Cream Legbars

[GaryDean26]

Quick question - for Cream Legbars, would you rather go with the Jill Rees line or Curtis Hale line?

Thank you!

I am the founder of the Curtis Hale Line. I have been working with it since 2012.

The thing that I liked best about it in 2012 were the erect combs on my cockerels and the extra large eggs that one of my three original hens laid.

I have worked on maintaining erect combs and large eggs in my flock but get both hens that lay extra large eggs and hens that lay smaller eggs. I also have tried to maintain the erect combs on my cockerels but usually get a slight wave in the comb and some times a full out flop.

Secrect Hill was breeding a cockerel breed from the hen in the Curtis Hale line that laid the flock's largest eggs breed back to one of her sons that was selected for his correct cream color and large size (he was the biggest cockerel in his grow out group out of 25 boys).

Kristen Rye line won the Cream Legbar club's most productive flock contest for the month of August in 2013. So...Secret Hill Curtis Hale line is probably a good production type line. It is still a line that is a work in progress though so if you are looking for a Show Quality bird you would be better off to go with the Jill Rees line. Jill Rees is an award winning breeder of Cream Legbars in the UK. Her line should produce a lot more show quality hens.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I am the founder of the Curtis Hale Line. I have been working with it since 2012.

The thing that I liked best about it in 2012 were the erect combs on my cockerels and the extra large eggs that one of my three original hens laid.

I have worked on maintaining erect combs and large eggs in my flock but get both hens that lay extra large eggs and hens that lay smaller eggs. I also have tried to maintain the erect combs on my cockerels but usually get a slight wave in the comb and some times a full out flop.

Secrect Hill was breeding a cockerel breed from the hen in the Curtis Hale line that laid the flock's largest eggs breed back to one of her sons that was selected for his correct cream color and large size (he was the biggest cockerel in his grow out group out of 25 boys).

Kristen Rye line won the Cream Legbar club's most productive flock contest for the month of August in 2013. So...Secret Hill Curtis Hale line is probably a good production type line. It is still a line that is a work in progress though so if you are looking for a Show Quality bird you would be better off to go with the Jill Rees line. Jill Rees is an award winning breeder of Cream Legbars in the UK. Her line should produce a lot more show quality hens.

Well now you have me really wanting more CLs from Secret Hill's Curtis Hale line. I'm all about production.

I don't need any more chickens.

Curse you!

- Ant Farm

 

[windyridgefarm]

Thank you for the information. After posting I happened to find the recessive white thread. I just finished reading through it. Now I cant wait to see if I can sex the chick based on what I learned. It is about a week old in the pics I posted, if anyone would like to share their thoughts.

 

[stake]

I am the founder of the Curtis Hale Line. I have been working with it since 2012.

The thing that I liked best about it in 2012 were the erect combs on my cockerels and the extra large eggs that one of my three original hens laid.

I have worked on maintaining erect combs and large eggs in my flock but get both hens that lay extra large eggs and hens that lay smaller eggs. I also have tried to maintain the erect combs on my cockerels but usually get a slight wave in the comb and some times a full out flop.

Secrect Hill was breeding a cockerel breed from the hen in the Curtis Hale line that laid the flock's largest eggs breed back to one of her sons that was selected for his correct cream color and large size (he was the biggest cockerel in his grow out group out of 25 boys).

Kristen Rye line won the Cream Legbar club's most productive flock contest for the month of August in 2013. So...Secret Hill Curtis Hale line is probably a good production type line. It is still a line that is a work in progress though so if you are looking for a Show Quality bird you would be better off to go with the Jill Rees line. Jill Rees is an award winning breeder of Cream Legbars in the UK. Her line should produce a lot more show quality hens.

Gary:

Thanks for the info.....Just to reference, Jill Reese lines are GFF line "D"....what GFF lines are yours', and do you happen to know about the Kristen Rye lines......TIA

I had a great roo from GFF line "B" but a fox got him about 4 mos ago...

 

[windyridgefarm]

Thank you for the information. After posting I happened to find the recessive white thread. I just finished reading through it. Now I cant wait to see if I can sex the chick based on what I learned. It is about a week old in the pics I posted, if anyone would like to share their thoughts.

Sorry guess pics didnt come through before.

 

[caychris]

Warning chicken processing descriptions to follow so if your birds are pets just skip the post.







Processed my 28.5 week old boy with the huge comb and wattles.His head got stuck in the cone. He processed out at 4 lbs there was one thing odd about him His body cavity was so tight
I could barely get inside to clean him out. It was very hard to creat an opening between the tip of the keel and his tail I had to practically butcher the bird whole to get inside. Could this be the result of him not having enough space or free range time as he was growing out. Ive had other skeletal anomalies with CLB in the past too when process my birds. I thought he had plenty of room up till the last month or so when I was space constrained and had to keep him caged.

If he hadnt attacked me I still have him and would probably be breeding him and he looked good to me size and shape wise. I mean 4 lb's dressed is pretty good for his breed at his age I think.
I think if I had bred him however females may have had egg laying issues should they carry his bone structure. Its my understanding that you want a decent size gap between the pubic bones even on the males.

I have another guy coming up who is better looking but worse comb. I think I might need some help being able to feel for structural issues like this in the future. Has anyone else noticed any trends in the birds they process of having tight or small (I know the breed is smaller to begin with) internal cavity. I wonder how much this may contribute to health problems in the future and how to check for these kind of issues before choosing a breeder.

I feel like I kind of dodged a bullet in my breeding program by processing him out due to temperament.

 

[GaryDean26]

Gary:

Thanks for the info.....Just to reference, Jill Reese lines are GFF line "D"....what GFF lines are yours', and do you happen to know about the Kristen Rye lines......TIA

I had a great roo from GFF line "B" but a fox got him about 4 mos ago...

No, I don't know much about Kristen Rye's line. We lost contact in 2013 and I never saw any birds from her flock. I just know that her flock won the production contest.

My flock has blood from Qty (4) GFF A-line hens hatched from the 2011 breeding pens. The A-line was imported in September of 2010. That import had breeding groups from two unrelated sources. Some of this import got Mareks and were lost. One cockerel survived so hens from both bloodline were combined into one group and breed as line "A".

I have blood in my flock from three cockerels. Also from the 2011 breeding pens. As far as I know two were from the B-line wich was created with a cockerel imported in early 2011 breed to pullets breed from the GFF A line. At least one of my cockerel was from the "C" line (marked with differ leg bands as the other cockerels). The C line was imported in the summer of 2011. I have photos of the A-line, B-line, C-line imported cockerels. From the photos of the fathers I am pretty sure which of our boys were from what sire. They all looked like their dads.

Note: In 2013 GFF started working on isolating the cream gene in their breeding lines. The "C" line cockerel three cream birds so they breed cream pullets to him. This "cream" project flock is usually called the 2013 line or the "D" line. The Rees line was not imported until the Summer of 2013. It is generally just called the Rees line.

In early 2012 many people with hens from the A-line reported hens capable of laying XL eggs. When I breed my hen that laid XL eggs only about 15-30% of the offspring laid the XL eggs. Some of these older line should still have hens capable of these larger eggs. I am not sure how the later lines compare in egg size with the 2011 A line.

 

[KPenley]

Attention Cream Legbar Club! The first online show starts today!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwlLQ9PY-lf4ZXNCUFNSU3A4WGpmU2VwaGhUZEpuXzE4bmFJ/view

 

[sol2go]

Attention Cream Legbar Club! The first online show starts today!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwlLQ9PY-lf4ZXNCUFNSU3A4WGpmU2VwaGhUZEpuXzE4bmFJ/view

Is there a submittal date/deadline?

 

[henless]

Attention Cream Legbar Club! The first online show starts today!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwlLQ9PY-lf4ZXNCUFNSU3A4WGpmU2VwaGhUZEpuXzE4bmFJ/view

Great! I can't wait to see all the different Crested Legbars.