Cream Legbar Working Group: Standard of Perfection

Pics
Hi all,
To update, we had five, plus my own review of the language for the male shape (post 425). Those that reviewed the male are GaryDean26, Blackbirds13, ChicKat, Lonnyandrina, Babymakes6, and myself, Redchicken9. Several items that came to light are that the tails are high and potentially not full, an exact number is required for the comb, and we struggle to have an image for some of the language, although it seems acceptable. An example of this is a head that is well-balanced and of fine quality. It seems some of this is subjective to how many birds you see (what is the best balance) and versus another breed that may have a broader head like brahmas. Contributions on the male shape will be addressed and re-posted for a second look.

In the meantime, the female shape is posted (post496). Thank-you for the first review ChicKat! Please, if you're able to review the language and image for the female cream legbar, please do. Also think about suggesting a description for the crest.

Next will be the conversion of the language for the color of the male, then female, which is where a lot of the conversation is at. The spectrum of views is already present. I think we need to understand there is a spectrum of views, ideas, concepts, but also an existing precedent. I don't know how to do it differently than starting with the BPS and looking at our birds. Clearly our birds are what are here in the USA. However, our birds are meant to be cream legbars. If these are opposing viewpoints to you, then they are. However, to me these ideas may not exclude each other and could be the same. Many of us will take our own forks. I have never shown a bird, I may never show a bird (of course this can change), but I can appreciate that standards are a way to define what makes this bird unique, beautiful, and an ideal. It helps me to make decisions on what to keep and what to cull. None of us created the cream legbar and there exists a deep and worthy history. In some ways the history is stronger than individual preference in terms of a standard. That doesn't mean that anyone's preference might not be the collective preference. It just means that there's a framework to be worked in and a balance to find that may suit many of us. It's important to express to contribute to the whole answer, but not worry about being the whole answer. So I applaud everyone here, this is exciting, and challenging, and fun, and worth doing!

When this working group was announced I put a thirty day comment period out there, which I believe ends this Friday. The process has been both fast and slow, some of the lag my own. Can I have someone second and third the idea that we extend this comment period by another thirty days? Next 30-Day Goal: Conclude draft language on male (end of this week?) and female shape (shortly thereafter). On both we should have a solid working draft. Introduce cream legbar language for male and female color. Debate the heck out of it, then ideally conclude with greater understanding and consensus. Please let me know your thoughts.
 
Last edited:
I got a bad pic of my legbar hen in their new pen tonight. Not the best quality (cell phone) but you can see her type. She has a lower tail than some I've seen, a longer back, and overall is just HUGE


fmp - The type and look of your hen is very appealing.

What are the things that you didn't like about the legbar and the legbar tail? She doesn't look like the typical leghorn body-type to my eyes. Especially in this picture. Have you ever weighed her?

I'm thinking that the heat of the summer cut my bird's eating...and when the cream legbar hen went broody--she was so seriously setting on the eggs, that she didn't much empty the feed cup. Once the chicks had been hatched...she sort of 'ignored' the feed so she could teach them the ultimate foraging skills. Even with all that, I thought that they were more hefty than the original Punnett photos.

Is it possible that back in the 1940's animals (as well as people) were thinner.

Anyway---very, very pretty hen and nice pict. too.
 
Thanks. I haven't weighed her yet, she is very solid and her looks can be deceiving. Picking her up is like picking up a cornish, very hefty. The thing I don't like too much is the short tail and the lack of flow/sweep from the back to the tail. If her tail was maybe 1/3 longer, more fanned out (but not much more) and if the juncture where the tail meets the body was more smooth, it would look great to me. The more I stare at them though, the more that I am content with the way they turned out.

I am still planning on piecing together a pic of my personal ideal legbar hen.
 
I got a bad pic of my legbar hen in their new pen tonight. Not the best quality (cell phone) but you can see her type. She has a lower tail than some I've seen, a longer back, and overall is just HUGE


I like this hen. I like the fact that she feels substantial in the hand. She has a fairly prominent breast, longer back, and while its hard to see, appears to have full enough tail coverts to create a nicer sweep of the backline to the tail. So many of the Legbar tails, both male and female, show the stiff main tail feathers without any garnish. Some broad and nicely shaped coverts, curving downward after flowing back over the main tail, softens the look. It also looks like this hen has some cream color in the hackle. What's up with that? Just kidding.
 
It's been amazing to see the level of attention and energy focused on this subject.

While many of the suggested changes reflect a great deal of thought, I'd respectfully suggest that deviating from the UK legbar standard by creating a different American standard potentially creates more problems than it solves.

Orpingtons provide a good example. UK-type Orpingtons have a much greater market value than their American Orpington counterparts because the UK Orps are seen as the most authentic example of the breed.

If we begin to intentionally breed legbars that are different from the UK standard then we will end up with two distinct populations: 'authentic' UK legbars and what some may perceive as less authentic American legbars. In the abstract this may not be a problem but the practical reality is the UK legbars may have more perceived value. It's important to maximize the value of legbars if we're serious about promoting the breed. The more valuable they are the more likely people are to take care of them and be better stewards of the breed.

My suggested course of action would be to simply adopt the UK standard for use in America, work with it a few years, and then decide whether the standard is somehow deficient and needs to be amended.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom