Cream Legbars

[KPenley]

Of course we all get nervous, but you have some pretty girls! I love the middle one! Do you have any pics of them from the back? They're still young, but the tails look a bit narrow. If they stay that way, look for your roo with the widest tail spread and that will help fix it

 

[Ashdoes]

Of course we all get nervous, but you have some pretty girls! I love the middle one! Do you have any pics of them from the back? They're still young, but the tails look a bit narrow. If they stay that way, look for your roo with the widest tail spread and that will help fix it

Phew! The middle girl was the one, after reading and reading, that it thought was the great one. I really like her chest and neck colors. I can get rear pics, but yeah, they're only 20 weeks. We don't plan to hatch anything til Febuary.

 

[chicken pickin]

Of course we all get nervous, but you have some pretty girls! I love the middle one! Do you have any pics of them from the back? They're still young, but the tails look a bit narrow. If they stay that way, look for your roo with the widest tail spread and that will help fix it

They are nice looking girls. I like the middle one best also she is very pretty though her earlobes look yellow, maybe it is just my computer screen.

The last one seems to have a lot of red showing through like on her wings and her breast looks more rusty red than salmon.


Do you have pics of your roos also?

 

[Ashdoes]

My Roos seem to be exactly what I'm seeing here. A bit too much color, but not excessive like when they were first started here. I have one with minimum coloring, and I think him and the cream girl would make a great match.

 

[TherryChicken]

Welcome Ashley! It kind of depends on your end goal. If you want to sell chicks that others can use as show chickens (kind of important the next 5-10 years since we're trying to get accepted into the APA), then you want to use your best birds in smart combinations to create both the best shape and color you can. ie. Don't put 2 birds together with the same problem. And cull for DQs. If you want to just sell cream colored birds and have a cream boy, I'd use the cream girl only. Does that make sense? Do you have any pics? Best wishes with your birds!

@TherryChicken: Congrats and I hope you have a wonderful hatch!

@sweetdreaming: Congrats on your chicks! I can't wait to see how they grow out!

Thank you! I'm super excited. Still no babies yet but should see some pips at any time

 

[blackbirds13]

Quote:
Nice pullets. Number 2 is especially nice with the least red around the face and neck. They are young but form wise they look promising. You will have to watch the AR as you breed forward. I am also a newbie but learning every day. I wish you luck with your endeavor, you have a great foundation to start with.

 

[blackbirds13]

These are my top 3 keepers. Mr. Hawk took my youngest hopeful this week and a Splash Marans juvenile pullet.

This is number one. His tail has to grow out for him to keep this positions but I like color, overall barring, his stance and form but his comb is not perfect but not too sloppy and in communicating with Tim A. I will take his advice and I am not going to worry about his comb at this point.


This is number 2 - good color but his comb.... egads. Watching his tail at this point but he is double gene for crests for sure.


This is number 3 and the oldest. But his saddle has a mix of gray and mostly the typical ginger barring. His comb is the best with just the anterior wrinkle but decent comb and blade



This is my oldest and faulty boy - he and his brother saved my flock and my hopes when I lost their dad to a dog attack.
His earlobes seem to be getting redder as he ages and they were always problematic. He is smaller and darker than my oldest juvenile boy and his blade seems to be slowly going wackier than before. Sad looking but he's a champ in my eyes especially since I lost Macduff to a predator.


I gotta get out and take some photos in the sunlight at some point
This is number 4 - only because I am curious about him.
HIs comb is not perfect but okay, his color is good and he seems to have overall barring, even his saddle seems to be decent. But his stance is off and his tail is odd
and the feathers seem to be going in the opposite direction. He is an odd looking chap so I want to see him grow out a bit more. My only concern is I really don't want to do any culling once the snow comes so everyone's only got a month or so left before the final cut. See the recessive white in the back I'm hoping to sneak him by the hubby this winter.... we'll see, he has a decent comb.

 

[blackbirds13]

and some of my girls

 

[KPenley]

They're looking good M! I love the dark chests in the boys, and number 2 will definitely pass on that crest

Have you tried to put number 4's feathers in the right direction? Just curious because sometimes by juveniles look silly if they've been flapping and a couple of feathers almost seem stuck up high. I can easily release them though and they go back to normal.

Pretty creamy girls too!

The combs I'm trying to preserve: They're not perfect, ie possible thumbprint on Grey's. And they do have a tiny wrinkle at the start, but so do the pics in the SOP of large combs so I'm not too worried about it right now. If possible I don't want to lose them though, since they seem straighter than many I've seen.

Grey

Lucy

 

[blackbirds13]

They're looking good M! I love the dark chests in the boys, and number 2 will definitely pass on that crest

Have you tried to put number 4's feathers in the right direction? Just curious because sometimes by juveniles look silly if they've been flapping and a couple of feathers almost seem stuck up high. I can easily release them though and they go back to normal.

Pretty creamy girls too!

The combs I'm trying to preserve: They're not perfect, ie possible thumbprint on Grey's. And they do have a tiny wrinkle at the start, but so do the pics in the SOP of large combs so I'm not too worried about it right now. If possible I don't want to lose them though, since they seem straighter than many I've seen.

Grey

Lucy

I would hold on to that boy and breed him forward with some good hens. His comb is nice and the blade is not only straight but it is not fly-away and seems to follow his head in the back as required by the SOP. This is the advice that was given to me when I asked about combs and crests -

It has been my experience that birds that have a crest/cerebral hernia and a single comb will have crooked combs because of the crest/crebral hernia. The crest or the cerebral hernia associated with the crest is causing the strange shape in the comb. I never have produced a single combed bird that had a crest where the comb was not pushed forward and crooked on the anterior end.
II do not know if it is the crest or the cerebral hernia that is causing the comb to be pushed forward and wrinkled. My best guess is that it is the cerebral hernia that is the biggest problem.
The crest gene is incompletely dominant so one gene will produce a crest but smaller than a bird that has two crest genes. If you have birds with the small crests they only carry one crest gene.
The herniated skull gene is recessive. It is possible that some legbar do not carry the gene that causes the cerebral hernia. If this is the case, any bids that do not have a herniated skull could produce better combs.
If the herniated skull is causing the problem- if you cross a male ( crooked comb) to a female with a straight comb- most or all of the offspring should have good combs. The offspring will be carriers of the herniated gene, You will not know if the offspring carry a gene or do not carry a gene. Recessive genes are not expressed unless the bird inherits two of the genes. If you cross two birds that carry one gene, then about one in four of the offspring will have herniated skulls ( cerebral hernias)..
If the crest can cause some crookedness in a comb, then birds that have smaller crests would be your best bet. If you cross a non crested bird with a crested bird, all of the offspring that have a crest would only carry one crested gene and would have smaller crests.
If you cross two birds with small crests ( they both carry one crest gene), then some of the offspring will not have crests, some will have crests like the parent and some will have larger crests.

A male would be the best because he can mate with multiple females and pass on his traits to many offspring in a short period of time. Use the sisters of the best looking male you have in your flock to breed with the new male.

For now you can not worry about the crooked comb and breed for other standard traits. If you come across a male or female that has a good comb then use the bird in your breeding plan.

I forgot to add also that a smaller comb may also help the wrinkling problem. My anecdotal work did not determine the cause of the comb problem- I was not working on that. Birds that do not have crests or herniated brains do not have the anterior crooked combs. One of them has to be the problem .

I think you have some good stuff to work with in him. I'd get him some good pullets
I can only focus on so much each year and since I cannot breed a gazillion birds I have to take each generation with a grain of salt and an eye to the future. I know the timing did not work out but I do the think we should 'get together ' next spring. The weather has slowed everyone down so much I get 2 eggs a day, plus I moved everyone again. The female legbars are all in one single coop with no males. I'm going to let them all recover and get their feathers back and their combs. I want to be able to take a good look at everyone so I can make plans for next spring.