Cream Legbars

[duluthralphie]

Interesting, I am not sure who my best layers are. I have all the hens together this time of the year. During breeding season I know which ones are giving me eggs and which ones not.

I actually like the heavier hens myself. Ones that when you pick them up the keel bone is not the first thing you feel.

When I first got my CLB's I was disappointed in them, a few years later and I am not.

I have found they are great foragers, they are consistent layers. When the others are on breaks I can still count on blue eggs.

I wrote a scathing review of them after about 4 months. They were wild, flighty and poor layers. I am guessing the hens were a tad older than I was told and did not have much interaction with people. I still have those hens but they are pretty much retired birds now.

The ones I hatched here are not flighty even though the look like road runners when they are young and on a "mission".

I have a hard time deciding if I like the lighter colored ones or the more golden ones.

I get maybe 1 bird out of 20 that I really want to show. I get more than that to breed, but that is because I can use a hen to counteract the negatives of the rooster. For me getting the perfect comb and crest is the hard part on the boys. I have lots of good looking boys other the crest. I am only going to be breeding large crested hens next year.


I also like the white sports better than the normal CLB's. I have better crests and combs on them and a white crested blue egg laying bird is impressive to me. I have thought about getting rid of the CLB's and only keep the sports. However, I like the colored roosters for easter egger production. I have a line of olive green egg layers that are dark partridge colored with a cushion comb and huge (by Huge I mean really HUGE) from them.

Unfortunately bird shows do not want to see my cross breeds,,,

BTW, I am wishing I had kept one of the two birds I sent to live in the rockies.....

So if you ever want to send him back here.....He would be welcome....( the person I am addressing this to knows who she is...LOL)

 

[sol2go]

Interesting, I am not sure who my best layers are. I have all the hens together this time of the year. During breeding season I know which ones are giving me eggs and which ones not.

I actually like the heavier hens myself. Ones that when you pick them up the keel bone is not the first thing you feel.

When I first got my CLB's I was disappointed in them, a few years later and I am not.

I have found they are great foragers, they are consistent layers. When the others are on breaks I can still count on blue eggs.

I wrote a scathing review of them after about 4 months. They were wild, flighty and poor layers. I am guessing the hens were a tad older than I was told and did not have much interaction with people. I still have those hens but they are pretty much retired birds now.

The ones I hatched here are not flighty even though the look like road runners when they are young and on a "mission".

I have a hard time deciding if I like the lighter colored ones or the more golden ones.

I get maybe 1 bird out of 20 that I really want to show. I get more than that to breed, but that is because I can use a hen to counteract the negatives of the rooster. For me getting the perfect comb and crest is the hard part on the boys. I have lots of good looking boys other the crest. I am only going to be breeding large crested hens next year.


I also like the white sports better than the normal CLB's. I have better crests and combs on them and a white crested blue egg laying bird is impressive to me. I have thought about getting rid of the CLB's and only keep the sports. However, I like the colored roosters for easter egger production. I have a line of olive green egg layers that are dark partridge colored with a cushion comb and huge (by Huge I mean really HUGE) from them.

Unfortunately bird shows do not want to see my cross breeds,,,

BTW, I am wishing I had kept one of the two birds I sent to live in the rockies.....

So if you ever want to send him back here.....He would be welcome....( the person I am addressing this to knows who she is...LOL)

I can relate to the road runner look, and find it attractive. So it is interesting to note you like the heavier hens/pullets. At what age do you think they change from a sleek road runner look to a fuller body?

When you have a chance, take a look at their shape from the top view. Even with a road runner shape, you may be able to see some that are wider at the shoulders, maybe a little more flat and less rounded across the shoulders, which will emphasize the taper towards the tail.

Or, maybe you have more brick shaped hens?

I like all three looks in the CL - Cream, Golden Crele, and White. There are so many opportunities with this breed. I'm glad you like them better over time despite a rough start. I am also constantly balancing breeding groups to address comb & crest dynamics; it is not a static element for sure.

Have you posted your olive eggers in the hybrid thread? I'd like to see what they look like (maybe I forgot?). My goal with the olive eggers is to end up with spots, on the eggs and on the feathers. Maybe with a range of feather colors from the light Basque to the mille-fleur to the deeper Speckled Sussex. I love the variety although I realize the colors may work against each other. I would like to go non-crested with the OE, but likely I'll have both for awhile. I'd like large eggs (the better to enjoy the color) so perhaps a bigger body than the CL, but maybe not huge =)

 

[duluthralphie]

MY olive eggers are large dark and do not resemble a CLB in any fashion.





They are 1/4 CLB.

 

[MarshallPrime]

Thanks for all the input everyone on the topic of male chicks and what to do with them. It was good to get others opinions on the topic.

Not a pleasant topic but one that I thought could use some discussion.

thanks again.

 

[SHERRING7712]

MY olive eggers are large dark and do not resemble a CLB in any fashion.





They are 1/4 CLB.

They are absolutely gorgeous. I love them!

 

[SHERRING7712]

So I got pretty sick a couple of weeks ago and the hubby was taking over "treat time" for the chickens while I was down. He decided the mama needed her Twisty boy so he brought him in to me and we snuggled!! He actually seemed like he missed his mama!

 

[caychris]

On the topic of undesirable male chicks. Finding a source to have them as feed for other predators (snakes,raptors,owls, pigs etc) would be an option id consider. Most of these places need to take the animals live to avoid health concerns.

Personally I raise them out for processing. They change so much its hard to get a good breeding decision in before 14 weeks, I usually let mine go alongside my other heritage dual purpose cockerels to 20 weeks by then they are good enough size and heck you can make 2 as easily as 1 if you need more meat.


The economics of raising them out can be a pain but thats going to be a pain no matter what you are breeding. For me I just sold a few of my xtra males (not CLB) at the poultry auction I netted about 2.50 a bird but that was better than having to feed them longer waiting for them to mature (sept auction vs nov processing date). I'm sure they will end up a soup for someone. If it had been earlier in the year I would have probably kept them where garden and other produce scraps could have cut the feed bill and gotten them to processing age. But wasnt looking to process in November and needed to thin the flock.

 

[terrip824]

So what does anyone think of this little pullet? She just started laying. I am concerned about her type being correct. All comments welcome.

 

[sol2go]

So what does anyone think of this little pullet? She just started laying. I am concerned about her type being correct. All comments welcome.

Jumping in - I would use her in a breeding program, would look for a cream male with less red/chestnut, a long back, and a lower tail angle. She seems to have a nice full body from this perspective, a better tail fan than many, lovely overall barring, a full crest, white earlobes, good yellow beak & legs. The comb is a plus and minus - it does not have a big flop, but it does have a few extra waves down to the beak; not something I would want to mirror in the male.

Thanks for posting your pretty pullet.

 

[terrip824]

Thank you! She normally doesn't carry her tail so high. There was action going on in the pen and she was reacting to it. Unfortunately my current rooster does have a lot of chestnut. How will that effect her chicks? She will have a nice curl to her comb eventually, her momma has a nice one and dad's was almost straight. This is him. I tend to like his coloring. But his comb is a mess. The plan is to breed him with the girls that have better combs.