Cream Legbars

[Metella]

DC - Yes - I got that info ... but my main point and jist here is that I was told the eggs were blue (if they can be green or blue - and I am offered a dozen blue ones - I expect blue ones and if the hatchlings lay green that is my risk- right?)

So my point is what we see, what we expect - do we convince ourselves they are a different shade of pastel ? It can't be semantics - as the SOP you quoted says they can lay both ... so both is ok - but how do owners determine if they have blue or green ?

Again - I am not talking about people who have actual color blindness ... but the others. I have never looked to the sky on a nice day and said what a nice light green sky. So I expect blue eggs to be similar .. but they are not.

Yes, I even got 6 AK Blues - and they were a green tint. I held them up to green and blue items ... I really tried to see blue ....

The AK's hatched out two - and they also are true to their standard of size, temperment and coloring. I actually really really like these two birds.

Obviously - I am being uncompromising on the word and concept of blue - I don't expect a blue as saturated as a Robin's egg ... but even a light pastel that is blue ... and I am not seeing them.

Now - we hold breeders hard to SOP's when they are trying to raise pure stock ... why are breeders (not casual owners) not concerned with a hard line on color also?

I don't want a discussion of SOP here - I want subjective - personal thoughts and experiences ..... what you think of blue vs green and the different shades of such ....

 

[DoubleMM]

Cute pics, great eye-liner! My husband didn't notice the chicks, just the Greek "flag"...

Thanks... I'll have my children pick some Greek names for this clutch.... Love it...

 

[DCchicken]

DC - Yes - I got that info ... but my main point and jist here is that I was told the eggs were blue (if they can be green or blue - and I am offered a dozen blue ones - I expect blue ones and if the hatchlings lay green that is my risk- right?)

So my point is what we see, what we expect - do we convince ourselves they are a different shade of pastel ? It can't be semantics - as the SOP you quoted says they can lay both ... so both is ok - but how do owners determine if they have blue or green ?

Again - I am not talking about people who have actual color blindness ... but the others. I have never looked to the sky on a nice day and said what a nice light green sky. So I expect blue eggs to be similar .. but they are not.

Yes, I even got 6 AK Blues - and they were a green tint. I held them up to green and blue items ... I really tried to see blue ....

The AK's hatched out two - and they also are true to their standard of size, temperment and coloring. I actually really really like these two birds.

Obviously - I am being uncompromising on the word and concept of blue - I don't expect a blue as saturated as a Robin's egg ... but even a light pastel that is blue ... and I am not seeing them.

Now - we hold breeders hard to SOP's when they are trying to raise pure stock ... why are breeders (not casual owners) not concerned with a hard line on color also?

I don't want a discussion of SOP here - I want subjective - personal thoughts and experiences ..... what you think of blue vs green and the different shades of such ....

If you go back to the beginning of this thread (or maybe it was the Legbar thread), there have been several debates on the definition of blue (as well as cream but that is for another discussion). There is even a group of people that want to use this OAC color chart even though it is not a calibrated chart. I was going to even build a pantone calibrated chart. But work got in the way and so that project is on hold.

I don't think any two people are ever going to agree on the color of an egg. People view colors differently. The shade of blue or green will change throughout the laying season. But if you want a good comparison, use your AK Blue eggs. That breed has no brown egg layers in its genetic makeup. Barred rocks were used to create Cream Legbars. So there is always going to be some greenish tint to CL eggs.

The other issue is that egg color does not seem to be a priority. Most breeders are concerned with getting gold feathers out of their stock. After they have a cream flock, they tend to work on comb, leg color, and overall type. Egg color is usually dead last in breeding programs. But that is just a general observation and clearly some breeders will have a different set of breeding priorities.

It will be interesting to see what color eggs the Jill Rees legbars lay.

 

[enola]

I have gotten 2 different shipments of AK Blues eggs. To my eye they are not blue either.

I have an OAC chart that I use if people ask me what color my eggs are. Until 2 weeks ago I had 2 of the ugliest EE that I have ever seen, dogs got in my hen house........ They laid eggs that were actually blue according to my chart.

 

[DCchicken]

Top pick is AK Blue eggs. Bottom (mixed eggs) has two Cream Legbar eggs. I know pictures are not calibrated for web. But to my eye the AK Blue are so pale blue that they almost look white. It's unfortunate that the only pic I have of the AK Blue eggs is in an aqua colored egg carton. That's how they were actually shipped.

 

[sol2go]

Thanks... I'll have my children pick some Greek names for this clutch.... Love it...

I'll pass that along, it will make me smile all day =)

 

[sol2go]

One of my boys seems to have curled feathers on the upper portion of the wings. Not many but they definitely curl up almost like a frizzle

Is this a trait that shows up in them periodically related to the cresting?

This does not sound familiar to me, I'll have to go check some feathers to be sure...Most chicks (not just CL) get "angel wings" that float above the other feathers for awhile...but nothing like a frizzle.

 

[sol2go]

A crested Frizzle ? People will love that

My 3 CCLB are only a few months old - looking nice and healthy .... but the eggs I hatched them from (mailed to me so I didn't pick them out) were what I would call pastel GREEN ....

I was so disappointed. and the sender insisted they were blue. I am not color blind

So I am wondering if this is like calling purple flowers BLUE in the gardening world ? Because true blue is hard to come by and there is wishful thinking? I like the birds .... but have to say I had a wash of disappointment when opening that box of eggs and seeing the same coloring my EE's lay .... now my EE's lay a more solid green color also - they do have more of a variety of shades ...

Can any of you speak to the coloring of the shells? I would never in my wildest imagining call the eggs blue -but they came out true auto-sexing and now that they are teens - they look exactly like CCLB should ....

Edit - Oh - I want to be clear - the sender of these eggs was sincere !!! They were not trying to slip in substandard eggs - they really felt these were blue and I really felt they were a green tint. I've got NO beef with the sender.

I think the reference to "blue" flowers is useful.

Compared to brown, white and tan, a collection of CL eggs usually look "blue", even though it is a range of blue/turquoise.

When you put that same "blue" collection with a green/olive collection, it is easier to differentiate the range of blues from tints and shades of green.

While many breeders would like to breed towards a bluer egg (less question, is it blue, is it green) it is one of a range of attributes that need to be managed. There are saturation and sheen factors that also influence how "blue" an egg looks which may be breed specific ie my Wheaton Ameraucana lays a deeper blue egg with a nice waxy sheen. That having been said, I had to adjust my concept of blue.

 

[dretd]

My 3 CCLB are only a few months old - looking nice and healthy .... but the eggs I hatched them from (mailed to me so I didn't pick them out) were what I would call pastel GREEN ....

I was so disappointed. and the sender insisted they were blue. I am not color blind

...

Hi Metella! Wow I've been on vacation and the thread has really gone wild. SO many good posts and questions!

I have gotten eggs from three breeders so far and the predominant color is what I would call a sea-foam or pastel green (OAC123--DCChickens refers the pantone, but the Online Auction Chart is really inexpensive and allows many people to look at the same chart and get a ball-park idea of the color you are talking about). I specifically asked one breeder if they were blue or green and he said blue.

There was an eye color matching exam you can take posted much earlier, re-linked here: http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge It turns out that most people have less accuracy in the blue-green range, I sure was least accurate in that range.

When my pullets started laying I took an egg and put it next to the OAC to see what it matched best. The color reference matched varied depending on who in the family was looking at it and also what lighting (sun vs various indoor lights) since the spectrum of light changes by the source. The opinions on the egg colors were actually quite different which surprised me. Do remember that as we age, our lens ages and becomes more dense and this aging process will make things look more yellowed so a bluer hue seen by younger people may appear more greenish to someone like me who has old inflexible lenses.

I suspect the blue egg idea came from the reference that the chickens carry the 'blue' egg gene. If you look at Punnetts reference to blue eggs, they varied quite a bit and included grey to purple looking eggs, but he called them blue since they all carried the same gene. In Cream Legbars, the colors can vary from blue to green and can vary in intensity. I personally am not concerned about the eggs being blue or greenish tinted since both are allowed in the SOP (as long as the green is not olive, but stays more of a pastel color). Here is a photo taken from http://eatingchile.blogspot.com/2012/04/blue-egg-mapuche-chickens.html of South American blue eggs. Many look more grey to me. When I went to the original source, the grey eggs appeared more green (the reference is no longer available retrievable http://www.lanalhuenoticias.cl/index.php#.U9wAEGPG-1w in case you want to find it--its in Spanish)

If you want to look at Punnett's original Blue Egg paper it can be found here http://www.ias.ac.in/jarch/jgenet/27/465.pdf If you go to the end, you will see two color plates of eggs. The first is of chickens eggs. The right three (2-4-6) are of the 'blue' series. He labels them the blue series even though they are individually labeled olive, green and blue becasue as a geneticist, they carried the 'blue' egg gene. I find it interesting to note that the olive represented is a very dark color, where I would have called the one labeled green more of an olive color. The one labeled green is most definitely a much darker hue and tinted more green-green than any sea-foam green CL I have received. So in that context, my eggs are closer to blue than green even though I would look at them and label them as sea-foam.

I wish you the best of luck with your Legbars! I have found them to be a quirky and charming breed to raise.

 

[DoubleMM]

There was an eye color matching exam you can take posted much earlier, re-linked here: http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

That was fun, I scored a 4 in the orange area.

I'm going to share this link.....