Cream Legbars

[Exotica]

The growth of the Rees vs. Curtis Hale lines will be documented here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/growth-documentation-cream-legbars-jill-rees-vs-curtis-hale-lines

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I have eggcellent news! Today, I woke up and a few minutes later, the breeder from SHR texted me to say that she will be on her way to Disneyland and if I wanted, she could bring some chicks down! I honestly wasn't planning on getting anymore chicks but... how can I possibly resist? Last time, my Splash Isbar did not make the journey so I asked for one of those and since I have 2 Curtis Hale lines + 1 Rees line, I asked for another Rees.

As you all know, the other three she sent me had undesirable auto sexing qualities. I made sure to tell her I wanted a chick with great auto sexing qualities.. and then drove 40 minutes to Disneyland so I can pick up my newest addition: Onóra (I decided to name the other one Khaleesi and gave it's name to my new one lol)









For some reason, she looks like she has a white dot in the middle of her head on photos but in real life, it's not there - if not a very unnoticeable "lighter" shade of dark brown.

I'm so happy!

Oh and also, I took this picture of the poor girl right when I got home and she's been in an air conditioned car without water for 4 hours. She looks a bit shabby right now!

She's so beautiful! She looks a lot like my Lissa looked. It's normal to have some paleness in the center of the "vee" on a pullet's head - you worry when it extends beyond the "vee" (as I learned from wise people on this thread when I asked about my chicks). Hale line, Rees line, ANY line - good auto sexing depends on the breeder selecting for it. As GaryDean26 indicated, selecting for any feature(s) may require a lot of culling - hard work. I'm so thankful for that.

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

My girls are getting closer and closer to lay - today Lissa squatted when I was just standing over her doing something else, and they have been disappearing into the henhouse during the day, and they have apparently all selected the same favorite nest by the way the bedding is rearranged/compressed. They appear to be "practicing"/playing house. (Typical that they would all pick the same nest...) I think having Dumbledore the VERY handsome rooster (in quarantine across the way from them) has their hormones going.

- Ant Farm

 

[Exotica]

My girls are getting closer and closer to lay - today Lissa squatted when I was just standing over her doing something else, and they have been disappearing into the henhouse during the day, and they have apparently all selected the same favorite nest by the way the bedding is rearranged/compressed. They appear to be "practicing"/playing house. (Typical that they would all pick the same nest...) I think having Dumbledore the VERY handsome rooster (in quarantine across the way from them) has their hormones going.

- Ant Farm

Ahh, fingers crossed for your girls to lay!! Around how many weeks are Cream Legbars before they start to lay?

I'm glad the light brown is normal! It's barely noticeable in real life!

Also, I'm surprised SHR isn't breeding for that quality. Everyone that I've spoken too deems them amongst the best in California. On their very site, they say that they cull strictly.
It's possible though, that they are more focused on horses now as I did a bit of research and found out Missy (who owns the ranch) used to be the one that bred and dealt with the chickens but now that responsibility has shifted to someone else. Perhaps that's why their quality isn't as great as before?

For a few bucks extra, I could've just ordered them from Greenfire Farms. Kicking myself in the butt for that right now. What ultimately made me pick SHR was because they had Lavender French Marans and I've yet to see breeder with those. I also desperately wanted a Lavender anything in my flock! Ended up falling in love with the Lav. Marans over Orpingtons and this is why I'm here now! Also, I wasn't going to order anymore chicks from them because of the bad auto sexing qualities on my other ones but she ended up driving two hours to come near me to go to Disneyland.. so I couldn't resist. No shipping fee and that's always a plus!

 

[GaryDean26]

How sweet of you guys to sponsor 4H and what lucky kids!

Well the 4H kids earn their keep. We got two of them to record all the stats on the Cream Legbars at the 2014 Fancy Feather Poultry show. They recorded who all the exhibitors were and who all the winners were in the Legbar catagory etc to be sumbited to the Cream Legbar Club records. We also got some of the 4H youth doing to project to judge the autosexing chick contest at the Cream Legbar Club table. The culmination of the project was at the 2014 Texas state fair where we had five 4-H families that were sponsored stock from three different breeder exhibit stock. We had three breeders bring stock too to make for 30 cream legbars that were on exhibit at that show. Following the judging we had a special feed back session with the American Poultry Association on what they saw in the breed and what needed to be done to improve it. With out the work of the 4H families that type of an exhibit and feed back evaluation would not have been possibly. The youth and their leaders did a great job at conditioning and showing their birds. I felt we were the lucky ones.

 

[Exotica]

Well the 4H kids earn their keep. We got two of them to record all the stats on the Cream Legbars at the 2014 Fancy Feather Poultry show. They recorded who all the exhibitors were and who all the winners were in the Legbar catagory etc to be sumbited to the Cream Legbar Club records. We also got some of the 4H youth doing to project to judge the autosexing chick contest at the Cream Legbar Club table. The culmination of the project was at the 2014 Texas state fair where we had five 4-H families that were sponsored stock from three different breeder exhibit stock. We had three breeders bring stock too to make for 30 cream legbars that were on exhibit at that show. Following the judging we had a special feed back session with the American Poultry Association on what they saw in the breed and what needed to be done to improve it. With out the work of the 4H families that type of an exhibit and feed back evaluation would not have been possibly. The youth and their leaders did a great job at conditioning and showing their birds. I felt we were the lucky ones.

That's wonderful! My little sister is joining 4H and I'm excited to assist her on her journey!

Bad news guys.. One of the Hale chicks is in the processing of dying. I don't know what to do.. it keeps doing this "gasping" motion..
They were shipped to me yesterday and only the Splash Isbar died. The rest were very healthy, including the one dying right now. It was running around, eating, drinking, pooping.
Just a happy little girl. Then this morning, I noticed that it was sleeping but in a strange position.. on it's back with it's feet up in the air, wings splayed, and neck crooked. That didn't seem right so I dipped it's beak in Save A Chic water and it basically drank with gusto then collapsed as if it used all it's strength. I separated it and it spent the whole day today sleeping. When picked up, it would open it's eyes for a second then close it and go to sleep. I blended some fermented starter with some of the Save A Chic water and syringe fed it 2.5 CC's. I then gave it a bit of crushed garlic with some egg yolk because I have no idea what's wrong with it and thought the garlic could kill some bacteria if that's what was killing it. It's now just laying and "gasping" or having very labored breathing. I think it's about to die and don't know what to do.

 

[rossfam06]

That's wonderful! My little sister is joining 4H and I'm excited to assist her on her journey!

Bad news guys.. One of the Hale chicks is in the processing of dying. I don't know what to do.. it keeps doing this "gasping" motion..
They were shipped to me yesterday and only the Splash Isbar died. The rest were very healthy, including the one dying right now. It was running around, eating, drinking, pooping.
Just a happy little girl. Then this morning, I noticed that it was sleeping but in a strange position.. on it's back with it's feet up in the air, wings splayed, and neck crooked. That didn't seem right so I dipped it's beak in Save A Chic water and it basically drank with gusto then collapsed as if it used all it's strength. I separated it and it spent the whole day today sleeping. When picked up, it would open it's eyes for a second then close it and go to sleep. I blended some fermented starter with some of the Save A Chic water and syringe fed it 2.5 CC's. I then gave it a bit of crushed garlic with some egg yolk because I have no idea what's wrong with it and thought the garlic could kill some bacteria if that's what was killing it. It's now just laying and "gasping" or having very labored breathing. I think it's about to die and don't know what to do.

Is it making a clicking sound?? I just lost my Gold laced cochin two days ago and she was doing the same thing but she was all stretched out on the ground, with her head thrown back.

 

[Red Banks]

I am brand new to chickens. Oh, I had chickens about 15 years ago but let it suffice to say..... I knew nothing. I was given grown chickens and I let them free range. No coop. A little scratch. I got my first batch of babies in May of this year, 8 BCM chicks. All lived until there was a rat attack, I lost three and one cockerel lost a wing. I should have culled the cockerel but I didn't.... now he is a young rooster with one wing. Every once in a while I find him upside down on the ground, he can't always get up by himself. He can't roost. Lessons, rats are dangerous and don't save a maimed bird, it will have no life. My next batch of chicks numbered 10. One died within hours of getting them home. I tried to give it water when I first saw it failing. I think my actions percipitated the chicks demise. I thought I had bought sick chicks. I called the breeder. He quickly offered to replace the chick. He advised he had no disease on his farm and then he said something that gets me through every crisis. He said, chickens die. I am tender hearted, why else would someone want chickens, we love them, we care for them but things can go wrong. We do the best we can. I raised 9 babies in the second batch all survived after I lost that one. I did not let the rats get them. They are beautiful running around the yard enjoying the sunshine. I just got 18 babies two days ago. Within 10 hours I lost a cockerel (CCL). The breeders words came back to me, chickens die. I find those words comforting. I agonize less. I still do everything I can to give them the best start possible but it is a reality.

 

[GaryDean26]

Vaccinating chicks is NOT that expensive. Below is one of my electronic sales receipts

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x FOWL POX (Chick-N-Pox) 1000 Dose For Younger Birds = $9.95
1 x MAREK'S Vaccine 1000 Dose IN STOCK ! ! ! = $19.95
------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: $29.90
Flat Priority Rate Shipping Vaccines and Antigen (Flat Priority Rate
Shipping Vaccines and Antigen.): $9.95
Total: $39.85


The vaccinations can't be stored after opened, so they are a one time use. If you are vaccinating one chick it would be $40, but if you are vaccinating 40 chicks, then it would only be about $1 a chick which is really cheap.

I personal don't like to systematically vaccinate chicks. I have vaccinated foundation stock that was either expensive or hard to obtain so that they have the best chances possible to make it maturity in good health. I don't vaccinate anything that I hatch from my own flock to keep for my self though. If they are not vigorous enough to survive everything they are exposed to they aren't hardy enough for me to keep. By only keeping birds that are resistant to everything they are exposed to my flock becomes very low maintenance. We also don't lose many chicks even though we don't vaccinate. I am happy to vaccinate for others if they are getting 15+ chicks and we work details out before the egg are collected and incubated.

I know people with similar philosophy that won't allow anything to come into their flock that has been vaccinated because the the vaccination could be preventing the bird from getting something that they have been exposed to and they could be in good health but carry what ever they have been exposed to with them and infect the un-vaccinated members of their new flock.

 

[Brat Flock]

I ordered my chicks from Greenfire. They had a BOGO free sale on pullets and a BOG2 free sale on boys. I ordered 3 pullets and 1 Roo so they should have shipped 6 pullets and 3 Roos. They sent 8 pullets and 4 Roos. 2 birds died within the first 48 hours. They offered to refund the cost of the chicks IF I lost more and I went under what I ordered. As it is I have 6 pullets and 4 Roos going on their second week. There is a very light chick I am still not sure about but these are mine today (they will be 2 weeks on Sunday) They were shipped from Florida to Indiana. Shipped out Monday the 28th and arrived Thursday October 1.