Cream Legbars

[normanack]

Well...seeing how you can get GFF chicks for about the same price (or less for k) I don't think we have much to worry about

Agree.
Also, did you notice Meyer has included a Straight Run option as well as Male and Female? I'm not quite sure why.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

Agree.
Also, did you notice Meyer has included a Straight Run option as well as Male and Female? I'm not quite sure why.

Straight run! That is hilarious and $45.00 for a male chick is funny also.

 

[KPenley]

SR??? After they described autosexing?

I wonder if we should be kind and send a note...
On a positive note, their hen pictured looks a lot like my Lucy and she is a great egg layer and my best broody.

 

[ChicKat]

Could it be that we are giving the hatchery a needless bad rap? They will also want to have customer satisfaction and true blue layers etc. or they will reap bad feed back. It won't be everyone's cup of tea...but they have a very limited availability and a limit of two. I suspect that their website is set up that there is a blank for straight run - and they didn't put in n/a...just a wild surmise here.

Getting more information out about CLs is a good thing. At least they took the trouble to do a write up. The limit of two and the low availability could boost local people who have CLs as more folks learn about the breed. JMO

KP - hope your birds recover. IT occurs to me that you could take the birds to a vet and give the bill to the dog owners. So irresponsible. It gives the dogs a bad name. Hope they will pull through....

 

[normanack]

It is very encouraging to me that the pictures show pretty nice birds. Maybe the boy has too much chestnut and maybe there are other faults, but overall, not bad. And the limited distribution will probably build interest more quickly than if they priced them lower. Maybe that's why their price for males is so much higher than GFF -- to make the breed as a whole look worth the price. So far I think they're introducing them well.

Although when I asked why chicks which are sexable at hatch (or shortly thereafter) are being sold straight run, the rep's answer was that some of their customers prefer straight run. Um . . .

 

[Laingcroft]

Unless Meyer hatchery imported CCLs direct from the UK themselves, they probably have the same lines we're all working with --- the lines that started with Greenfire. They can legitimately call them purebred (if they didn't acquire crosses from one of the fast buck guys) but at least they aren't trying to say they are top quality or show stock.

Having been one of the people whose original 2012 stock from GFF were of the non-crested variety (at $29 for k and $99 for p), I've already dealt with the non-purebred vs. purebred issue when in fact they are all purebred. I've started over with new crested stock from Jordan Farms and GFF and plan to put the newest cockerel over the better cream of my non-crested hens, then cull offspring heavily. As we (the folks working to standardize the breed) move forward, it will become more clear what is correct and what isn't.

While I can accept high pricing from the original importer trying to recoup their importation costs and the first purchasers trying to recoup a bit of their initial investment, I have a hard time accepting a hatchery or even a breeder trying to charge those amounts at this point in time. I sold my F1 Legbars as blue egg layers. No identification of them as Legbars or anything else. I sold them at regular layer pullet prices for my area. For the few that I sold as Cream Legbars to someone who wanted to get started, they were aware that the chickens were not crested, but the buyer was okay with that. Still did not try to get those prices!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Agree.
Also, did you notice Meyer has included a Straight Run option as well as Male and Female? I'm not quite sure why.

It is very encouraging to me that the pictures show pretty nice birds. Maybe the boy has too much chestnut and maybe there are other faults, but overall, not bad. And the limited distribution will probably build interest more quickly than if they priced them lower. Maybe that's why their price for males is so much higher than GFF -- to make the breed as a whole look worth the price. So far I think they're introducing them well.

Although when I asked why chicks which are sexable at hatch (or shortly thereafter) are being sold straight run, the rep's answer was that some of their customers prefer straight run. Um . . .

I know of people in my area who sell sexable chicks as straight run- it's a grab bag option. You stick your hand in a box with just enough of an opening for a hand and whichever chick you grab is "it" regardless of gender. Maybe this is their idea. You are *hoping* to get more pullets than cockerels for a lower price. IMO it's not worth it when you can just buy the number of pullets you want.

 

[GaryDean26]

Having been one of the people whose original 2012 stock from GFF were of the non-crested variety (at $29 for k and $99 for p), I've already dealt with the non-purebred vs. purebred issue when in fact they are all purebred.

I feel that statement can be missleading if used in the wrong context.

One of the most basic definitions of a "Purebred" flock, is that it has all its traits fixed in place. If you have two copies of the cresting gene in all your flock, your flock is pure breed for cresting. If all of your flock members have two copies of the blue egg gene it is pure breed for blue eggs, etc. If it lays blue eggs, but some breeders only have one copy of the blue egg gene the flock is NOT pure breed for blue eggs. If the flock is all crested, but some breeders only have one copy of the cresting gene, it is NOT purebred for cresting.

Generally speaking, if you start with a stock from a breed that has all its traits fixed in place and you don't do any outbreeding then your flock remains purebred. While I agree that ALL of the birds from the GFF imports are Cream Legbars and that all posterity from them that has not be outbreed are also Legbars and NOT crossbred or hybirds like some confused people are saying. I also strongly feel that non-crested Legbars, gold colored Legbars, and other non-standard birds can bring just as much to a breeding program as those that are crested, cream colored, etc. if used in smart pairings and that using them does NOT make your flock impure but rather can bring you improovments in future generation as you work towards fixing all the traits of the breed in place.

At some point in time people will achieve Cream Legbar lines from the GFF stock that are purebred (i.e. have all the traits like barring, egg color, cresting, cream color, type, size, etc. fixed in place). That is what some peope are wanting NOW when they say they want purebred Cream Legbars. So we have to be clear about what our Cream Legbars are and what they aren't. I always tell people my that ALL the Cream Legbars in North America are "project birds" and that we are working towards a standard, but that we are not there yet. Telling someone that our Cream Legbars are purebred when what they want are all the traits of the breed fixed in place would be miss leading. Telling them our flock is purebred when what they want is a project line to improove upon that has not be ourbreed from the original GFF stock is just fine.

 

[familypendragon]

Yay, finally got my first CCL egg today

 

[HaplessRunner]

Yay, finally got my first CCL egg today

Congrats! One of my CCL s just started laying again yesterday and had another egg today. She only took a month+ off. The other pullet has not started yet. My others are too young.