Cream Legbars

[chicken pickin]

I am surprised at how different my 2 young cockerels look. I need to decide which one to use for breeding.The lighter one (on the right) is larger and clearly dominant, but I like the extra color on the left one.
Are the cockerels supposed to be colored more like one of these? I didn't hatch these, so I don't know what the down color looked like.

Males are supposed to be colored more like your male on the right, the lighter creamier color. If you look at the cream males wing it will give you an idea if he is actually cream or gold. Spread the wing open and if it is free from color and only showing gray and white then he is cream. The more colorful males are gold in color and carry the gold gene and will pass it on to offspring so color wise not ideal. If you open the gold males wing you will notice he has gold smudges. I like how large your cream male is and he has a nice round full breast. Is that the cream males typical stance or does he stand more upright? A few more individual pics of each cockerel will give us a better idea. Also how old are they?

On a side note, sometimes if need be, gold in color Cream Legbars can still be used for breeding for a period of time if they have other good qualities they can contribute.

 

[dheltzel]

Thanks for the opinion. Maybe I was unconsciously rooting for the underdog

I'm not sure of their age, I bought them about 6 weeks ago, so I think maybe 5 months old. These are my first Legbars, though I've been raising other breeds, including Rhodebars. I will try to get some better pics and some of the pullets too.

 

[ChicKat]

I am surprised at how different my 2 young cockerels look. I need to decide which one to use for breeding.The lighter one (on the right) is larger and clearly dominant, but I like the extra color on the left one.
Are the cockerels supposed to be colored more like one of these? I didn't hatch these, so I don't know what the down color looked like.

I agree with Chicken Pickin - It is hard to tell from just one picture--- but your cockerel on the right seems to have a flatter back and a bit lower tail angle - which are good qualities to incorporate in your flock. His comb looks nice and straight and his wing carriage looks a bit higher than the other ones. He also is showing a very rounded breast...could be just the photo and a photo a second later could show the opposite. Either the lighting, or something, the cockerel in the rear looks to have yellower legs-- which is interesting.

I also like the extra coloration -- of the one on the left -- it could be that we may find a way to accomodate those of us who like color. ;O) == Meanwhile - I think that for your flock and for type - which is the primary thing to look for the photo makes the one on the right look better.

 

[Bluefield]

I like the one on the right... Looks cream? The other one is not

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

Even though we like the color, the one on the right is what theyʻre supposed to look like.
And that might actually be a pretty nice looking fellow.
we definitely want to see more pics in the next few months.
I have a similar one coming up that I am pretty excited about.
I donʻt have a picture but this is his daddy.

Aloha, Puhi

 

[sol2go]

A little late to the crowing discussion, but my CL's are pretty quiet. I have a range of ages, sometimes with other roosters, sometimes just with hens.
I was recently thinking that if I only had CL's it would be quieter than my current mix. In general, all of my roosters are quieter if they can see each other, even if they are in different coops/runs.

 

[ChicKat]

This is a long shot, but I don't get these chances often. My husband, who puts up with my chickens, is driving from Milwaukee to Philadelphia today with return Sunday and Monday. He said if I could find someone alng his route to sell me a trio of cream legbars, he will put them in a crate and bring them home. Anyone here willng to sell me a trio?

You might want to check on the Cream Legbar Club website (there is a member list by states) to see if there is anyone in the states he will be passing through - Maybe there is a member there who will have some CLs that they don't want to overwinter and could provide you with a trio. Good luck.

 

[DoubleMM]

Hi DoubleMM,
I like Bob's full chest (is there a better way to indicate that...) and the boys all seem to have nice tail angles.
I also like what I can see of your set-up...looks like you might have a plan...

Does it seem like Autumn made an appearance this weekend?

Thanks slo2go, Bob is my daughters favorite. The rains do bring that feeling.

As for my set-up...
best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray

LOL

 

[ChicKat]

.............. If you look at the cream males wing it will give you an idea if he is actually cream or gold. Spread the wing open and if it is free from color and only showing gray and white then he is cream.

This may the the 'tell' -- while everyone was looking at the hackles - and making declarations without consideration of the possible effects of factors such as autosomal red, amount of beta carotene in the diet (yes it does change the color of feathers) and sun on feathers.....

This is the possible make or break.

Dr. etd enlightened me on this one a few weeks back as she is working on SOP along with KPenley. Dr. E. was collecting samples of wing shots. I got this one of one of my grow-outs and at first I thought it did conform to the gray only --(Let's say light gray/dark gray as the SOP states - with some white allowed...as I recall)


When I really zoom in, I see more than just gray barred on the secondaries:

So this cockerel is not a cream legbar. However he is not a gold legbar, as we know - because he has a crest and hatched from a blue egg...

The females may be even more rare - Here is the SOP for the wings and back:


Wings: Fronts, Bows and Coverts—silver-gray, faintly barred.
Primaries— gray, faintly barred, the outer web stippled with lighter gray and cream.
Secondaries— gray, very faintly barred.
Back: Gray, softly barred, feathers having a lighter shaft permissible.
Tail: Main Tail and Coverts—silver-gray, faintly barred.

Autosomal red can give the gray the appearance of brown - right? But I haven't seen a CL female that is gray. I had made a chart awhile back - that showed the color blending of the golds and the silvers - and it doesn't take much 'gold' to make the parts that are supposed to be silver in the above SOP into a brown color. Remember too - that all chicken pigments are really only Red (gold) or Black - and when feathers are white it is because there is no pigment in them....

I have a photo of a mug on eBay where there is a CL hen that is entirely gray - no brown as we are used to - and no dark crests. The mug has a salmon colored breast - but any gray birds I have seen in photos seem to have a pale colored breast that is more of a pink. Anyone have a female that doesn't have brown on back and wings? oh --> ETA - gray with a salmon (not pink) breast.

 

[chicken pickin]

Exactly @ChicKat wing pic is a great example. The color smudges are so faint on his wing but you can see it.

Here are 2 of my CL males, one cream the other gold
This is an example of a cream Cream Legbars wing. Notice it shows no color besides gray and white.


and here is the gold Cream Legbar male I originally had (he carried a cream gene also, his offspring were 50/50 cream/gold) he has color smudges which we do not want to see on the wings.