Cream Legbars

[mstricer]

Quote: Hey I found this ebook have not bought, but Grant emailed me and in US dollars all three e-books are about 19$ Here is the link if you want to check it out.
http://gbpoultry.com/

 

[normanack]

I'm thinking all eggs are easter egger eggs, unless there was one that was definitely smaller a 'pullet bullet'. Sometimes, they could fluff around in the nest so that the egg wasn't visable. I had that happen the other day -- just barely saw one through the shavings.

My reasoning is because clbs usually lay around 22 weeks and it's wintery weather now. 14 is really precocious. But then you just never know...At least you know that they are close....

Makes you wish you had a video camera there to know just who was on the nest when....

I think you're right -- it seems far more likely that one egg was hidden than that a hen that young would lay when even to my eye she doesn't look mature. The other hens all got that depth and width to their bodies that said "all grown up" to me before they started laying.

FWIW one of the eggs was a little smaller, but not by much. Didn't raise any flags to me as a pullet egg.

Thanks!

p.s. I'm lobbying for some sort of "barn cam" set-up but DH says it would cost too much. I'd like to be able to hear the chicken alarm cries from inside the house during the winter when all the windows are closed.

 

[mstricer]

I found four pale green eggs in the coop this morning.

I have three Easter Eggers, all laying, 26 and 28 weeks old at present.

The only other blue/green egg layers are my two Cream Legbar hens, and they're only 14 weeks old. They still look like junior chickens to me, not fully grown hens, and I have not seen any of the roosters show interest in them.

Although I did a good search last night for eggs, it is possible I missed one. But all 4 eggs were plainly visible this morning in one of the nest boxes. Huh.

What is the earliest age you've had a Cream Legbar lay?

Thanks.

p.s. One of the CL hens was hit by a hawk two days ago, and remarkably did not seem to have any injuries, other than a whole bunch of missing feathers. Perhaps the hawk scared the egg out of her? Kidding. I think.

I'm under the impression that these eggs should be blue. The eggs I got from chicks4myfamily were sky blue and beautiful. I've been hearing of these green blue eggs from some CCL's. I would assume if you mix a white layer with a blue layer, you should get a blue egg, the only time you should see a green egg is it is mixed with a EE or a brown layer. Just my opinion.
Michele

 

[GaryDean26]

The Cream Legbars were developed from Plymouth Rock which is a brown egg layer. I think that I have seen as many as 17 known brown egg genes being reported. I am sure that lots of them are recessive, so there is still a bit of green in the CLB lines. I have one hen then produces mint Green eggs at the beginning of her laying cycle, but later into the laying cycle the brown pigments fade (like everyone with brown egg layers knows occurs over the cycle) and her eggs are blue. So...even hatching from blue eggs you could be passing green genes from the hen, and we really don't know what the rooster is carrying.

Yes they should be blue, but not every birds is perfect.

 

[mstricer]

Fully understand, I'm new to this and only have a young pair and one girl that hatched this past weekend. The other chick died after the internal pip. I strike that up to it being weak, since all the other eggs in that set hatched fine and I don't open the incubator until all is done. Can't wait to see all grow up.

I will follow this thread and learn more. Thank you for the information.
Michele

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Here's the two pairs I picked up from Poco Pollo this weekend, so excited we should have them laying by Spring! Hatched August 16.

Oh this one is my darker girl (on the right) hatched Sept 10 from Jordan Farm eggs and one of Poco's girls on the left. Green bands are Poco's stock.

 

[GaryDean26]

I like the Poco Pollo's.

I got a trio of Marans that hatched on August 13th of 2011. One of the hens started laying the middle of February and the other the middle of March. I think that August chicks are wonderful because the pullets start laying right at the beginning of the natural laying season.

 

[ChicKat]

Love your new chickens Rinda!

 

[normanack]

My CL cockerel got hit by a hawk today -- he lost some feathers and I found blood on my hand after picking him up, but I couldn't find where it came from. He seems fine.

Of course I'm thrilled that he's okay, but it's very frustrating. Hawks have struck our birds multiple times in the space of a few weeks. We strung fishing line at 6-inch intervals over the entire chicken yard last week. I have no idea how the hawk got in -- and it was a really big one.

Are non-lethal hawk strikes common? Or have we just been incredibly lucky? The worst one resulted in an injured eye.

Do you have any advice for keeping the hawks away? We're going to add a lot more fishing line this weekend to cut the gap to 3 inches. I don't know if that will work, though.

 

[RyeRanch]

My CL cockerel got hit by a hawk today -- he lost some feathers and I found blood on my hand after picking him up, but I couldn't find where it came from. He seems fine.
Of course I'm thrilled that he's okay, but it's very frustrating. Hawks have struck our birds multiple times in the space of a few weeks. We strung fishing line at 6-inch intervals over the entire chicken yard last week. I have no idea how the hawk got in -- and it was a really big one.
Are non-lethal hawk strikes common? Or have we just been incredibly lucky? The worst one resulted in an injured eye.
Do you have any advice for keeping the hawks away? We're going to add a lot more fishing line this weekend to cut the gap to 3 inches. I don't know if that will work, though.

We have hawks out here too. There are a pair of them that like to patrol our yard. That being said, we do let our chickens free range and have minimal losses on our adult chickens. Chicks are another story, we keep the chicks in a fully enclosed run until 16 weeks or so. They seem to be able to take care of themselves and get under something where thay are safe. You might also try adding a platform or a bush that your chickens can hide under. Ours either run under a shed, in the bushes, or back into the coop when they see a hawk. The chickens do have good visibility and can see hawks coming from quite a distance so they have enough time to react. There are no places in our yard where a hawk can perch and remain hidden from view. When one chicken sees a hawk she will start making a sound that is similar to the egg song. Everyone runs for cover and the roosters usually stay at the edge of the bushes and wait until the hawk is gone to give the all clear. Depending on how you are set up if you can give your chickens good visibility to see any approaching danger and a good place to take cover, that should help.

I don't know that any amount of fishing line will keep a determined hawk out. Chickens are tasty! I know that aviary netting and shade cloth will keep them out. If hawks are a serious threat I would go that route rather than coniunually adding more fishing line.