Cream Legbars

[lonnyandrinda]

ANOTHER cockerel hatch... must be year of the rooster for me... this time I got 14:7. Two eggs still in the incubator but not much hope for them. I guess that's better than last time's 10:2....

 

[harriedhomemaker]

ANOTHER cockerel hatch... must be year of the rooster for me... this time I got 14:7. Two eggs still in the incubator but not much hope for them. I guess that's better than last time's 10:2...

At least Stinky the vulture will be happy.

Are any of the cockerels lighter this time?

 

[lonnyandrinda]

LOL Yes he will. There are one or two that are light but have that cinnamon tinge to them. I may grow them on I'm thinking about it. The last two that I grew on, one had cinnamon tint and one did not. The one born with cinnamon tint is going to have a lot of red on him. The one without has less but still not what I was hoping for.



Left baby as of 2 weeks ago:


Right baby as of 2 weeks ago:


Every where you see brown spots is flaming red now on that yellow band boy. I may snag one of the cinnamon ones to grow out just to confirm my theory.

 

[ChicKat]

The crest color on the hen was listed as Cream in the UK standard. Before their first adult molt I guess any color goes, but after the molt the color should be cream. All of my hen had wider base color (gold, golden, or cream) after their fall molt than the did as laying pullets. I was thinking that I had seen some pullets with the cream colored crests, but now and seeing most the dark grey crests. So...all I can say in the look and what crest color the adult birds have and anything that produces that goes.

I think GaryDean26 forgot the other color(s) in the crest:

Plumage, Female : Neck hackles cream, softly barred grey. Breast salmon, well defined in outline. Body silver-grey, with rather indistinct broad soft barring. Wings, primaries grey-peppered; secondaries very faintly barred; coverts silver grey. Tail silver grey, faintly barred. Crest cream and grey, some chestnut permissible.

Here are some links to hens/pullets with barred crests that are lighter:
http://blue-eggs.co.uk/#/cream-legbar-photos/4554699814 --> check out slide 7 of 8. I think that this site is Jill Rees in the UK and she and her birds have won top prizes in UK.

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/cream-legbar/ ---> Link to Greenfire Farms - beautiful birds.

Who knows after reviewing these, I may change my mind... I really like Greenfire AND - they will have a line of Jill Rees birds selling here in the USA in Spring of 2014. You know you are dealing with a very reputable and experienced poultry provider. Add to that that Greenfire Farms introduced CLs to the USA and they are working hard on behalf of the breed here. Sheesh, I sound like an advertisement don't I? -- Anyway - that could be the future of the bird here in the states.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I think GaryDean26 forgot the other color(s) in the crest:

Plumage, Female : Neck hackles cream, softly barred grey. Breast salmon, well defined in outline. Body silver-grey, with rather indistinct broad soft barring. Wings, primaries grey-peppered; secondaries very faintly barred; coverts silver grey. Tail silver grey, faintly barred. Crest cream and grey, some chestnut permissible.

Here are some links to hens/pullets with barred crests that are lighter:
http://blue-eggs.co.uk/#/cream-legbar-photos/4554699814 --> check out slide 7 of 8. I think that this site is Jill Rees in the UK and she and her birds have won top prizes in UK.

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/cream-legbar/ ---> Link to Greenfire Farms - beautiful birds.

Who knows after reviewing these, I may change my mind... I really like Greenfire AND - they will have a line of Jill Rees birds selling here in the USA in Spring of 2014. You know you are dealing with a very reputable and experienced poultry provider. Add to that that Greenfire Farms introduced CLs to the USA and they are working hard on behalf of the breed here. Sheesh, I sound like an advertisement don't I? -- Anyway - that could be the future of the bird here in the states.

The blue eggs website belongs to Sue, not Jill, but they are both considered top CL breeders in the UK.

 

[GaryDean26]

Ya...slide 7 is what I was looking at at the beginning of the hatching season (Pullet with Cream Crest) and thinking was required. Slide 4 is what I saw a few weeks ago (pullet with dark gray crest) so I now think I will just wait and see what they look like after everyone moults this fall before I evaluate any colors on the crests.

 

[dretd]

Ya...slide 7 is what I was looking at at the beginning of the hatching season (Pullet with Cream Crest) and thinking was required. Slide 4 is what I saw a few weeks ago (pullet with dark gray crest) so I now think I will just wait and see what they look like after everyone moults this fall before I evaluate any colors on the crests.

I personally don't like the pure cream crest as well. The standard calls for gray and cream with some chestnut ok, so having only cream is not a good thing IMHO.

The other think to bring up, which I know has been stated before, is that the rooster in slide 4 has a fallen-over crest. This is a serious fault though not a DQ. The color is awesome on that roo, but I have a philosophical problem with breeding a rooster that has a serious defect.

I know a lot of breeders in other breeds have a pullet pen and a cockerel pen and only show the one sex from each pen because the opposites are not show quality and may be marginal examples of the breed. I guess a breeder needs to decide if they are breeding to win at shows (two breeding pens-one for each sex) or if they are breeding to improve the breed (may have two or three different pens for diversity but each example bird in the pen is highest quality possible). Personally I would prefer to see breeding towards the standard for the entire line as that is the only way to really improve the breed. In these early stages of developing the CL in the US, (again IMHO) it is essential to breed all birds to the ideal or serious defects (which should be culled) will be stamped in and it will be very hard to get breed uniformity to the ideal let alone gain APA acceptance.

 

[harriedhomemaker]

LOL Yes he will. There are one or two that are light but have that cinnamon tinge to them. I may grow them on I'm thinking about it. The last two that I grew on, one had cinnamon tint and one did not. The one born with cinnamon tint is going to have a lot of red on him. The one without has less but still not what I was hoping for.






Every where you see brown spots is flaming red now on that yellow band boy. I may snag one of the cinnamon ones to grow out just to confirm my theory.

Very interesting! One of my cockerels also looked a bit more cinnamon compared to my lighter, yellower boy. I'll see if this theory holds for him as well.

 

[sol2go]

You are bringing up some core questions......

1. Lines: Should there be two lines in the breeding plan?? One for hens and one for roosters, or should the breed "sacrifice" some of the gender characteristics to get a moderate type of bird that produces both sexes from one line? I think that if we are to keep a heritage type bird, we probably should avoid saying I breed this pen of birds for males and this line of birds for females...and I know that may be just me..cause there is a lot of that.
2. Crest Colors: Some people think that the crest should be light and dark barred like some of the UK examples. So I think that perhaps there are the dark (charcoal/black) the light (chestnut/red) and the very barred (white/black or gray) with some chestnut permissible. Tough call. I like the dark ones best personally.
3. Congratulations on the eggs--- any charts to identify colors?

Thanks ChicKat et al for the crest/comb discussion.
1) Lines: I understand that it is important to breed to a standard, so how that standard is set is important too. I hadn't really thought of CCL's as a heritage breed, more of a university experiment to prove that the pea comb could be separated from the blue egg gene and create the convenience of an autosexing line. Just a discussion point.
2) Crest colors: if it is up for discussion, and if it is genetically possible, I'm all for variations in crest color. While there are many favorable aspects to the CCL, at a distance, the hen color is not very striking. In fact, I was admiring how well they blend in with the tree trunks and shadows in my orchard when they are free-ranging. To appreciate the feathering and patterns requires a closer inspection. A little variation on the crest, whether due to fullness and/or color, might be fun to breed, "showy" to look at, and helpful to differentiate individual birds.
3) thanks for reminding me! my OAC chart is here...somewhere! I need to pull it out and see what I have =)

 

[ChicKat]

Personally I would prefer to see breeding towards the standard for the entire line as that is the only way to really improve the breed. In these early stages of developing the CL in the US, (again IMHO) it is essential to breed all birds to the ideal or serious defects (which should be culled) will be stamped in and it will be very hard to get breed uniformity to the ideal let alone gain APA acceptance.

Kind of the approach that I favor as well. It seems that splitting on sex for show-ring wins kind of makes it two different breeds. I know that isn't the true semantics....but I'm thinking the same way - -- lines for genetic diversity - but only the best from each line would go forward in the gene pool. Maybe the difference in approach isn't that great...just seems strange to my mind. (I guess I'm kind of registered cattle orientated).