Cream Legbars

[Fire Ant Farm]

I have chickens that can fly like pheasants, but I can walk up to them without any commotion or attempts to fly. Flighty=nervous bird.

Walt

Yes - and my CLs are not "flighty" by that definition.

- Ant Farm

 

[caychris]

I agree with Walt Flighty is a nervous or easily spooked bird

 

[Maikan]

My lot are really vegged out the majority of the time, sure if a fox or the neighbors dogs about they get a bit jumpy, but there not worried by much else. If I want to catch one in particular I just walk up to them calling there name n have a bit of a convo with them n pick them up. No running around squawking, when its bed time if its there day to be out roaming around the farm yard n gardens I just call them by there names and they come in from where ever they are busy foraging.

I don't keep a specific time of day for when I want them in. Often they only get part of a day free ranging so its not just by routine that they come in. Its the same with all my chooks, they have part of there days in a large pen and part free ranging.

If I'm relaxed with them they are the same back with me. If I go in hyped up and upset at something they sense it as well. Its the same with all the animals here.

 

[All Ball]

I'm not a club member, or a particular expert on CCL's, but I understand a bit about genetics. The gene for the crests seems to be partially dominant (a very common thing in chickens), so a small crest indicates the genotype is heterozygous, and that will not breed true. Very rarely does a standard endorse a trait that does not breed true (blue coloring, as in BBS, is the only example I can think of, and it's sometimes controversial for that very reason). So if a crest is desired in the standard, you should only work toward fully crested birds that produce consistent sized crests in their offspring. There may be genetic modifiers to make the crests smaller or larger, but don't include a non-crested bird in your program to get the crests smaller, that is a solution you cannot cleanly breed for, as non-crested birds will keep popping up.

That said, I believe we all keep these birds for the joy they bring us first, and foremost. If you prefer small or no crests, or gold instead of cream, or rosecombs, or whatever, there is no harm in breeding for the birds you like, unless you mis-represent them when distributing them to others. As long as you are honest about their show quality (or lack thereof), they can be great and popular chickens for many people.

X2 great insight! In the beginning we thought there was value in breeding an uncrested bird to keep crest size small but all it really did was propagate uncrested Legbars. We have since learned that if you want to show or have breeding quality birds they should all be crested. That does not mean that they will all be bouffant size though. If you continually choose your smallest crested birds to breed from then they will have smaller crests than offspring from larger crested parents. It will take a couple of generations to cull the uncrested gene carriers from your flock, if that is your end goal. If your birds are for your pleasure only it does not matter, but please take care in educating anyone who might get birds from you about the uncresting being present so they won't be surprised or angry with you if it pops up. Best wishes!

Here is a publication by R.C. Punnett on the Recessive Black gene. In his experiments he crossed recessive black birds to Cream Legbars see if the cream gene had any affect on recessive black. The spin off of those crosses are his observances on the inheritance of the cresting gene. Since the Cream Legbar breed all started with R.C. Punnett I like to read what he said about the breed to glean any clues or insights that he may have left us.

I used to think that same thing--- hold on to super-small crested female to have the potential to reduce crest size in males if ever needed in the future. Fortunately I realized before I hatched eggs from her here - (any one of you out there who got hatching eggs from me -- it is the eggs that would have been from Sherry)--- She last the largest - X-Large of all my CLs -- but not the most saturated (the bigger the eggshell area the less the saturation in mine). So now that I am in a fairly high degree of certainty that she posses only one cresting gene - I will never hatch from her - or supply her eggs in hatching eggs that I send out. I think KP's saying the same thing. heterozygous for cresting isn't in the breed's best interest for reducing the size of crest and straightening the comb. -- Buy your idea is on the same track I was a couple years back.

Really eloquent and insightful. Thanks.

Thank you all for, once again, a very rich, thoughtful discussion!

Sigh....I was afraid of that, that understanding has evolved beyond some of those earlier theories. Yes, I think I picked it up, ChicKat, from one of your comments, which lodged in my memory as I was thinking of my desire for smaller crests!

OK, so I will warn people that my little ones, even those crested, may produce non-crested offspring, and that it could take a couple generations of culling to remove the heterozygous crest genetics. I think the folks I am talking with so far are not interested in breeding and more interested in a neat breed for a backyard flock, but I will make sure they understand.

 

[ChicKat]

Thank you all for, once again, a very rich, thoughtful discussion!

Sigh....I was afraid of that, that understanding has evolved beyond some of those earlier theories. Yes, I think I picked it up, ChicKat, from one of your comments, which lodged in my memory as I was thinking of my desire for smaller crests!

OK, so I will warn people that my little ones, even those crested, may produce non-crested offspring, and that it could take a couple generations of culling to remove the heterozygous crest genetics. I think the folks I am talking with so far are not interested in breeding and more interested in a neat breed for a backyard flock, but I will make sure they understand.

Do yo mean to tell me that I did that? My apology. I'm looking for smaller combs now on females. The heat of this summer has been advantageous to have their big combs - but I think mine are getting a bit 'leghorn' looking, and I want to go as small as I can on the female comb - because of the effect on crest of males (their sons).

Last CL Club newsletter - I did write about genetics from the perspective I have. So my advice now is to take out small crested (I'm talking teeny) females from your breeding program. For someone who was an avid competitor -- and was willing to show a male that was single crested (he would still have a small crest) - some people want to keep separate breeding lines - and their showing stock isn't their breeding stock. Maybe THAT is one reason that some crestless ones turn up. (that and outcrosses). smaller crest - less comb interference in the cockerels.

I should warn folks too -- the one-cresting-gene suspect got pulled from the breeding program. She is molt now anyway -- and of all the hatching eggs I sent -- anyone who hatched from Sherry has the possibility of having just one cresting gene in their chick. Trade-off X-large eggs very frequently. I know for sure Puhi in Hawaii hatched one of her chicks -- but then it was eaten by a Mongoose. The sad stories of the lives of the chickens.


Here is a snag-it from the article -- the upper right picture is the female witha teeny tiny crest (like 5 feathers (all small feathers too) )

 

[sol2go]

Hope I'm not beating this (whatever) to death as they say - but I'm trying to get clear on my messaging to folks who take my birds, regarding crests and birds for potential breeding vs. backyard blue-eggs.

I gather from Sol2go's helpful comments that I have birds with 1 cresting gene, as 2/7 don't have crests.

I had originally taken away from the discussion that these birds could be helpful because this breed has a very difficult big crest=floppy comb paradox, so you could combine a non-crested with a big-crested to tame your crests.

But looking over those posts again, perhaps the goal is to totally NOT breed the non-crested as part of a goal of eliminating the non-crested genes from the pool, to the extent that is feasible. So I should really discourage people from using not only the 2 non-crested, but possibly others with smaller crests, in breeding??? I personally don't like the bouffants...but it sounds like a certain minimal level of crest = lack of 2 cresting genes....

Is there any sort of consensus on this among club members? My initial tendency, as a backyard egg-and-pets person, is to get to liking my birds and wanting to find homes for these nice, cool-looking boys that I can't keep in the city, but I want to be responsible and do good by the breed.

Hi, my original comments were not related to taming big crests, just floppy combs.
Ironically, your offspring are probably good examples of the Punnet Square, in addition to being bred directly by him.
If the parents were both heterozygous for the cresting gene, then 2 out of 8 offspring would have no crest, 4 out of 8 offspring would have a crest but only 1 cresting gene (heterozygous), and 2 out of 8 would have a crest and 2 cresting genes (homozygous).

So far I haven't seen a direct correlation with one cresting gene = small crest, nor does 2 cresting genes = a large bouffant crest. However it seems safe to say no cresting gene = no crest.

 

[sol2go]

I have chickens that can fly like pheasants, but I can walk up to them without any commotion or attempts to fly. Flighty=nervous bird.

Walt

In that case, I have not had any CL's = flighty; this is true for all ages and genders.

As @KPenley mentioned, personalities/behaviors do seem to breed true through generations.
I have a foundation hen that has always been friendly and has a certain way of interacting that has passed on through subsequent generations of hens.
I have had roosters that were fine, but from time to time their male offspring had bad behaviors (and I did not keep them), which makes me wonder if that was through the hen, or just an individual trait.

 

[Sylvester017]

You are more than welcome. I feel like I'm still learning a lot but I can share what I've learned so far.

Again, I think their temperament has a lot to do with genetics, how they were raised, and how much interaction they have had with people. I have had two situations that remind me of the Leghorn behavior you described, but neither have involved a bird going bonkers around two years of age.
These are really chicken behavior in it's extreme, and both are my fault, but I wanted to share anyway.
My first CL is my best broody hen. She hatched 11/14 eggs her first hatch (yes, she stole eggs) and raised them gently. I decided to put her back in with her old pen mates and they attacked. I should have known better. But ignorantly I thought that they would remember her, or something ridiculous like that. She was not bloody, but was scared and feather picked and I got her out of there. I introduced her properly to my Barnies and she has lived there quite happily for the last couple of years. She gets pulled out to set if she goes broody during hatching season. She is 3 years old, with no weird behavior.
This past season I put a 6 week old pullet in a cage for two days and then let her out into the big breeding pen because we were going out of town. Again my mistake. She should have had a companion. She should have had more time to be introduced, etc. She was attacked, bloody, and in shock when I found her hiding in a back corner. I decided to put her down. That was the worst experience I've had in CL behavior.

I have seen behavior passed down through genetics, and it was a daughter (who has since left the premises) of the cock I referred to earlier that instigated the attack on my first hen. I have seen great behavior from the birds that were kind broody raised, and those hatched by a broody Silkie always treated them well. I have incubated too, and birds raised with the smaller breed birds always treated them better than meeting at an older age. In fact I have a team of 1 Silkie and 2 Bantam Wyandottes that raised some of my chicks this year and did a fabulous job with them. I have also seen temperament intensified with hand raising. It appears to make nicer birds nicer and mean birds meaner. I try to handle my birds as early as possible and signs of pecking my hands or flying at me get them put on the short list for culling if a warning or two doesn't work. (spray bottle with water, vinegar or lemon juice usually does the trick with juvenile cockerels)

By the way, I still think CLs are the Cat's meow

Yes, chickeneering is a long learning process! Cat's Meow - eh?

As you've shared - a bird kept in isolation from her flockmates has to be re-introduced just as gradually as a brand new bird has to be. Our hospital hen patients find it disconcerting going back into the flock after spending a few cushy days in quarantine so we use a rabbit fence barrier for the hens to get re-acquainted for a couple days or so and when there's total acceptance the barrier is removed. This to me is just normal chicken behavior and not the Leghorn-type temperament I was describing earlier. I believe your broody CL behaves herself around large Barnies but could it have been the same if she were put in with two small Silkies where she might be tempted to bully littles? One owner shared that they had a great broody Silkie that raised a clutch of LF chicks and one day a couple years later one of her LF grown offspring killed its foster Silkie momma. I'm beginning to find that it is very tricky about what LF breeds to have around Silkies - it's one of the reasons we research and choose 5-lb-&-under docile LF. There are many nice gentle giants like Brahma, Dorking, Faverolles, Jersey Giant, Sussex, etc etc., but these 7 to 9 lb giants might get tempted to bully 2-lb Silkies just because they can and because it's a chicken thing. I do like your thoughts about handling juvies and often - we never got our pullets as chicks but as juveniles - we had them as pets in the house with a lot of human interaction before they were gradually introduced at a good size and age of 5 or 6 months old to the outside flock. Some breeds handled as chicks like Leghorns still wind up avoiding human contact at maturity and dodge an approaching human like the plague. There are a lot of breeds that are jumpy, jittery, skittish, by nature like Leghorns, EEs, Ameraucans, and then there are some breeds that will spook suddenly but immediately calm down like Breda or Silkies.

Hi Sylvester017 -

Just like KPenley - I think that CLs are the cat's meow - and I've had GFF hatched pair and their offspring since 2012. (Time flys)

---- Most people say that CLs sort toward the middle or bottom of pecking orders. I only have had a few breeds, BPR, Golden Comet, - Basque, a short-lived Black sex-link and an EE who was top mother superior hen and a real crack-up with her personality. I also had an Ideal 236 - that was pretty mean to all -- the the degree that at one time i outfitted her with 'Bumper Bits'. (Ideal 236 is a hybrid of Leghorn)--- The 236 personality was nothing like the CL. Are you talking, for your flock only females? or are you including male in the personality analysis?

I've never had Bantam breeds, however, my Isbars are pretty small chickens (that lay big eggs)-- and I would say in one pen where the breeds are mixed -- the Isbars dominate the Legbar.

Keep us up to date with what you find out and what you decide. Most folks love the CL temperament.

Cat's Meow - Smiles!
Our friends didn't have a good experience with Sexlinks or specialized layers - they became quite aggressive toward flockmates and had to be isolated in their own pen - plus there were problems with the large egg layers - prolapse, eggbound, etc of which all had died within a year. The poor dears just layed eggs too often and too large.

Over the years I've had RIR, NHR, Calif Gray, Babcock Leg, White Leg, Buff Leg, Marans, BR, Ameraucana, Dom, Breda, and Silkies. Only had two roos in all those breeds and they were re-homed so hens is what I keep since crowing roos are not popular in our neighborhood. Personally I would rather hear the occasional rooster crowing over a non-stop barking neighbor dog for two solid hours or a dog that drags their metal food dish around the patio at 1:00 a.m. - grates on the nerves. But I never hear roosters crowing or chickens cackling at 1:00 a.m. from their coops!!!

It's starting to seem like CLs are not going to fit our flock. CLs have the Leg breed history so therefore will have the more skittery temperaments and of course Legs are very vocal and not the ideal bird for a tiny yard like ours. I have not had the best experience with Leg breeds - assertive & noisy. The weight of a CL is also heavier than I wanted since we are keeping the breed weights 5-lb-&-under. DH loves his Silkies so it limits the type of LFs we can add.

Hatchery Leghorns are nut cases....generally. A real Leghorn is quite big and although flighty is not aggressive ....as a rule. You can't name a breed and say they will behave a certain way, as each strain behaves differently. One rule is that most Mediterraneans are more flighty than a larger breeds, but usually not aggressive. I have large fowl with bantams, but I know how they will act with each other before I put them together. I don't share this often, but I have black Silkies and I don't keep them with any other breed, as the ones I have are exhibition Silkies that can't really see like a normal chicken because of the crests. You don't put a bird with impaired vision with birds that can see in all directions.

Walt

Hi Walt - I love Leghorns for too many reasons to list - but trust me - Leghorns from ANYWHERE eventually become nutcases. My folks raised Babcocks and we've had a White and one Buff Leg. Our White Leg was from a breeder and she was quite large, beautiful white sheen, with the traditional large red floppy comb. We considered ourselves lucky to have her stay a kind alpha for 3 years and the Partridge Silkie always hung around with her. But true to Leghorn aggressiveness the White Leg started to behave obnoxiously forcing other hens out of nestboxes, out of dust-bath holes, away from the feed dishes, displaying roo-ish behavior of jumping on littles and holding them down viciously, etc. We gave her a couple weeks to settle down but since the flock dynamics hadn't changed, neither did she when she was re-introduced so we had to re-home her into a friend's Leghorn flock where she fit in. We hoped the Buff Leghorn specially bred for us by a breeder would be a different temperament but at 1-yr-old she started displaying her Leg temperament of chasing and cannibalizing the combs, crests, beards, and muffs of the smaller breeds because they were too gentle to retaliate. Our Leghorns as pullets were handled and socialized indoors as pets before integration into the outdoor flock but it made no difference in their adult temperament. I understand exhibition Silkies need to be kept in pristine condition. But our Silkies are free-ranging seasoned littles that do not have flowing crests that impair their vision. Our two will nibble each other's feathers just around their eyes so vision impairment is not an issue and give us hours of pleasure watching them emerge from cubbies with spider webs, weeds, or straw in their "hair" - so vision impairment has not been our excuse to keep them from LF. Our LF Breda and Ameraucana are twice bigger than the Silkies but are respectfully submissive to the two older littles. Our Leghorns and Marans were not kind or respectful toward the Silkies or the Ameraucana but escalated into obnoxious behavior progressively getting away with bad behavior. So forgive me for a mild disagreement about classifying or generalizing distinct temperaments in appointed breeds - there will be the occasional anomalous individual that doesn't fit a breed description but a lot of feedback from owners starts displaying an emerging pattern of behavior or temperament in certain breeds. There's nothing grossly bad about certain breeds inherent temperaments - it's just a working tool to help us backyarders use the information to form the type of flock we want for our backyard. Some people want egg-layer flocks, some want dual purpose, some want to exhibit, some want pets, some want to preserve a rare breed, etc., and the more we share our experiences it helps others to build on that info.

Thank you to Sylvester for asking these questions and to all who have answered. My three CL pullets (not only my first CLs, but my first chickens) are approaching POL, and I couldn't possibly try to predict their overall flock temperament with other chickens based on their current behavior as a pretty closely bonded trio. I'll be adding a younger cockerel (soon, I hope! Gotta finish that coop!), and later some younger pullets, and I find myself wondering how they will be.

KPenley, your stories are instructive with regard to flock dynamics and remind me to be cautious in reintroductions to the flock...

- Ant Farm

Hi FAF - It sounds like you won't have issues with your CLs if they are the exclusive breed in your yard. It's when there's a mixed breed flock that we found it paid off for us to research in advance. Because we were zoned for 5 hens only we thought we would make a colorful egg basket with one hen that layed blue eggs, one chocolate eggs, one white eggs, one pink eggs, with a couple bantams thrown in, etc. Little did we realize at the start that mixing these various egg color breeds was not going to make a peaceful flock blend and just because I was familiar with Leghorns didn't mean they would make a good flock mix with any old other breed I tossed into the yard. So now I concentrate on good flock compatibility rather than choosing breeds just for egg color or just because a bird has "pretty" feathers. For people who sell eggs at the Farmers Markets it pays for them to have breeds that lay different egg colors but they also probably have the land space to keep the breeds individually penned from each other and to keep the egg breeds pure. I agree - KPenley has been very kind with responses.

This raises a question/desire for clarification, regarding the term "flighty". It seems that it means different things to different people. Some seem to use it as a general term to imply undesirable or non-social behavior, or not liking humans at all and being hard to handle/keep. Others use it to mean, well, "flighty", meaning they fly well and are also predator-alert.

I would describe my CLs as flighty using the second meaning. They don't beg to be cuddled like puppies, but they are pretty sweet with me and like to be on my lap when I put them there (and one loves to sit on my shoulder). But they can fly very well, and run for cover quickly (appropriately) when something startles them. I wouldn't describe them as flighty in a negative sense (undesirable behavior). And I wouldn't want someone to think that CL behavior is undesirable if the term flighty is used...

How do other folks use the term "flighty" and how do you think it is interpreted?

- Ant Farm

Yes, the term "flighty" has different interpretations. I originally thought it meant the birds liked to fly out of the yard

which I suppose it still can mean that. But over time I think it has come to mean kooky, spooky, jittery, jumpy, wary, alert, skittish, runs in fear, flies to heights to escape flapping tarps and airplane shadows - just about anything. Of course there are birds that ARE good flyers and it's recommended to keep some breeds with a netted pen since they love to fly out of the yard and will if not confined like Fayoumis, Hamburgs, Icelandics, some agile bantam breeds, etc. For my descriptions of breed behavior I omit using the term "flighty" and try to narrow it down to kooky, spooky, jittery, jumpy, wary, skittish, alert, etc, or the best term to describe a definite behavior. I love your assessment of CLs. When our various juveniles were kept in-house before introduction to the outdoors we found most of them very fun like puppies. As juvies many breeds have the tendency to come sit on a shoulder - especially towards dusk at roost time which makes them a cuddly pet. I had one that at end of day would jump onto my computer bench and sit next to me letting me pet her until I eventually picked her up and carried her to her dog kennel - it became a ritual and of course endeared her to me. To this day she is one of my most outgoing and approachable outdoor hens.

I've had CLB's for several years now and from several different breeders because of moving countries. All the birds I have and had in the past have been great birds temp wise, The run in a mixed flock except for breeding season when I need the eggs to be pure not mixed. The Roosters aren't very aggressive to other birds, they often just hang out with the other roosters dust bathing.

I have Banties in my mixed flock and young birds my CLB's just leave them alone. One Bantie hen has decided she's taken a real shine to my CLB Rooster and she's decided she's one of his hens. She bosses the other CLB hens around but also shows them where all the best foraging spots are. And they have excepted her as one of the gang without a problem.

I don't find them aggressive towards humans and if any bird was they would be in the oven real quick as I have kids in and outta the runs and handling the birds all the time. They often come up and sit in your lap and eat bread from your hand if offered. I think there a great breed. I do as a rule handle all my birds especially the young birds.

Wonderful personal assessment of your birds and exactly the kind of information that is useful to me. It sounds like you have more yard space than our little cottage yard so there's more area for your breeds to break up into cliques. With only 5 birds allowed in our yard we don't have that luxury. We currently have 4 birds and they have to be their own clique so it's important the breeds are not overly sized or assertive to become bullies like our Marans and Leghorns were to the point they were re-homed.
Roo info is not useful in my case since we aren't zoned for roos but still good to know for general knowledge. Thank you.

Flighty to me and the people I associate with means that they are nervous birds and generally are not very social to humans.
That does not mean they are mean birds. Mean birds generally have no problem coming up to humans as they are not afraid of much. Flighty in my my world means if you go into their cage they will run or will be bouncing off the ceiling.

Walt

Hi Walt - nervous - that is another good word to add to my list and very appropriate to describe some breeds. Greenfire Farms was never a fan of bantam chickens because of bouncing off ceilings or flying at you in fear when entering their pens. So I was pleasantly surprised when GFF (who isn't a fan of bantams) wrote a very favourable review of the Olandsk Dwarf temperament when they first imported them.

This is how I would describe flighty too, only my juveniles are also quite talented in the flight department. I don't know if it's just weight with age that makes flying more difficult or not, but they do seem to settle down a lot after reaching POL of 12-18 months for cocks. After handling and treats, my birds near 6 months birds will approach and wait for a treat, but they can still fly quite well if I drop a waterer by accident or startle them in some other way. Like ChicKat I have found that CL are not usually top of the pecking order. My Lucy is at the bottom in the Barnevelder pen, but she accepts her position and is fine.

I have found pullets are the most adventurous exploring heights and depths and also the time when many get injuries to wings or legs or toes or broken necks, etc. Just this past month I've received stories of two juvie birds needing wing amputations and one losing a foot at the ankle. Our friend's jittery cockerel broke his neck struggling when all he had to do was back up to get free. One of our Silkies pulled out a couple toenails that will never grow back because she obsessively scratched the bottom of the nestbox wood into splinters (we had to plexiglass the bottom of the nestboxes to avoid future injury). But as you say age and putting on weight seems to settle chickens down except for sudden noises or flapping tarps or howling wind that sends them into a panic to run for shelter.

I have chickens that can fly like pheasants, but I can walk up to them without any commotion or attempts to fly. Flighty=nervous bird.

Walt

Great descriptor that I will add to my list of definitions!

Yes - and my CLs are not "flighty" by that definition.

- Ant Farm

Your birds don't sound negative to me and perhaps rather than terming the word "flighty" you might like to say that your birds are good flyers but by no means are the type that would leave the yard. We had a Leghorn that I would never describe as "flighty" because of it's negative connotation. But I did describe her as a bird who could fly well and jump up onto patio furniture and benches and even fly to the coop roof but she never left the yard even though it would've been an easy thing for her to do.

I agree with Walt Flighty is a nervous or easily spooked bird

Since the word "flighty" has so many different descriptors maybe it's best to just go ahead and use the better descriptors like nervous, spooky, kooky, jumpy, jittery, etc etc.

My lot are really vegged out the majority of the time, sure if a fox or the neighbors dogs about they get a bit jumpy, but there not worried by much else. If I want to catch one in particular I just walk up to them calling there name n have a bit of a convo with them n pick them up. No running around squawking, when its bed time if its there day to be out roaming around the farm yard n gardens I just call them by there names and they come in from where ever they are busy foraging.

I don't keep a specific time of day for when I want them in. Often they only get part of a day free ranging so its not just by routine that they come in. Its the same with all my chooks, they have part of there days in a large pen and part free ranging.

If I'm relaxed with them they are the same back with me. If I go in hyped up and upset at something they sense it as well. Its the same with all the animals here.

Good points!

 

[Bawk]

I have chickens that can fly like pheasants, but I can walk up to them without any commotion or attempts to fly. Flighty=nervous bird.

Walt

Oh wow. Mine are very calm and if we sit on a crate in the run, they will jump in our laps, settle down. Try that with dried mealy worms ;-) But mine are 2 1/2 months old. It is the Brabanter who is more shy and flies all over the pen if we reach near him.

 

[allpeepedout]

Hi all -

For blue eggs we have a Blue Wheaten Amer who was a great layer her first year. She dropped off dramatically her 2nd year and so has our friend's Amers and EEs. Our SoCalif weather has been hot/humid for several solid weeks and I'm sure that's a big part of lack of production but still our older Silkies have out-produced our younger Amer!!! We've decided not to get any more muffed pea-combed chickens (Amers, EEs, Russ Orloffs, Barthuhner, etc) since they don't seem to do very well in our climate. So, for blue eggs, my interest is once again turned to CLs.

Anyone have input as to CL temperament consistency or are they all over the page like Marans - widely varied in temperament from calm to aggressive/combative? We have 5-lb-&-under gentle breeds (Amer, Breda, Silkies) and wonder if a 6-lb CLs might be too assertive around such gentle breeds? We've been avoiding breeds with Leghorn in the history (like the CL) because of the possibility of the assertive Leg temperament showing up but if you all can freely share your long experience with CLs in a flock with smaller gentler breeds I'd love to hear it! I need to hear the good and the bad regarding temperament. We've had bad experience with aggressive Leghorns and heavy Marans bullying our littles.

Also, like Amers, I understand there's always the possibility of greenish rather than truer blue eggs with CLs (not really a problem for us but still would like to hear your input). Many thanks!

It's hard to draw conclusions from a small sample, but here's my experience, FWIW. In June, I got two Cream Legbar chicks from Meyer, with a variety of other rare breeds. One of the CLs was among the my most friendly chicks, and the other, among my most people-fearful. I would not describe either as nervous or flighty in the least, except the fearful one would would get dramatic to avoid being handled. I did not force it, and that one is more agreeable now.

The chicks are now 12 weeks and I have integrated them into my older flock, which includes two very passive, low-ranking EEs. The CLs get along well with others. The CLs have shown no aggression, and one has been accepted on the "big chicken" roost with the senior hens. Before reading this thread, I had made a mental note that I think CLs may be one of the better breeds for integrating with an existing flock. In fact, relative to some others, I would describe them as "unflappable." My two both seem to be very sensible, calm, steady eddies, in my limited experience. They sit back and observe while the other chicks react and make a fuss.

I, too, wanted smaller birds, strictly layers. Meyer lists their mature CL hens as 5 lbs, not 6. Too early for me to report on egg color.