cream legbars pros vs. cons

what are the best colored egg laying chickens?

  • Cream legbars

  • Aracana

  • Americana

  • Olive egger

  • Easter egger

  • Cuckoo marans

  • Black copper marans

  • other (reply in comments)

  • a bread I forgot to list (reply in comments)


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cooingdove

Crowing
Jul 30, 2020
751
2,919
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finger lakes NY
hello,
I'm thinking about getting cream legbars.
I have 11 chickens right now and am looking to replace 4 of them with cream legbars. have had chickens in my life since I was born.
I'm interested in that y'all on here say about them.
do you think there are better blue egg breeds? are they extra tricky too manage? any pros or cons that I should consider?
 
I love my cream legbars though it has taken me 2 years to find a decent roo for my hens. If you don't need a roo that is one less thing to worry about. Mine lay blue eggs. I didn't even know some laid green eggs until I read about that. So if you want blue eggs, you have to start with blue eggs.

I just started with Araucana. Can't tell you much about them except they are very friendly and the roos aren't as mean as the cream legbar roos. If I started all over again with one of these breeds, it would be the Araucana. They are also capable of laying green eggs or even brown eggs so you have to start with the right egg color.
 
Thanks for posting this! I have been thinking about getting a roo and some blue egg laying hens next year and have been trying to decide between cream legbar and ameraucana.
Currently my colored egg layers are 3 olive eggers, only 1 has started laying. She lays large dark olive eggs. I also have 2 easter eggers. The one who is laying lays small brown eggs 😕 Good thing she is my favorite chicken😉
 
I've had a few creme leg bars. All three came from same hatch, same source. Two of them developed strange tumors and we had to cull them. The third also had some strange growths, but seemed healthy otherwise....my point here is that they seemed susceptible to something, or else had some genetic predisposition to something unhealthy, however, the rest of the 30+ flock of various ages and various breeds from various sources never had these issues. The eggs from these were a very pretty shade of blue.

We had one Frost White Legbar from Meyer. These are creme leg bars that are a "sport white", but they are creating their own line of "Frost White Legbars". She laid the prettiest and most obvious shade of blue we have had. She ended up getting some kind of abscess on the side of her leg (around her "ankle") although no obvious source of infection or injury. We doctored her repeatedly, but then the infection became very bad and we had to cull her so she would not suffer.

We have had many EE over the past 3 years from a local hatchery. Some lay green eggs, some laid medium olive color, one laid a grey egg, and some have laid vey nice blue eggs. So, for color variety, the EE win the award!

However, the best, brightest blue eggs we had were from the "Frost White Legbar" from Meyer.



FWIW, the Araucana breed mentioned above by @Awakening Forest, when true/pure will lay blue eggs - no other color. They are rumpless and have distinct tufts protruding from the neck. True Araucana are rare. It is my understanding that there is a problem inherent in the breed causing reduced hatchability/viability. To get around this issue, Ameraucana breed was developed, for the blue eggs, but a more robust bird. Then there are EE and all the other colored variations with fancy names at the various hatcheries, which are crossbreeds to get colored eggs. So, you could also try Ameraucana (purchase from a known breeder with good reputation) as well for blue eggs.
 
Oh, in your poll, @cooingdove , an Easter Egger and "Americana" are one and the same.

I think you meant "Ameraucana" which is an actual breed in the APA book of Standards and will only lay blue eggs when pure.
 
FWIW, the Araucana breed mentioned above by @Awakening Forest, when true/pure will lay blue eggs - no other color. They are rumpless and have distinct tufts protruding from the neck. True Araucana are rare.

Araucana lay different color eggs though the blue egg is the most desirable goal.
From araucana.com: "All Araucana do not lay perfectly blue eggs, they will range in shade form olive green to almost white.The GOAL is to have all nice clear "teal' blue eggs in your flock. But it should not be the only thing you are breeding for. If egg color is your only concern you are better off breeding Easter Eggers or Ameraucana - egg color is just a part of the overall Araucana package."
 
Araucana lay different color eggs though the blue egg is the most desirable goal.
From araucana.com: "All Araucana do not lay perfectly blue eggs, they will range in shade form olive green to almost white.The GOAL is to have all nice clear "teal' blue eggs in your flock. But it should not be the only thing you are breeding for. If egg color is your only concern you are better off breeding Easter Eggers or Ameraucana - egg color is just a part of the overall Araucana package."


I was referencing my APA book of standards. It is my understanding that true Araucana were imported and desired bc they lay a blue or turquoise egg. Maybe the variation color above represents mixed stock or the attempt to circumvent the self-limiting traits inherent in Araucana.
 
I was referencing my APA book of standards. It is my understanding that true Araucana were imported and desired bc they lay a blue or turquoise egg. Maybe the variation color above represents mixed stock or the attempt to circumvent the self-limiting traits inherent in Araucana.
From what I understand, it's in the origin of the Araucana.
"The accumulation of biliverdin in the eggshell is an autosomal dominant trait called oocyan, leading to blue/green shelled eggs. This trait has been known in Mapuche fowl and Dongxiang. The Mapuche fowl includes the rumpless blue/green egg laying ‘kollonca’ and the tailed ear-tufted ‘ketro” which lays mostly brown eggs. Crossing of these breeds, as stated above, gave origin to the tufted rumpless Araucana." http://www.araucana.net/history/
 

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