Cream Legbars

[BuffyBugSlayer]

here are my 2 boys. they are around 20 weeks old.. and the silver one.. was suppose to be a girl. they are almost the same size. I
think the lighter one maybe be a few days (week) behind but he was a few weeks old when i got them.
i was told it had some black on the face as a chick.. so I could see how it would have been taken as a girl, but there is no mistaking it now.
I contacted the lady I got them from to let her know, it doesnt really bother me too much, other than I have 2 boys and 1 girl now..
but I got the feeling that she didnt believe me, so I sent these pictures to her, but I never heard back. I all really want to do was let her know if she
thought it was a girl.. maybe to watch out in the future. for me it just means I can get more girls!

Hi Mollybuck. I like the tail angles on your cockerels. It is hard for me to see much of the 2nd one. But I like the body shape of the first one, he has a nice straight comb and white/enamled earlobes. He has nice barring in his tail feathers. I can't tell if he has a crest? He appears to have a lot of color throughout his body (which may or may not be a good thing depending on your goals). I like his posture and his seems to have a pretty nice breast. His legs are a nice yellow color.

The 2nd one looks a lot younger and it is hard for me to tell much from the picture. But he looks a little "off" in his coloration to me. Also if he was hard to sex as a chick that might be a red flag to me. I think that is an important part of the breed. It will be interesting to see what he looks like as he gets older.

Please take my comments with a grain of salt as I am still learning and definitely don't have the experience of others.

 

[cynstaub]

Hey CL peeps.
I recently received a few CL chicks and notice some differences in the females.
I have your typical chipmunk striped female chick and then a few who have almost solid colored chestnut heads.
There is also some differences in their feet. Some are more yellow and others are more greenish.
Are these normal differences in appearance?
I was told all chicks come from same batch GFF parents.


More solid colored head and smaller bodied.


Chipmunk striped girl next to smaller more solid colored head female.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Legs should be yellow.

I doubt it if they're pure. Maybe the chipmunk ones are, but not the red heads. Sorry.

 

[ChicKat]

These are the most unusual CL chicks that I have ever seen also. Do you have photos of the parent birds?

 

[sol2go]

Thanks BuffyBugSlayer. I'm very new to this too. I have plenty more for you to critique for me. I was just out feeding this morning and really liked this guys chest. I figured he'd be going to freezer camp soon because he has a large crest but then I noticed he had a really nice comb, minus a point. You brought up good points about the wings and legs. I haven't even thought about those yet. He has a lot of chestnut but not as much as some of my others. I got one with good color but the comb is on the small side, overall underdeveloped compared to my other Roos. I will most likely be holding on to this one for a while longer. Thanks

I agree with all the points made by others.
I might add that I have heard well respected APA breeders/judges suggest that cockerels change a lot in the first year, so it is better to hold on to them if you can ie don't cull early.

 

[sol2go]

here are my 2 boys. they are around 20 weeks old.. and the silver one.. was suppose to be a girl. they are almost the same size. I
think the lighter one maybe be a few days (week) behind but he was a few weeks old when i got them.
i was told it had some black on the face as a chick.. so I could see how it would have been taken as a girl, but there is no mistaking it now.
I contacted the lady I got them from to let her know, it doesnt really bother me too much, other than I have 2 boys and 1 girl now..
but I got the feeling that she didnt believe me, so I sent these pictures to her, but I never heard back. I all really want to do was let her know if she
thought it was a girl.. maybe to watch out in the future. for me it just means I can get more girls!

Hi, thanks for sharing your pics.
Is Cream Legbar cockerel #2 , the one your refer to as silver, in the last photo?
Since Cream Legbars are auto-sexing at hatch, and he was sold to you as a pullet, is it possible that he is a Cream Legbar hybrid?
He does look alot smaller than your other CLB cockerel, and his type looks off to me...

 

[chicken pickin]

Hi, thanks for sharing your pics.
Is Cream Legbar cockerel #2 , the one your refer to as silver, in the last photo?
Since Cream Legbars are auto-sexing at hatch, and he was sold to you as a pullet, is it possible that he is a Cream Legbar hybrid?
He does look alot smaller than your other CLB cockerel, and his type looks off to me...

That is what I was thinking. When I was making CL hybrids my males looked similar to the looks of a CL pullet chick, and then they grew up to looking like the silver male in the bottom picture.

It may just be the pic but the silver male could possibly be a CL mix.

This is what one of mine look like he was a CL x SLW the hens in the pic are CL hybrids also.

 

[chicken pickin]

@mollybuck even though the first male you posted in very colorful for a Cream Legbar (he carries gold) I otherwise do like the look of him. I am fond of his body type, nice full breast, length of back, and I really like his low tail angle. He seems to have a decent comb also. Is he crested?

 

[chicken pickin]

Can I get some opinions of this cockerel. I have about 10 and will get pics of others later. Just thought I would start with this one. I'm considering keeping this one because of the crest and straight comb (so far). I don't like the white in his tail feathers.

I would love to see your other cockerels and potential keepers, as this cockerel doesn't appeal to me as a top contender. Please keep in mind I am not trying to offend and this is just my personal opinion.

His body shape to my eye is too brick shaped and he is unbalanced/front heavy. His proportions to my eye are not accurate and he seems almost compacted if that makes sense, I would like to see him with a more upright stance and slightly longer neck and longer thighs. His tail angle also seems high(as most of our males have). I do like his comb since it is small and straight but I feel his crest is too large.

edited to add - I was just re-looking at these pics and then went back to refer to the SOP and it seems his comb also doesn't extend well over the back of his head this may be due to the large crest. Hs earlobes also seem to have folds on them.

What is his age? Im guessing he is still young, 5months ish? Im sure his proportions will change a bit as he matures, also I know pics can be deceiving so his stance in the pics might not be accurate. Definitely let your males mature for as long as you can hold on to them because they do change so much as they age. This male might be your best but if you have 10 cockerels you may have one with great qualities also. I would love to see pics of them if you get the time.

 

[sol2go]

Hey CL peeps.
I recently received a few CL chicks and notice some differences in the females.
I have your typical chipmunk striped female chick and then a few who have almost solid colored chestnut heads.
There is also some differences in their feet. Some are more yellow and others are more greenish.
Are these normal differences in appearance?
I was told all chicks come from same batch GFF parents.


More solid colored head and smaller bodied.


Chipmunk striped girl next to smaller more solid colored head female.

Hi cynstaub!

Resolving the unpredictable offspring is part of the path to APA acceptance for the Cream Legbar.
Their guidelines state, in part: "that (the breed or variety) produces not less than 50% of all specimens (offspring) reasonably true to type, color, size and comb.".
In general, this is what everyone is working towards, offspring that are reliably true ie easily recognized as being Cream Legbars.

Since the breed is such a new introduction to the US, we don't have established "lines" here. We are still sorting out the stock that was imported by GFF. It is not unusual to see the gold or red down, but it is not desirable; the cream or lighter down is a strong indicator of a chicken that is double for cream. But even that is being watched to see how individual lines mature. As ChicKat mentioned in a recent post, there is a discussion on how to expand the breed varieties to include the more colorful ie gold and red versions.

However, the auto-sexing component is a key aspect to any of the proposed varieties, and it is not so distinct in the more colorful examples you posted. The red and gold heads don't seem to have distinct chipmunk stripes (if they are all pullets). Even if all the chicks came from the same rooster and hen, and show a range of color, they should exhibit the same auto-sexing traits IMO...maybe someone has seen a hatch that didn't?