Cream Legbars

[faykokoWV]

Are these out of the old Greenfire line, or the New one?

these are lines A and B

 

[CibolaChooks]

thank you for the feedback. sadly, the last roo has the lightest hackles and the best crest... but the worst tail. I have 6 cockerels. These guys are all late September 2012 hatches from GFF, so you are correct, still a little young and should fill in a lot more. I thought I might be able to go ahead and sell three of them and was trying to decide which three. If I could just combine the best features of each into the perfect bird lol

If i was you i would use the last pic male in front. he has the best ear lobes as far as i can tell they are (Ear-lobes well developed, pendent, smooth and free from folds). everyone wants to worry worry worry about color. ive always been told to successfully breed quality birds i should work on form/type before color. Even if these only carry a single cream gene it looks to me like he has the best comb ( Comb single, perfectly straight and erect, large but not overgrown, deeply and evenly serrated (5 to 7 spikes broad at the base), extending well beyond back of the head and following, without touching), Also in the last pic rooster in front from what i can tell his body looks good ( Body wedge shaped, wide at the shoulders and narrowing slightly to root of tail. Back long, flat and sloping slightly to the tail. Breast prominent, and breast bone straight) and the last thing i think i can see about the rooster in the last pic in front is all the other boys tails are high. as far as i can tell his looks to be at a 45 from the line of the back. . (Tail moderately full at an angle of 45 degrees from the line of the back.) If i was you even though you say his tail looks the worst at least it looks to be at the correct angle. i would use the roo in the last pic one in front

 

[CibolaChooks]

so if you had to choose, would you choose one with the correct tail angle or the correct coloring? or maybe keep one of each? I guess I'm asking, which is easier to fix over time?

you can do what you want lol. but everyone has there own way. Ive always been told by the people who ( i ) consider pros that form always comes before color.If you work on your form or type per description and get perfect type down. all you have to do is go to all these other people working on color be really picky in purchasing some cream colored chicks from parents with decent body type and when you breed back into your perfect form/Type birds with good culling you will get your show quality cream legbars

 

[CibolaChooks]

 

[CibolaChooks]

I finally got some pictures of some of my birds and thought I'd share. The girls refused to come out of the coop. They are spending more time inside now that a few of them have started laying. I'll keep working on getting some of them. Critique of these boys would be much appreciated!

Ya i keep going back to look if the roo with the pullet and the one in this last pic (roo in front) are the same male i would use him for sure. if they are different males i would get rid of the other four and see which of these two will produce quality in your different pairings with your hens. If they are the same roo i would use him for sure for sure. go back an look at all the pics , even the ones people are drooling over. there is a huge problem with small crunchy folded miss shaped looking earlobes. this roo top pic and bottom in front is the best all around as far as i would say. i would use him with your hens with the best tails crest and earlobes.

 

[1muttsfan]

As Steen said, when developing a breed that has a limited number type should be the most important consideration - keeping in mind you should not keep any blatently mismarked birds. Color and crests also can be fixed within a generation or two, once type has been established. Avoid birds with incorrect combs, it is hard to get rid of. Another consideration should be egg color and number - which is unfortunately very difficult to determine until you have grown pullets out of a male. You may want to consider the color of the egg the rooster hatched from as part of their evaluation, if you are having a hard time selecting between males. I hope my young boys give me such a nice selection to pick from!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

If the tail was filled in beautifully, but just being carried high, I would choose correct coloring. But if you're dealing with wry, split, disqualifying traits in the tail, I'd fix the tail. Both color and body type are equally important. iow... if the bird isn't cream, it's not a show worthy Cream Legbar.

Good advice.

It is true to build the barn first THEN paint it, BUT if there is no cream present AT ALL it will be very difficult to bring back in. Remember visually there is no difference between one cream gene and no creme gene- there must be two to be visually apparent because it is a recessive gene. Cull for DQs first, like wry tail, split wing, comb sprigs, wrong color legs, extreme coloration, etc. From there choose the one with the best body type and last the best color. But at the same time you just have to work with what you have sometimes. Remember I started with a squirrel tailed, overly colored rooster with pale legs- and now I have his cream based son with a high but not terribly high tail. Hopefully now that the color is better I can focus on picking a new rooster with a better tail for next year. We will see what the next generation brings!

Dad on the left, son on the right (at about 4 1/2 months if I remember right):


More recent picture of the son (6 1/2 months):


In addition to his tail I need to work on the comb. His blade is too "flyaway" at the back, needs to follow the head more like that one I commented on of yours.

 

[KPenley]

Hugger's tail is growing in beautifully. Heather and I were just talking recently about those lesser sickles seeming to be missing in most of the roos we were seeing, but Hugger's got them! WooHoo! Have you ever measured his tail angle caged? I think it was Walt who was saying that it was in show form that the angle mattered, not walking around the yard.

 

[nicalandia]

Good advice.

It is true to build the barn first THEN paint it, BUT if there is no cream present AT ALL it will be very difficult to bring back in. Remember visually there is no difference between one cream gene and no creme gene- there must be two to be visually apparent because it is a recessive gene. Cull for DQs first, like wry tail, split wing, comb sprigs, wrong color legs, extreme coloration, etc. From there choose the one with the best body type and last the best color. But at the same time you just have to work with what you have sometimes. Remember I started with a squirrel tailed, overly colored rooster with pale legs- and now I have his cream based son with a high but not terribly high tail. Hopefully now that the color is better I can focus on picking a new rooster with a better tail for next year. We will see what the next generation brings!

Dad on the left, son on the right (at about 4 1/2 months if I remember right):


More recent picture of the son (6 1/2 months):


In addition to his tail I need to work on the comb. His blade is too "flyaway" at the back, needs to follow the head more like that one I commented on of yours.

you did a tremendous and admirable job at bringing the Right color that boy of yours have an exceptional color to it.. and you are right, painting the barn is an analogy that will not apply here if the cream gene is lost in the process.. keep the good work and you´ll have your reward soon enough

 

[CibolaChooks]

you did a tremendous and admirable job at bringing the Right color that boy of yours have an exceptional color to it.. and you are right, painting the barn is an analogy that will not apply here if the cream gene is lost in the process.. keep the good work and you´ll have your reward soon enough

there's no loosing the cream gene in the process if faykokoWV boys have the cream gene then they have it no matter which roo she picks assuming they are all brothers from their first batch. And if that's the case we should help her paint the barn since she asked for a critique especially since none of us know not even faykokoWV what her pairings will produce. And if her pairings produce gold offspring that shows they have lost the cream gene then there is nothing else left for her to do with her stock other than build the barn and introduce color later.

Just like lonnyandrinda post above shows faykokoWV has just as good of a chance of getting cream colored offspring as lonyandrinda did from their roo as they described was "Remember I started with a squirrel tailed, overly colored rooster with pale legs- and now I have his cream based son" so they left it out there that its possible faykokoWV just has single cream gene birds. I think we should encourage type first but that's just my opinion