Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

[Bantambird]

I realize that the old guy had a bit of frostbite on the comb, but he's still rather handsome once he goes through a full molt.

 

[Bantambird]

This is a Cockerel, about 6 months old, so his tail filled in more, but I liked his tail here too

 

[GaryDean26]

The diagram below should be useful to identify the different parts of the cockerel tail.

Tail: Moderately full, carried at an angle of forty-five degrees above horizontal.
#1 - This is an APA Leghorn. It tail shown is full. There are lots of lesser sickle feathers and tail coverts giving good depth to the tail.
#2 - This is the English Leghorn. It also shows a fairly full tail, but with shorter sickle feathers. I was advised that for the Legbar we don't need the tail to be like the APA leghorn. Something slightly less flashy that isn't dominating feature of the bird is ideal.
#3 - This does NOT meet the moderately full description
#4 - This looks moderately full to me.
#5 - This looks moderately full to me.
#6 - This does NOT meet the moderately full description

Sickles—long and well curved.
#1 - This is long and well curved but again possibly longer than what is required for a Legbar.
#2 - This is long and well curved.
#3 - This is long, but is NOT well curved. It doesn't meet the standard
#4 - This is long and well curved.
#5 - This is NOT a long tail and does not meet the standard
#6 - Although this is long, it is not well curved making it less full than the other examples

Lesser Sickles and Coverts—long, of good width, nicely curved and abundant.

I will just comment on the width. Thin feather can indicate slow growth rates. Wide feathers indicate good growth and are something that judges notice.

I will skip tail angles since Sherol gave good feed back on that. I will get to the female tail in the next post.

Bantambird, Your cockerels have great angles on their tails. One weakness of the Legbar is the tenancy for that tail to turn in to what is called a squirrel tail. That is where the tail angle come past vertical as shown in the figure below. It is a major defect. In laying breads the placement of the tail bones has a big impact on the laying ability of the hens. Those with miss placed tails are stress more by laying eggs. many hens with these high tails will be very productive layer, but only for a very short time. They may be done laying by the time they are 3 years old where a hen that is build correctly may lay for twice as many years.

Your yellow banded crele cockerel has a good transition from the back to the tail. There not be a sharp angles where the tail meets the back. There also should not be any separation of feathers where the tail meets the back. When you see the white fluff showing at the junction of the tail and the back that is a sign that the tail is transitioning correctly. Your yellow line cockerel is showing the white fluff. I would work away from that in his offspring.

Sherol,

You main breeder has the correct angles but lacks the smooth transition from the back. I am glad to see that you are already addressing that and that the cockerel you posted has an improved transition.

Rottlady,

I love the width of the main tail feathers on your cockerel. The fullness of his tail is also good. Angles look okay. Transition with the back is not bad on him. I see the sickle feather are shorter than the main feathers. The tails are very age dependent on cockerels. As they grow out and mature the tails change a lot.

 

[Bantambird]

I realized I hadn't posted a current picture of my breeder cocks currently in rotation. The foreground cock is Fabio, while the guy in the rear is big ears. My hope is to balance out their flaws with their strengths, Fabio with his fabulous feathers, broad shoulders, and (formerly, before frostbite) straight comb, yet he has folds in his wattles, his earlobes aren't white enough, his back could be a little longer, and Big Ears has the ear lobes in abundance, a reasonable comb, almost straight (but not quite) comb, good slope, decent length, neither have white tail feathers, acceptable amounts of chestnut for wing bows and crest ( as stated, these are more golden crele than cream anyhow, I might as well embrace it) big ears has better wattles, but still has one fold in the middle. Both have the triangular body shape

My daughter is learning to sew saddles for our hens as a 4H project. Some of those ladies look a little naked T.T

 

[Sherol]

want to look this over an comment.. but have a test on Thursday. will be back after I am done ...

 

[rottlady]

9 week old boy going through the wicked fuglies

All I can say right now is he has a 1” crest and great wing carriage lmao

 

[BenTN]

I will be following this mentor thread. I purchased some legbar chicks from a lady this spring. We have since had a family of coons attack our flock and kill all but three of my 12 legbars. Now we are left with only 3 12 week old cockerels and 12 more eggs in the bator. I will sponging up the info on here. Thanks Gary

 

[BenTN]

These are two of my suspected culls as their combs are very crooked. How easy is that to fix thru breeding? The one on the left is the widest and longest in the back, and probably the largest so far.

 

[WVduckchick]

My boy is starting to show a little color.

And the girls are all showing some uniqueness, which I like!
Can someone explain the gold vs silver around the hackle area?

 

[ReLova]

I'll be following!