Cream Legbars

[SlipsWife]

Yes you can have the vet check their stools for parasites.

I think it is more likely she is molting. Can you pick her up and feel her pelvis? If you feel for her "hip bones" for lack of a better word, if you can fit 1 or 2 fingers between them she is not laying. If you can fit 3-4 fingers there she is laying. There are some diagrams on this website, not the best but I didn't see any better at a quick glance. http://www.small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com/buying_chickens.html

Also if her vent looks moist she is laying, if it looks dry she is not. Again there are plenty of web pictures if you do a search. Just be careful how you word it or you may get a few surprise pictures.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
A few days ago I got excited about a naked neck and looked up 'naked chicks'....yeah, that backfired...

On the pelvic bone check, if she's started laying but has stopped, say due to molt, will the space close up or once its spread, does it stay that way?

Of course its now silly cold today so even if she were laying she'll probably take today off.

 

[enola]

Her pelvic bones will shrink when she stops laying and expand when she starts laying again.

The only chicken uglier than a silky is a showgirl.......look that one up........and people breed those things on purpose????????

I guess you know I think naked necks are ugly too.....

 

[WHmarans]

Her pelvic bones will shrink when she stops laying and expand when she starts laying again.

The only chicken uglier than a silky is a showgirl.......look that one up........and people breed those things on purpose????????

I guess you know I think naked necks are ugly too.....

I had to look up what they look like. Now I'm afraid to find out what a rooster of this variety is called.

 

[CibolaChooks]

i had one girl go broody last year -- but she and another broody SO did not get along once their chicks hatched that i ended up giving her to a neighbor.  aggressive broody -- at least that one was!

She sounds like a very good mother

I had to look up what they look like. Now I'm afraid to find out what a rooster of this variety is called.

I had this happen looking up sexlink combinations

 

[TherryChicken]

I am hoping by tuesday I will have 24 fertile eggs and that is day 9. Then I will be incubating

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I had to look up what they look like. Now I'm afraid to find out what a rooster of this variety is called.

lol it is called a showgirl rooster. Same with swedish flower hens, that is the breed name a roo is called swedish flower hen rooster. Confusing.

 

[SlipsWife]

So, after almost a week, our CL girl laid again. Her eggs have been pretty round, still egg shaped but very Humpty Dumpty in shape. Todays egg was torpedo shaped, almost exactly like our Turkens. I'm going to keep an eye on her, something just seems off.

 

[ChicKat]

Do cream legbars go broody often

This is a really good question, not sure you got your answer as of yet.

It is stated that they rarely go broody- but lots of us in the USA have a very different experience. Someone out in CA had little pullets that would adopt younger chicks. My first CL hen went broody and she hatched chicks. A chick that is hatched by a broody is more likely to go broody than a chick hatched in an incubator.

So a daughter of my first CL hen did go broody - and she was fairly young at the time -- just a few months into laying as I recall. She lasted the full 21-days and hatched 4-chicks. Then that morning a raccoon attack got her and all 4 babies. Several others have mentioned broody CLs. When I have plenty of eggs, I love the idea of the broody hen doing all the work of incubating and brooding. The hen teaches them to be superb foragers. One difference between incubator raised and broody raised chicks - is that the broody raised chicks are only as friendly as their mom - while the incubator raised chicks will climb all over you -- if they have gotten enough attention.

Bottom line - they can be either -- and you can have some influence on the ones you select to promote or demote broodiness in your own flock.
HTH

 

[Yoyo with chick]

This is a really good question, not sure you got your answer as of yet. 

It is stated that they rarely go broody- but lots of us in the USA have a very different experience.  Someone out in CA had little pullets that would adopt younger chicks.  My first CL hen went broody and she hatched chicks.  A chick that is hatched by a broody is more likely to go broody than a chick hatched in an incubator.  

So a daughter of my first CL hen did go broody - and she was fairly young at the time -- just a few months into laying as I recall.  She lasted the full 21-days and hatched 4-chicks.  Then that morning a raccoon attack got her and all 4 babies.  Several others have mentioned broody CLs.  When I have plenty of eggs, I love the idea of the broody hen doing all the work of incubating and brooding.  The hen teaches them to be superb foragers.  One difference between incubator raised and broody raised chicks - is that the broody raised chicks are only as friendly as their mom - while the incubator raised chicks will climb all over you -- if they have gotten enough attention.  

Bottom line - they can be either -- and you can have some influence on the ones you select to promote or demote broodiness in your own flock. 
HTH

Thanks great advise!

 

[KPenley]

Thanks great advise!

X2 My best broody is a Cream Legbar. She's my first girl and a great mother, but she's the only one out of the 4 I've kept that has gone broody at all. I think it was Curtis that said that his broody girl's offspring also tended to go broody...so it's probably a trait you can breed for or against to some extent.