Cream Legbars

[sol2go]

How old was the pullet that laid the 64g egg?

My EE that took the longest to lay (her sisters started at 6 and 7 months) layed her first egg at 8 months and has steadily layed 64-66g eggs every week since. So while her POL was much later, her eggs have been significantly larger.

I have wondered if that correlates in general, or just the luck of the draw this time.

 

[sol2go]

Hi Nicalandia, I am still having trouble mentally picturing the differences you have talked about regarding a silver crele and a cream crele. What are the tell-tale signs to distinguish two birds phenotypes so you know what their genotypes are?

Do you have photographs of two different roosters with two copies of the barring gene (to eliminate the double vs single barring variable) of a silver crele vs a creme crele. It would be extremely helpful for me to see these guys with my eyeball since I just can't translate the letters and plus signs into a mental image. Thanks in advance!

My thoughts exactly, I'll look forward to Nicalandia's photo samples.

Besides our cream crele discussions, are there other examples of cream to look at?
I have a white hen of an unknown mix with tiny yellow markings woven into her neck feathers - cream? probably not?

 

[ChicKat]

My thoughts exactly, I'll look forward to Nicalandia's photo samples.

Besides our cream crele discussions, are there other examples of cream to look at?
I have a white hen of an unknown mix with tiny yellow markings woven into her neck feathers - cream? probably not?

Scroll down and see some of the shades of cream:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Brab/BRKBrabanter.html

 

[lonnyandrinda]

How old was the pullet that laid the 64g egg?

My EE that took the longest to lay (her sisters started at 6 and 7 months) layed her first egg at 8 months and has steadily layed 64-66g eggs every week since. So while her POL was much later, her eggs have been significantly larger.

I have wondered if that correlates in general, or just the luck of the draw this time.

All three of my pullets hatched mid-September, so they are about 5 1/2 months. I think you just got lucky. Plus with EEs you often have "hybrid vigor" meaning a cross often grows larger than either of its parents- and often lays larger eggs, too.

My thoughts exactly, I'll look forward to Nicalandia's photo samples.

Besides our cream crele discussions, are there other examples of cream to look at?
I have a white hen of an unknown mix with tiny yellow markings woven into her neck feathers - cream? probably not?

Probably not. White is usually a dominant color- that's why they say you can never breed sexlinks from a white chicken- you have no idea what the white is really hiding and it will come out in the offspring, masking the sexlinking ability.

 

[dretd]

How old was the pullet that laid the 64g egg?

My EE that took the longest to lay (her sisters started at 6 and 7 months) layed her first egg at 8 months and has steadily layed 64-66g eggs every week since.  So while her POL was much later, her eggs have been significantly larger.  

I have wondered if that correlates in general, or just the luck of the draw this time.

Here is a link to a really old but well done experiment about crossing RIR and Leghorns to see what advantages there were in hybridization (turns out a a lot ) this was when they were developing the concept of sex-links. http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB252.pdf .

On page 17-18 they reference Lippencott and go on to discuss egg size of the various lines and hybrids but also talk about egg size with regard to the age at which they start laying.. They said there was a positive correlation between egg size and the hens age at maturity (when they first lay). In other words, the older the pullet was when she laid her first egg, the larger the egg will be that she will produce.

 

[dretd]

Scroll down and see some of the shades of cream:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Brab/BRKBrabanter.html

Thank you for the link! I have never really looked at this breed before- the last chick picture is super-cute.

There is much more variation in the color of the cream than I was expecting. The darkest is really a buff or lemony color not as pale as the lightest of the cream. Certainly no where near the silvery color that was held up as an example of ideal CL cock.

So now I am completely confused, because looking back as some of the photos of the CL that were deemed to have too much color, they seem to have the same amount and tone of the buff/lemon ( I'm not talking the ginger/ red ) on their hackles as the Brebanter example. So maybe it comes down to not the amount of color, per se, but the tone of the color being chestnut (brown) which is ok verses ginger ( which is red) which is not ok.

This is really an interesting discussion!

 

[ChicKat]

Thank you for the link! I have never really looked at this breed before- the last chick picture is super-cute.

There is much more variation in the color of the cream than I was expecting. The darkest is really a buff or lemony color not as pale as the lightest of the cream. Certainly no where near the silvery color that was held up as an example of ideal CL cock.

So now I am completely confused, because looking back as some of the photos of the CL that were deemed to have too much color, they seem to have the same amount and tone of the buff/lemon ( I'm not talking the ginger/ red ) on their hackles as the Brebanter example. So maybe it comes down to not the amount of color, per se, but the tone of the color being chestnut (brown) which is ok verses ginger ( which is red) which is not ok.

This is really an interesting discussion!

I think that the Barbanter is an interesting bird also. They remind me of something Dr. Seuss would draw. Somewhere, I don't know exactly where I saw illustrations of them, and there were some that looked white..(although I believe that there is a white variety...) -- But cream -- should be --- well....cream. It seem Barbanters are really rare in the USA....maybe a trip to the European threads would shed some light. :O) (yes it is conflusing)

Found some more:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...urce=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=SBE6UebtMYWQ2AWk84GwCg

Here is the illustration of the white-looking creams. Artist Diane Jacky is a famous artist who does poultry and pigeons.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...er_chickens_pillow-189947228142360913;512;512

 

[HaplessRunner]

The results of my first hatching experience:

Eggs: 8 cream legbar eggs were obtained from Warner Ranch in CA on ebay (warnerranch1). Excellent fertility and shipping. Thanks, Tracy!

Candling @ Day 7: One egg was culled due to failure to develop. Eggtopsey indicated a bloody ring and failure to develop further. The other 7 are doing fine.

Candling @ Day 14: Everything progressing well for the 7 remaining eggs.

Candling @ Day 18: Everything progressing well - all 7 eggs go into lock down.

Day 21 - Hatching day: One chick hatched normally without difficulty.
Another pipped in middle of egg & was experiencing difficulty. After 4-5 hours, intervened to assist in hatching.
Remaining 5 eggs do not show any signs/sounds of pipping.

Day 22 - Eggtopseys: 4/5 eggs indicated too much air space. Chicks had not pieced inner membranes. All were well developed. All were deceased. (sigh)
1/5 eggs indicated reasonable air space but the head was in small end of egg.

Lessons learned: Will have to ensure that humidity levels are maintained higher.

I am disappointed and saddened for the loss but I have two chicks that seem to be doing well and will try again. I still have Swedish flower hens, ameraucanas and EOs in the incubator. We learn as we go, and try to do better the next time. Cheers!

 

[ChicKat]

Congratulations on the two.... sorry for the losses....and as you say - there is always the next time.

 

[dretd]

The results of my first hatching experience:

Day 22 - Eggtopseys: 4/5 eggs indicated too much air space. Chicks had not pieced inner membranes. All were well developed. All were deceased. (sigh)
1/5 eggs indicated reasonable air space but the head was in small end of egg.

Lessons learned: Will have to ensure that humidity levels are maintained higher.

I am disappointed and saddened for the loss but I have two chicks that seem to be doing well and will try again. I still have Swedish flower hens, ameraucanas and EOs in the incubator. We learn as we go, and try to do better the next time. Cheers!

Too bad about the low hatch rate and I am sorry for your hatching difficulties! Its really hard to put so much energy into the little guys and then have them fail to hatch at the very end

I have tried 3 different batches of shipped eggs and had similar experiences. I have come to the conclusion that no development at all=shipping trauma or poor fertility and good development with no hatch=incubation issues. I have eggs on order for a broody to hatch to eliminate that variable.

Good luck with your others still in the incubator!