Cream Legbars

[chicken pickin]

I thought this was very neat to see, I went out to the chicken yard this morning and noticed that one of my older CL hens is going through a soft molt. Her feather color has always been more of a light taupe color. She seems to be molting out of her taupe feathers into gray feathers and I think I even detect some soft barring in the gray feathers. Have others encountered this?

 

[ChicKat]

I thought this was very neat to see, I went out to the chicken yard this morning and noticed that one of my older CL hens is going through a soft molt. Her feather color has always been more of a light taupe color. She seems to be molting out of her taupe feathers into gray feathers and I think I even detect some soft barring in the gray feathers. Have others encountered this?

YES!! C p

every chicken here is coming in either grayer or bluer after their molt - (Including my blue Isbars)--- My oldest rooster was very 'yellow' before his hackles molted and now he is gettting very silvery looking in the hackles....

We definitely have a UV light factor that I don't think the UK deals with --

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

I thought this was very neat to see, I went out to the chicken yard this morning and noticed that one of my older CL hens is going through a soft molt. Her feather color has always been more of a light taupe color. She seems to be molting out of her taupe feathers into gray feathers and I think I even detect some soft barring in the gray feathers. Have others encountered this?

That is interesting. Other than that I have nothing to add

. I wonder how much sun bleaching does contribute to color changes in chickens like we see in other animals ie. horses? Course up here in the north we don't see as much of that as the southerners.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

I weighed the CLB's today and came up with 5.8 lbs on the 23 wk old rooster, 3 lbs on the 23 wk old pullets and 2.6 lbs on the 20 wk old pullets. I am surprised by how little the girls weigh. I think I also need a better weighing system. I used our house scale and subtracted my weight but it was cold out and I kept losing the read out.

I decided to worm everyone again today as well. I figured it wouldn't hurt and maybe if they do have a worm load this will help. I paid for a fecal on one of chickens earlier this summer and she had no sign of intestinal parasites which I thought was interesting.

I also tried to take wing pictures of my rooster but I when I viewed them I realized I am not talented enough to hold him, spread the wing and take pictures by myself. This is the best one

 

[chicken pickin]

YES!! C p

every chicken here is coming in either grayer or bluer after their molt - (Including my blue Isbars)--- My oldest rooster was very 'yellow' before his hackles molted and now he is gettting very silvery looking in the hackles....

We definitely have a UV light factor that I don't think the UK deals with --

Thanks. The hackles on your boy are very interesting also. It is amazing to see how our chickens change all the way even in adulthood. I do see now why some breeders wait until their birds are 2 years old to breed them. It makes very much sense to me now. Seeing how at 1 and 2 years of age they are still changing, I suppose we can not be 100% positive on some qualities that we are breeding forward or not if we breed to young.

I think you have already posted a pic of this male but could you post another? Is he molting or just changing color? Id love to also see him again once he finishes his color change(if/when he finishes).

 

[chicken pickin]

I weighed the CLB's today and came up with 5.8 lbs on the 23 wk old rooster, 3 lbs on the 23 wk old pullets and 2.6 lbs on the 20 wk old pullets. I am surprised by how little the girls weigh. I think I also need a better weighing system. I used our house scale and subtracted my weight but it was cold out and I kept losing the read out.

I decided to worm everyone again today as well. I figured it wouldn't hurt and maybe if they do have a worm load this will help. I paid for a fecal on one of chickens earlier this summer and she had no sign of intestinal parasites which I thought was interesting.

I also tried to take wing pictures of my rooster but I when I viewed them I realized I am not talented enough to hold him, spread the wing and take pictures by myself. This is the best one

Taking wing shots is kind of tough when doing it yourself, its quite a challenge lol. Yours came out pretty good but it is hard to tell from the picture if there is color smudges or not. Did you notice any color to your natural eye when your were taking pics?

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

Taking wing shots is kind of tough when doing it yourself, its quite a challenge lol. Yours came out pretty good but it is hard to tell from the picture if there is color smudges or not. Did you notice any color to your natural eye when your were taking pics?

I think there is some color but it is more of that taupe color than chestnut. It was hard to tell even looking at him in person but I am leaning towards there being some color there. Some day I will have to wrangle my husband to help me get better pictures.

 

[LavenderCrow]

Congratulations! Please share pics hen you have a chance!

I would have loved to... If the lady I was buying from hadn't sold them all and didn't tell me before I drove 3+ hours to get them.

On the plus side, I guess I can say that I am open to be marketed to! Does anyone have any chicks for sale that they will ship? Desperately want this breed!

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks. The hackles on your boy are very interesting also. It is amazing to see how our chickens change all the way even in adulthood. I do see now why some breeders wait until their birds are 2 years old to breed them. It makes very much sense to me now. Seeing how at 1 and 2 years of age they are still changing, I suppose we can not be 100% positive on some qualities that we are breeding forward or not if we breed to young.

I think you have already posted a pic of this male but could you post another? Is he molting or just changing color? Id love to also see him again once he finishes his color change(if/when he finishes).

Yes, I will take other shots... yesterday I was looking at him and his new whitish feathers were wrapped in that shaft - like porcupine quills -- poor guy he must feel just about awful. I have heard it is painful to the chicken when you handle them during molt. I suspect that he will be totally light-colored - (silverish) when he is done with the neck hackles. But they were entirely 'golden' (I HATE to use that term - because there is a Gold Legbar in the states now - and because it is so confusing because gold in chickens-talk to me is gold like the gold-laced wyandotte and he isn't THAT gold LOL -- but the effect of the sun - is also what I think caused your hen to molt from the more brown to the more gray. My Blue Isbars too are molting in a very different coloration from their old plumage hue.



After last year's molt - I think it was spring because Live Oak trees loose their leaves in spring and those are Live Oak leaves on the ground




In his younger days--- Probably about 7-9 months old...

 

[ChicKat]

I weighed the CLB's today and came up with 5.8 lbs on the 23 wk old rooster, 3 lbs on the 23 wk old pullets and 2.6 lbs on the 20 wk old pullets. I am surprised by how little the girls weigh. I think I also need a better weighing system. I used our house scale and subtracted my weight but it was cold out and I kept losing the read out.

I decided to worm everyone again today as well. I figured it wouldn't hurt and maybe if they do have a worm load this will help. I paid for a fecal on one of chickens earlier this summer and she had no sign of intestinal parasites which I thought was interesting.

I also tried to take wing pictures of my rooster but I when I viewed them I realized I am not talented enough to hold him, spread the wing and take pictures by myself. This is the best one

I agree that it is So difficult to hold and photograph them without assistance. :O(

Great weights IMO. I have to say I am a great fan of a little hen that lays big eggs. My Isbars started laying this spring and now they are up to size Large eggs-- and they are little chickens -- It kind of depends upon what a person wants. for practicality - small hen will consume less feed, and if she produces large eggs - you have a very good feed conversion ratio. We were talking I think at the Cream Legbar Club meeting Curtis was explaining how the larger the chicken the more likely to win a prize in a show. -- And it is in my 1938 APA SOP to advise judges to use age and weight as a tie breaker - if two chickens score the same - the heavier, the older gets the nod. So if one wants chickens for showing the bigger the better. LOL