Cream Legbars

[Bantambird]

here are 2 of the 5 cockerels I hatched last weekend. Are these cream? All my previous cocks were gold/ crele. If I had my pics from my old phone, I'd show my old cock. I took Mr Blue and a select group of Cream hens and made Run and Brother, and I am hoping these are my first cream cockerels from Run or Brother.

 

[Bantambird]

They are dark/darker -- do you know if the eggs came from a hen with the dark feather tips on breast feathers?  They are pretty little things too...

there are about 10 different hens I can think of think of since I let the whole flock of 30 run together. Next year I will be more selective... I only have 2 coops... Have to build more!!! Or rather I want more breeding/brooding pens.

 

[mellcrowl]

Tough call.  You do want a crest, and you do want good disposition.  Big size is a good trait....  

speaking of dark chickens...the female on the left looks quite melanized, and the female on the right also melanized but crestless?  What are your objectives?  just blue egg layers, or are you going to breed them.  ??  

I do want to breed them. From the front the lighter hen looks like she might have a crest develope, but from the side it doesn't look like she does. Her offspring could still have crests though if she carries the gene right? Is the dark color an issue or just a matter of personal preference?

 

[mellcrowl]

The smaller rooster apparently has the bigger crest, you just can't tell from the pic. So would I want him then?

 

[ChicKat]

I do want to breed them. From the front the lighter hen looks like she might have a crest develope, but from the side it doesn't look like she does. Her offspring could still have crests though if she carries the gene right? Is the dark color an issue or just a matter of personal preference?

Crest is interesting... in is an incomplete dominant gene. that means that the hen who doesn't have a crest most likely has no cresting gene. A CL with only one cresting gene -- will show a very small crest -- and after some experience you can probably recognize the look -- and it will take two cresting genes to give the normal look. Most dominant/recessive genes are all or nothing -- so 1 of a dominant looks like 2, and 1 of a recessive looks the same as if that gene weren't present at all.

The trouble with the lack of a cresting gene is that it can be passed into the future, possibly unknowingly. Does that make sense?

Regarding the dark color..... for some it will be a big issue, because there is a preference for ultra light CLs in some circles. My reading of the SOP doesn't really make it clear -- Of course the SOP excludes the ultra ultra dark -- like the chick I recently hatched that I'm going to consider 'wildfarbig' until some solid info proves otherwise. That look would be considered too dark to match the SOP. As I look at chickens now with the ideas in my recent hypothesis -- I am kind of seeing evidence of a gene that enhances dark pigment --

It is certainly something that you can select away from as you continue into the future with your flock. HTH

The smaller rooster apparently has the bigger crest, you just can't tell from the pic. So would I want him then?

Sounds like he has two traits that you need for your breeding -- crest and good disposition......

 

[ChicKat]

Here is an example of a CL that I considered having only 1 cresting gene..... someplace I have a better head shot of her -- and it is in one of the old Cream Legbar Club's newsletters if you want to take a look for it and your a club member. You can see how her crest is kind of skimpy and more on one side that the other.

She also shows a cinnamon back (despite that she is partially bare back from too much roostering. ) - A cinnamon colored back, to me is the way to identify a CL that is actually gold. Other CLs have a more taupe or gray back. The lighting on this porch however is rather extra warm/pink so it is a bit exaggerated as it influeced the color in the photo -- but could be a good demo. She was ultra lucky on her execution day -- a friend decided that they needed a CL in their flock -- Subsequently she went broody and raised a couple Orpington chicks -- and is happily scratching away to this day.....

 

[rottlady]

is there a DNA test for cresting gene in chickens? In dogs we have a DNA test for furnishings (beards, brows etc like in a Schnauzer) and it too is a dominant with varying expression. Dogs can be 1 gene, 2 gene or no genes. Both 1 and 2 gene have furnishings

 

[ChicKat]

I sure wish that there was a test!!! Haven't been able to find anything. The closest I ever got was one that was used for sexing parrots........

ETA - because a non-crest gene (lower case cr) could be passed to a CL male -- it could give you a stellar comb - with a tiny crest and one could think that it was an excellent choice for breeding....and that would continue to pass a non-cresting gene forward. Then two non-cresting would pop up in the future some time and the crestlessness would continue. JMO.

 

[jerryse]

I sure wish that there was a test!!! Haven't been able to find anything. The closest I ever got was one that was used for sexing parrots........

ETA - because a non-crest gene (lower case cr) could be passed to a CL male -- it could give you a stellar comb - with a tiny crest and one could think that it was an excellent choice for breeding....and that would continue to pass a non-cresting gene forward. Then two non-cresting would pop up in the future some time and the crestlessness would continue. JMO.

Do a progeny test breeding to find if they are single or double for a dominant gene . Bred to a bird with no crest a double gene would produce all crested chicks . If single copy then you will get 50% of each .

 

[ChicKat]

Do a progeny test breeding to find if they are single or double for a dominant gene . Bred to a bird with no crest a double gene would produce all crested chicks . If single copy then you will get 50% of each .

Of course that presupposes that you have one without a crest. ;O)