Cream Legbars

[chicken pickin]

I have an Exbattery hen, a white leghorn, an Araucana and an appenzeller currently but I plan to get a cream Legbar chick, a welsummer chick and a silver Sussex chick this spring.

That's a nice variety. I don't see any reason why a Cream Legbar hen wouldn't fit into your mix.

 

[tdhenson86]

So I got my first egg from my Greenfire chicks but I don't know if it was from a CL or one of my Isbar packing peanuts that came with them. Either way it exactly on her 23 week birthday!!! I heard one of the girls making the worst racket this morning - i looked out the window but all was calm so i just figured that someone was making a fuss about an egg. I guess those first eggs are a surprise, even if they are small! Poor little girl - must have been labor pains.

When I saw it in the coop I yelled BLUE!

but when I got it inside, not so much.

At first I thought it was a OAC 151 but it's too green.


More OAC 122 I think.



Frankly I'm terrible with colors. It's a little bluer in real life than OAC 122 but a little greener than OAC 151. Argh.

I wonder if I could put a game camera in my coop to see if I can figure out who is laying what.

Congratulations on the egg! I also have a hard time with the blues and greens. My eyes play tricks on me depending on the lighting.

 

[tdhenson86]

Mine all like to use the one nesting box too -- no matter how many others are vacant.

x2! I even have a hen who is setting right now and another hen will come in and lay eggs. Good thing they are both brown egg layers and I put blue eggs under her. It's the only way short of marking the eggs that I would know whether they're supposed to be there or not.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

Hello, I'm from the land of cream legbars (England

) but seriously I am considering this breed; how well do they cope in a mixed flock?

I've added some of mine into my layer flock with out any problems. My Blue Copper Marans rooster rules the flock nicely. The hens fit in very well and the roosters stay out of the Marans way.

 

[dretd]

Hello, I'm from the land of cream legbars (England

) but seriously I am considering this breed; how well do they cope in a mixed flock?

I have an Exbattery hen, a white leghorn, an Araucana and an appenzeller currently but I plan to get a cream Legbar chick, a welsummer chick and a silver Sussex chick this spring.

Hi XxMingirlxX !

It sounds like you have a nice variety! I started out with many different breeds--short of chicken sampling--its hard to pick just one with all of the variety out there! I then decided to hone down on just one breed so Cream Legbars rule the roost but are integrated in to my layer flock.

By looking at the breeds you have and want to get I think they would blend in quite nicely. For me, the Cream Legbars are most similar to Welsummers in personality. Very good free rangers, a little flighty (run first, ask questions later) but friendly once they settle down and great layers. Probably very similar to your Leghorn and Araucana, too. The only breed I have that has not integrated well are Salmon Faverolles. Super breed in so many ways, but they are so gentle that they are prone to bullying, sadly..

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Hi XxMingirlxX !

It sounds like you have a nice variety! I started out with many different breeds--short of chicken sampling--its hard to pick just one with all of the variety out there! I then decided to hone down on just one breed so Cream Legbars rule the roost but are integrated in to my layer flock.

By looking at the breeds you have and want to get I think they would blend in quite nicely. For me, the Cream Legbars are most similar to Welsummers in personality. Very good free rangers, a little flighty (run first, ask questions later) but friendly once they settle down and great layers. Probably very similar to your Leghorn and Araucana, too. The only breed I have that has not integrated well are Salmon Faverolles. Super breed in so many ways, but they are so gentle that they are prone to bullying, sadly..

Gah, my IPad just deleted everything

The Araucana (Selma) and the Appenzeller (Peggy) are relatively new so are still wary of me, I got them at Halloween as roughly 20 week old POL pullets, they are nearing fifty weeks now and the combs and wattles still aren't red yet. I love them and keep chickens as pets but I just really want some eggs, to me if I started to raise a leghorn chick as the same time I got these birds, the leghorn would be laying before them, for me that's over the line when you are selling these as POL. But that's a rant for another day. Selma is the largest bird I currently own but is a gentle giant so to speak and is bottom of the pecking order, it makes me laugh when she lets a tiny bantam eat before she does.
They are warming to me but still run faster than bolt if you make a wrong move, I'm hoping this will mellow out when they start to lay and get used to me.

The Exbattery(Babs) is one of the first hens I got and is roughly three years old now and lays sporadically. She is a real softie and even though she never picks on any other bird yet she is unmistakably the top of the pecking order, she loves eating cheese sandwiches and corn out of my hand. My leghorn (Zazzles) was one of the first chicks I raised and is roughly a year and a half old, she lays large white eggs nearly everyday but is starting to slow down, she is a little bossy but sticks by her best friend Babs.

However now you see my issue, I'm usually only getting one egg a day despite numerous requests for eggs from friends and family. So I want some chicks, and a breed near me does Welsummers, Silver Sussex, cream Legbars and numerous other breeds so this is why I asked how cream Legbars would cope in my flock

I know this was a ramble, I have a mini novel that is my chicken adventure as a link in my signature, if you want to check it out (brace yourself for lots of reading )

 

[minnehaha]

Hi, I am also having a hard time with the egg colors! I have Cream Legbars and Easter Eggers and it gets pretty hard to figure out who laid what. I have been spending a lot of time this past week watching the egg laying action in person and with 3 wifi cameras in the hen house. One thing that has really helped is colored leg bands! Best thing ever invented!

So far, I have determined that that I have 2 EE's that lay the same color eggs as my CL's, case in point, I accidentally incubated some and have two little mutts that I call Easter bars to show for it. The other 3 EE's lay green and olive eggs.

From reading this thread, I saw the Online Auction color chart, and ordered it!!!!!!! I cannot wait to see the color differences!

I have been working hard this past week to make sure I only collect CL eggs. Today I put those eggs in the incubator. This is the last egg I collected for the incubator. My favorite hen laid it this afternoon. One thing I have noticed in the past year is that my CL's lay very porous eggs compared to my other hens. Is this a normal CL trait?

I knew she wanted to lay an egg, so I put her in the duck quarters where there is an old unused wall mounted nesting box. I put some pine shavings in it for her.

Courtesy of WiFi spy cameras:
Ready to lay:

Pushing the egg out:


The egg is below her:


Singing the egg song:


The pretty blue egg:

 

[minnehaha]

However now you see my issue, I'm usually only getting one egg a day despite numerous requests for eggs from friends and family. So I want some chicks, and a breed near me does Welsummers, Silver Sussex, cream Legbars and numerous other breeds so this is why I asked how cream Legbars would cope in my flock

Hi, Whoa...50 weeks old is a one year old! I have heard of some hens taking their sweet time laying an egg, but that is a long wait!

 

[chicken pickin]

Good Luck with your hatch @minnehaha please share your results with us!

 

[minnehaha]

Good Luck with your hatch @minnehaha please share your results with us!

Thanks Chicken Pickin! I'm hoping for success, I have much better luck with my broody hen, but she isn't broody yet so I am incubating. Her success rate is around 80%. Mine is generally around 20%. I always have hope though! I'll keep collecting eggs for broody though, just in case she goes broody. I'll keep you posted, crossing fingers for a good hatch!