Cream Legbars

[sbhkma]

Thinking about trying some cream legbars and wondered if anyone has any knowledge of how they do in heat? I'm in central Texas and summers can be brutal. This year we've had record breaking heat for week on end and night time temps "down" into the 80s. Lost my 2 cuckoo marans, even though I have fans blowing across ice blocks and cool fresh water changed out every few hours. Coop/run are under big oak trees and also have shadecloth across the top and halfway down the west side. Looking for a more heat-tolerant bird, although my marans were 5 yrs old so perhaps they just couldn't handle it between the exceptional heat and them being not "spring chickens" anymore.

 

[Gray Farms]

I've raised Cream Legbars for about 5-6 years here in NW MO. Temps in the summer can get up and over 100 but typically stay around 85-95 on our hot days and in the 75-80 at night. I've never lost one to heat and I still have a couple of my original hens. They seem to take the heat very well. They are active and still lay even on the hottest days. Mine are kept in a metal pole building and I turn the fans on when its really hot.

 

[sbhkma]

Thanks, Gray Farms. From what I've read about them, personality-wise they sound a lot like my Welsummers. Although my Wellies are nutz! Active birds for sure.

 

[Gray Farms]

Ya they are a little nutty when I'm in their pen. You can sure tell they are Leghorn in their background.

 

[sbhkma]

I've raised Cream Legbars for about 5-6 years here in NW MO. Temps in the summer can get up and over 100 but typically stay around 85-95 on our hot days and in the 75-80 at night. I've never lost one to heat and I still have a couple of my original hens. They seem to take the heat very well. They are active and still lay even on the hottest days. Mine are kept in a metal pole building and I turn the fans on when its really hot.

So far we've had something like 17 days of triple-digit temps (many of them around 105-109), with humidity around 55-65%. Forecast is for this to continue for the next week and a half at least. Doing what I can for all my critters. Chickens get "fruit-sicles" with peas, green grapes, watermelon frozen in muffin tins as well as fresh water every few hours and fans with ice blocks in front of them. Horses get ice blocks in their trough and have lots of oak trees-they don't go in the loafing barn in the heat. Dogs and cats live inside, so they're doing just fine other than the dogs think I'm insane for taking them on their walks in this heat (we go early morning, but it's already 90 by sunrise).

 

[Gray Farms]

We get the humidity bad here. In fact yesterday it was in the 80s with 90% humidity. It was nasty!! Generally the humidity is 60% or higher all the time.

 

[GaryDean26]

So far we've had something like 17 days of triple-digit temps (many of them around 105-109), with humidity around 55-65%.

Yep...I kept legbar in Marble Falls, Texas for 4 years. Once July hit the high was 102-104 almost every day until the end of August. Two summer we got heat spells with temps over 108 def F. Those are not heat index numbers either. We didn't have any Legbars the summer of 2010 but I still remember 8/25/2010 when we hit 114 deg F. We lost 80% of our flock that day. Any time the temp are over 106 def F. We have to make sure the birds had lots of shade and buckets of water they can stand in when they get too hot. We did lose one Legbar hen in 2013 on a day that was over 106 deg F but the Legbars are a lighter bird than our heavier dual purpose breeds and the small the bird the better they seem to do in the extreme heat.

 

[sbhkma]

I didn't think about water to stand in! I have rubber feed tubs for horses that would probably work great for them. Great idea thanks!

 

[BrokenPaddle]

Thinking about trying some cream legbars and wondered if anyone has any knowledge of how they do in heat? I'm in central Texas and summers can be brutal. This year we've had record breaking heat for week on end and night time temps "down" into the 80s. Lost my 2 cuckoo marans, even though I have fans blowing across ice blocks and cool fresh water changed out every few hours. Coop/run are under big oak trees and also have shadecloth across the top and halfway down the west side. Looking for a more heat-tolerant bird, although my marans were 5 yrs old so perhaps they just couldn't handle it between the exceptional heat and them being not "spring chickens" anymore.

We've had CL for years in North Texas, Wise county with no problems. We now have 2 blood lines and they both excel in the heat and do well in our ugly cold. They're excellent foragers too!

 

[azkc]

I didn't think about water to stand in! I have rubber feed tubs for horses that would probably work great for them. Great idea thanks!

We have had cream leg bars for almost 3 years. This summer highest temp I recorded was 111 and last year 114. All the CLs made it through but lost a couple of Bielfelders. Every run has a kiddie pool in it with a couple of bricks and a couple of inches of water. Some have a "cabana" made out of PVC pipe with shade cloth.

I saw a great example this summer of how some water to stand in really makes a difference. I had just moved some young CLs (7 or 8 weeks) from their grow out house to their coop & run & was putting water in their little pool. One of the cockerels came to see what I was doing & he was really panting. I picked him up & stood him in the pool. Within a couple of minutes the panting stopped.
Cream Legbars are awesome