Cream Legbars

[HaplessRunner]

My three CLB cockerels are had sever frostbite of the combs and wattles. Some had frostbite on their earlobes too. All three will end up looking severely dubbed. All other varieties including young 3-4 month old CLB cockerels were fine. A few roosters may lose a point, but nothing severe. All the hens and pullets were fine.

 

[circharles]

Comparing these three pullets, I'm pretty sure the one on the left is "cream" phenetically, and the one on the right is "gold" phenetically. The one in the middle has cream coloring but also looks different from the other two... What is it that makes her different? And should I be selecting against it? Thanks for any input.

 

[CibolaChooks]

Cream comes in many shades i think both on the left are cream

 

[CibolaChooks]

The left one looks to have more brown on her back and wings. Her cream is better but the middle one looks to have the correct grey on her back and wings

 

[circharles]

The left one looks to have more brown on her back and wings. Her cream is better but the middle one looks to have the correct grey on her back and wings

Thank you. I have a few birds that are cream with the correct gray but I wanted to make sure that I was using the middle hen in the correct place in the correct family. I'm going to use my creams to put cream into my golds and wanted to make sure she would do that. When crossing a gray to put the lighter gray color into your flock, what's the best way to select it out of your F1s? Is it simple recessive like the cream? Here are two my gray birds:

 

[CibolaChooks]

It is called a Rose Comb!  The only pullet I have with frostbite are CCL too....

She has a straight comb rooster of a diffrent breed un touched not a rose comb one

 

[CibolaChooks]

Nice cream rooster. I really like his color

The warm browns on the females backs and wings just isnt correct color. They should be shades of grey when your working towards the SOP.

Thank you. I have a few birds that are cream with the correct gray but I wanted to make sure that I was using the middle hen in the correct place in the correct family. I'm going to use my creams to put cream into my golds and wanted to make sure she would do that. When crossing a gray to put the lighter gray color into your flock, what's the best way to select it out of your F1s? Is it simple recessive like the cream? Here are two my gray birds:

 

[KilnChick]

I will beg to differ from Nicalandia.  This to me is a dark-downed female.  There is NO headspot and I can see the dark stripe down the back.  You should be able to post again in about a week to be certain.

WOW THAT AMAZES ME!! HOW can you tell the difference so early???? I have some 28 day old and 5 day old Seramas and I'm clueless! Do you think if I sent you some pics you could tell who's what?

 

[chicken pickin]

WOW THAT AMAZES ME!! HOW can you tell the difference so early???? I have some 28 day old and 5 day old Seramas and I'm clueless! Do you think if I sent you some pics you could tell who's what?

Cream Legbars are an auto-sexing breed meaning you can tell the difference between male at female at hatch. Females have a very distinct and well defined chipmunk pattern sometimes a very small head spot and males have a lighter and less defined chipmunk pattern and a very large head spot. This auto-sexing trait continues from generation to generation in pure CL.

Serama are not an auto-sexing breed so you will have to wait until they are roughly 4-6weeks old to sex them.

 

[dretd]

I appreciate the input -- thanks all!

It looks like frostbite could be an issue in colder climates. My CL rooster is hurting -- he is losing all his points but one, and at least half the blade, and some of the comb underneath the tips. His wattles are half-black and frozen together. It's unusually cold here (Michigan) this winter, but last winter was mild and the CL rooster I had at that time was frostbitten as well, though not as badly.

Anecdotal evidence at best, I know -- but my non-CL straight-combed rooster is fine.

If it does turn out the CLs are not cold-hardy (or at least if their combs aren't), I wonder how long it would take the breed to adapt to cold? Is this a trait one can breed for?

I would say frostbite is an issue for the CL in any climate that drops below freezing. I have never worried about frostbite before in other breeds until it reached -10.

I am in zone 4--we always get to negatives every winter and on rare occasion get to -30. Storm before last we were at -12 and are now about 0 at night. I have a Faverolles x roo that has lost points in the past. He has a med-large comb but is is not as thin and refined as the CL's and he is a beefier bird 8-9 lbs so he stores body heat better. All those factors make him more cold tolerant. My large-combed CL girl has even gotten frostbite whereas the 2 medium combed ones have not.

Arthur/Richard III's comb--you can see the dead tips from the last round and the blue hue on all of his points. The blue does not mean frostbite yet, it means compromised blood flow and low oxygen levels. It may or may not lead to frostbite:

Clara's frostbitten comb--you can see the black edges of dead tissue at the back along with a white color at the front which is more indicative that she will lose more comb:

Sol with his medium comb. He lost a few tips last year so the points are slightly blunted or roundier that they would be naturally:


As others have said, its the moisture that is the main problem. So freezing rain at 30 degrees is worse than a dry -10. I used to go out and put a moisture barrier on the combs (Vaseline) when it got cold, and it did help the tippy tips, but I decided that nature will naturally crop the combs back to where they are not vulnerable so I have not applied Vaseline the last two years. If I were showing I would apply Vaseline and if that didn't help, would consider IR heating in the shed or barn where they are housed so they show better.

I also do feed a 20% ration and do give them scratch that contains corn and BOSS so they have plenty of fuel to keep their body temps up.

I may look to breed for more of a medium comb in the future, all things being equal. The frost bite looks bad and will impact showing, but the frost bite is not that big of a deal in my mind. At the last show the Leghorn breeder/APA show judge I talked to even was showing his rooster with a tiny bit of frostbite (dried tip on a point, white on his blade) on his comb, so remember that everyone is in the same boat. I am concerned about the reports of frostbitten ears. That could be a problem and am confused about it's source. I can only assume its from very high humidity with the cold and the lower body weight of the Leghorn.