Cream Legbars

[johnandashley]

Thank you chicken pickin !!! Beautiful pic !

 

[GaryDean26]

my girl laid her very first egg today!!!! although in real life it almost looks like a spearmint green color is green normal for a CL?

The first egg is not a good indication of what color egg the hen will lay over time. A recommendation that was made for the Marans breed was to wait until the hen had laid 30 eggs to start evaluating color. I am not sure if you need to wait that long with legbars, but I have noticed that many of our legbars will have brown bloom at the beginning of their laying cycle (causing greener eggs) that only last for about a week. My Legbar mentor bred both Marans and Legbar in the UK. She trap nested her hens and using color cards assigned each hen a score each day. She said that color could change for day to day but that she choose breeders from those with the highest average score over a full laying season and highest average score over multiple laying seasons.

 

[Deckgirls]

The first egg is not a good indication of what color egg the hen will lay over time. A recommendation that was made for the Marans breed was to wait until the hen had laid 30 eggs to start evaluating color. I am not sure if you need to wait that long with legbars, but I have noticed that many of our legbars will have brown bloom at the beginning of their laying cycle (causing greener eggs) that only last for about a week. My Legbar mentor bred both Marans and Legbar in the UK. She trap nested her hens and using color cards assigned each hen a score each day. She said that color could change for day to day but that she choose breeders from those with the highest average score over a full laying season and highest average score over multiple laying seasons.

great to know thank you!!! yes i also have a marans and her eggs have changed color since she started laying a few weeks ago! can't wait to see her egg today! (hope she lays another )

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

I thought this might be interesting to others so I thought I would post some comparison pics. One of my original 4 pullets has had a lot of black tipping on her breast feathers. The first pic is her at about 5 months old and though it is a side shot you can see all the black tipping. Sorry they aren't from the same angle, I thought I had front view when she was younger but I don't.



Here she is at just over 1 yr old and the black tipping is gone.

Any thoughts on it and why it would happen?

 

[ChicKat]

I thought this might be interesting to others so I thought I would post some comparison pics. One of my original 4 pullets has had a lot of black tipping on her breast feathers. The first pic is her at about 5 months old and though it is a side shot you can see all the black tipping. Sorry they aren't from the same angle, I thought I had front view when she was younger but I don't.



Here she is at just over 1 yr old and the black tipping is gone.

Any thoughts on it and why it would happen?

Wow BuffyBugSlayer, that is one of the most interesting comparisons that I have ever seen. In UK Grant Brereton had written that we should wait until later (adult hens) to select our breeding stock - and this would certainly show that the true adult plumage can be different from the pullet plumage. If someone were to ask me - I would think that these are two different chickens, so I am especially glad that you documented and posted this information!! I'm floored. ;O)

 

[Bean789]

I thought this might be interesting to others so I thought I would post some comparison pics. One of my original 4 pullets has had a lot of black tipping on her breast feathers. The first pic is her at about 5 months old and though it is a side shot you can see all the black tipping. Sorry they aren't from the same angle, I thought I had front view when she was younger but I don't.



Here she is at just over 1 yr old and the black tipping is gone.

Any thoughts on it and why it would happen?

I am far from expert as all my CCLs are still chicks. But, I have seen a lot of pics of chicks and pullets and hens and now I have a Wow factor to add to feather coloring. What a difference in this bird from one stage to another. Has she retained most of the black on her sides and tail?

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

Wow BuffyBugSlayer, that is one of the most interesting comparisons that I have ever seen. In UK Grant Brereton had written that we should wait until later (adult hens) to select our breeding stock - and this would certainly show that the true adult plumage can be different from the pullet plumage. If someone were to ask me - I would think that these are two different chickens, so I am especially glad that you documented and posted this information!! I'm floored. ;O)

It is pretty crazy. I have been noticing that her breast has lightened up over time but you know how memory fades when you see them everyday so I pulled out the old pics and was surprised by how much black she had originally.

I have not used her for breeding because of all the melanization and because she has grown a giant comb. She also has poor egg quality, big round eggs and consistently weak shells. It gives me hope for the pullet that I hatched and kept earlier this year. She has a lot of black in her breast too. Will be interesting how she ultimately turns out.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

I am far from expert as all my CCLs are still chicks. But, I have seen a lot of pics of chicks and pullets and hens and now I have a Wow factor to add to feather coloring. What a difference in this bird from one stage to another. Has she retained most of the black on her sides and tail?

I will try to get a side shot of her today for comparison. She is wearing a saddle so it won't be completely visible. All of my pullets seem to have very dark and distinct barring.

 

[sol2go]

I thought this might be interesting to others so I thought I would post some comparison pics. One of my original 4 pullets has had a lot of black tipping on her breast feathers. The first pic is her at about 5 months old and though it is a side shot you can see all the black tipping. Sorry they aren't from the same angle, I thought I had front view when she was younger but I don't.



Here she is at just over 1 yr old and the black tipping is gone.

Any thoughts on it and why it would happen?

Thanks for the progression, I'm not sure I've seen such a clean transition. I have had some hens that stayed spotted, and subsequently did not keep others with black tips. Now I'll have to follow up with the new owners and find out if any of them cleared up.

 

[gingerly1983]

I was wondering if you guys could help me out a little? These are 3 weeks old, bought directly from Greenfire (as day old chicks) as a package deal. The box was marked as 8 pullets, 8 cockerels. I 100% know which ones the pullets are. These 2 were part of the cockerel group but I really don't think they are cockerels.
#1 has a white dot on it's head, however, everything else about this chick screams pullet. Look at the coloring of the feathers. Its tail is longer like the other pullets as well. All the males have shorter, stubbier tails right now. All the other males have barring on their feathers.

#2 was a chick with all yellow down. I got 3 like that. All had blurry white dots.
The other two are more distinctly males with barring and stubbier tales. I'm just not sure this is a cockerel.

Can you guys please give me some input? I know I could have posted in the What breed/gender thread, but I thought you guys would know more about Cream Legbar specifics.