these running round, just sold one actually she was laying me nice blue eggs. They are not in any way sexable for two reasons- the barring is passed to both male and female chicks from the Legbar dad (thus there is no barring sex linkage), and also because you cannot create sexable hybrids/cross breeds from a white bird (this is true 99% of the time). There is a very very good Sexlink thread here on BYC that explains the details and the exceptions for using white birds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

Here's the fully grown Sapphire I just sold (she looks tiny next to the ginormous Croad Langshan!):

 

[Chickencame1st]

Just to clarify this will still autosex if they are BROWN Leghorns not WHITE leghorns.

@Chickencame1st yes I have several of these running round, just sold one actually she was laying me nice blue eggs. They are not in any way sexable for two reasons- the barring is passed to both male and female chicks from the Legbar dad (thus there is no barring sex linkage), and also because you cannot create sexable hybrids/cross breeds from a white bird (this is true 99% of the time). There is a very very good Sexlink thread here on BYC that explains the details and the exceptions for using white birds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

Here's the fully grown Sapphire I just sold (she looks tiny next to the ginormous Croad Langshan!):

Wow. She is beautiful. But I will tell you--I had a consistent pattern of a darker yellow spot on the head of 4 of my hatched chicks. It was yellow on yellow but visible and I saw it along with a couple of experienced poultry breeders. Now I am really curious--but definitely going for the Sapphires. THANKS

 

[Rancher3535]

I just put a few short and I mean short video clips on my face book page of some males from this years hatch. Being new at this breed comments off of face book are always welcomed and appreciated. Friday is butcher day and so some of these boys will be going.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockin-R-Ranch/539810502704477

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I just put a few short and I mean short video clips on my face book page of some males from this years hatch. Being new at this breed comments off of face book are always welcomed and appreciated. Friday is butcher day and so some of these boys will be going.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockin-R-Ranch/539810502704477

Made some notes there for you. Good job so far!

 

[dretd]

I just put a few short and I mean short video clips on my face book page of some males from this years hatch. Being new at this breed comments off of face book are always welcomed and appreciated. Friday is butcher day and so some of these boys will be going.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockin-R-Ranch/539810502704477

Rancher3535--good group of cockerels to choose from. I'm not going to comment on individuals, but give you some general food for thought.

I am not sure if there are specific traits you are trying to work on this year (such as straighter comb, or reduced chestnut, or removing Ig or lower tail angle or larger size etc), or if your goal is for overall improvement of your flock. That would be really helpful info to have to make decisions about who to keep. I also do not know what your hens look like and if they have problems or concerns.

So my advice would be to look carefully at your hens and see what you need to balance in a rooster to get better looking chicks. If all of your hens have really high tails, then it might be best to go with the rooster with the lowest tail angle even if he is gold tinted or has too much chestnut. If you have hens that are really petite, it might be best to keep you biggest cockerel even if his comb is wonky. That sort of assessment. See what areas need work and choose to improve those areas as long as you don't think it will set you back in others.

Of yours, there are 2 boys I would likely keep if they were mine because their tails seem to have a lower angle and that is one trait I need to improve on in my flock, and there is a really obviously Cream with no chestnut boy that if I was going on color (or lack of gold/red) I would keep, but I would for sure cull him in my flock becasue he is verging on squirrel tail which for me, would fix that trait even more and I do not want that. Maybe for you, it is important to remove chestnut, or capture ig/ig, in which case he may be a better choice with your breeding program.

So look at the hens with a critical eye, see the areas that need work and then select the rooster which on whole will move you towards that goal.

 

[chicken pickin]

@Rancher3535

I agree with dretd's post. There are a lot of factors that come into play when deciding on a male to use. Of course you need to choose what will work for you in your program and which male will pair best with your hens.

But looking over the short video clips 2 males stood out to me, #34 though his color is more gold he has great type, that is what I like to see a CL cockerel look like. And #31 has ok type(not as good as 34) but his color is nice.