Cream Legbars

[RangeChicks]

Back on the Rees color differences, I've noticed that a few of my pullets have very distinct barring, too.

 

[chicken pickin]

Ah, I am sorry Chickenpickin. That is great you found him a good spot. I get so attached to them, even the males. It is hard to be a good neighbor!

Just this morning I was down at the barn, which is about a 1/4 mile from the house and about another 1/4 mile to my nearest neighbor, I could hear my dueling cockerels. My neighbor is a junk collector though so I know even if he can hear them he won't be complaining about obnoxious neighbors any time soon!

Wow 1/4mile! Sounds like you have some space out there. I am on just under 2acres, so not a whole lot of space and many close neighbors. It gets tough because I would like to do so much more than what I am and I am always trying to eliminate birds to keep down noise. It is frustrating because I am trying to breed, I enjoy it very much. Sometimes I just don't know if my property is meant for it. I try to keep in nice and tidy and pretty looking and attempt to keep noise level down which gets trying at times. I work with what I have, maybe one day I will have loads of land

 

[ChicKat]

A little bit of a sad day here, I rehomed my main CL male. He was a wonderful male great type and color and well behaved but just entirely too loud everyday and me being in a area with somewhat close neighbors I felt it was the right thing to do. The man I sold him to was wonderful, he breeds Welsummers and has for many years and he now is breeding Cream Legbars, he drove all the way up from Connecticut to pick him up and I also sent him with 1 dozen CL hatching eggs. It is nice to know that there is another breeder with my stock now just incase I ever need to get more birds in the future.

I Still have all my hens and pullets and my Rees trio and 20 CL chicks to grow out and evaluate.

They never talk about the hardest parts of raising chickens -- but it is very neat that he will still be at work and you will have access to those genes should you ever need them! IT also sounds like with 20 chicks you are going to be a busy person.

from my hatch -- only one female. At first I faulted her for not being autosexing enough...but now that she is thoroughly dry -- she does have all the 'right stuff' -- maybe just too much of it. LOL


Previously I had thought that her chipmunk striping wasn't evident enough- but I see it as pretty clear right now. It's almost 24 hours since hatching. The interesting thing is the degree of darkness in the dorsal wide stripe. For males I wonder if THAT makes the barring more crisp - dark/light contrast -- versus the more pale gray barring. These new babies are so small that they make the juveniles outside look as big as horses. (well almost) -- And the two outside cockerels exemplify the dark barring versus light barring that I am referring to:



Left more contrast - right less contrast



Foreground more contrast background less contrast.....

 

[RangeChicks]

tdhenson86 and chickenpickin, I am sorry for your losses. Having lost our last horse fairly recently, it's weird looking out the front and not seeing one grazing.

I would have a tough time parting with any of my chickens, much less one of my favorites!

 

[chicken pickin]

They never talk about the hardest parts of raising chickens -- but it is very neat that he will still be at work and you will have access to those genes should you ever need them! IT also sounds like with 20 chicks you are going to be a busy person.

from my hatch -- only one female. At first I faulted her for not being autosexing enough...but now that she is thoroughly dry -- she does have all the 'right stuff' -- maybe just too much of it. LOL


Previously I had thought that her chipmunk striping wasn't evident enough- but I see it as pretty clear right now. It's almost 24 hours since hatching. The interesting thing is the degree of darkness in the dorsal wide stripe. For males I wonder if THAT makes the barring more crisp - dark/light contrast -- versus the more pale gray barring. These new babies are so small that they make the juveniles outside look as big as horses. (well almost) -- And the two outside cockerels exemplify the dark barring versus light barring that I am referring to:



Left more contrast - right less contrast



Foreground more contrast background less contrast.....

Great Pictures! I see that the pullet chick does look more distinct than what you had originally thought. Do you notice in your day old pullets the head spot, is it more white or golden or creamy. I have noticed that my pullets don't get actual head spots but kind of a deep reddish brown goldeny head spot. Do you think it matters the color of the head spot?

Also Love the pics of the males showing the contrast in the gray. I tend to like the darker barred males, do you have a personal preference?

 

[chicken pickin]

tdhenson86 and chickenpickin, I am sorry for your losses. Having lost our last horse fairly recently, it's weird looking out the front and not seeing one grazing.

I would have a tough time parting with any of my chickens, much less one of my favorites!

Thanks I appreciate it! He was a nice male and I will miss him very much. I see him making some fantastic offspring in the future.

 

[chicken pickin]

Back on the Rees color differences, I've noticed that a few of my pullets have very distinct barring, too.

This seems to be a trend that is now surfacing. The Rees pullets and hens do seem to show more barring as adults so maybe they are carrying the genes to a better barred female, though I don't find the Rees males to be very well barred so It is an odd that the females are nicely barred. I am not a genetics person so I am lost when it comes to that. I wonder if anyone will pop on that can explain why we are seeing more distict barring on the Rees CL pullet chicks as opposed to the more wild type pattern we often see.

 

[ChicKat]

Great Pictures! I see that the pullet chick does look more distinct than what you had originally thought. Do you notice in your day old pullets the head spot, is it more white or golden or creamy. I have noticed that my pullets don't get actual head spots but kind of a deep reddish brown goldeny head spot. Do you think it matters the color of the head spot?

Also Love the pics of the males showing the contrast in the gray. I tend to like the darker barred males, do you have a personal preference?

In my pullets the head markings that are light -- on the darkest females are like tiny white hairs. Very individualized -- and like a 'dry brush' technique on the down. On the lighter downed females there is a more warm color. Hardly perceptable because my very light females still have dark dorsal stripes ad dark head V's - but it is overall a lighter look.


Regarding the males... they change so so much -- I have a male that has a lot of black & white contrast in his barred area - particularly the tail -- very sigificant barring -- and it is kind of a look I could follow. These two will be interesting to grow out since they were hatched the same day -- and since the hackles turn nearly white in all of them - except for the markings of course)--- I'm really going to watch how they mature--- I will try to post pictures of them together for reference........in various stages.

 

[tdhenson86]

Here's my most recent hatch of Rees birds. One is hard for me to sex (the one with the dark small v on its head). It seems male, but has lighter color chipmunk stripes and that small v spot on its head. What do you all think?

 

[XxMingirlxX]

I think it's male