Cream Legbars

[terrip824]

My gold pullet.

She's very pretty. Nice body type. Do you test breed? I may be wrong but if she is bred with a well colored rooster you may be able to get more cream in her children. I do remember reading that the gold can be bred out.

 

[cooliechick]

Yes, the gold can be bred out. I did it just this year. I bought a foursome of the golds as my first CLB too. I then got a cream rooster who was also quite light but still had good barring. The new chicks I grew out have a lovely cream color. With my husband getting hurt this year, I have not had a chance to hatch but the one incubator load but I not only got more cream, I also got more crest.

Photos to come later, probably after Thanksgiving.

The other breed I have is Partridge Penedesencas... my avatar hen.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

She's very pretty. Nice body type. Do you test breed? I may be wrong but if she is bred with a well colored rooster you may be able to get more cream in her children. I do remember reading that the gold can be bred out.

It's good to hear that the gold can be bred out. 2 of my girls are showing a lot of gold in their hackles. The one is still young though so we'll see how she feathers out.

 

[dheltzel]

She's very pretty. Nice body type. Do you test breed? I may be wrong but if she is bred with a well colored rooster you may be able to get more cream in her children. I do remember reading that the gold can be bred out.

It's not as much breeding out the gold as breeding in the cream. If I understand the genetics of cream correctly, cream dilutes gold, much like lavender dilutes black, meaning a gold hen can carry cream and not show it if she only has 1 copy. Cream to cream crosses should produce 100% cream. The Reese line birds I have are all cream and fully crested, I think because the physical appearance is paramount for showing and that is what Jill Reese was breeding for. My older lines are mixed, some gold and some cream. I am planning to breed the Reese roos to the old line pullets to get more cream and better cresting, while hopefully improving the overall vigor and production because of the outcross. I still expect to get some golds in the F1 because some of my pullets are gold and they will pass that to at least 1/2 their offspring. The cream pullets should produce all cream chicks, tilting overall ratio of cream to gold in favor of the cream. But I rather like the appearance of the gold pullets, I'm not certain I want to breed all creams, despite that being part of the proposed SOP.

If what I described is true, then a cream roo is crucial to breeding creams since his genetics affect every chick.

 

[Red Banks]

It's not as much breeding out the gold as breeding in the cream. If I understand the genetics of cream correctly, cream dilutes gold, much like lavender dilutes black, meaning a gold hen can carry cream and not show it if she only has 1 copy. Cream to cream crosses should produce 100% cream. The Reese line birds I have are all cream and fully crested, I think because the physical appearance is paramount for showing and that is what Jill Reese was breeding for. My older lines are mixed, some gold and some cream. I am planning to breed the Reese roos to the old line pullets to get more cream and better cresting, while hopefully improving the overall vigor and production because of the outcross. I still expect to get some golds in the F1 because some of my pullets are gold and they will pass that to at least 1/2 their offspring. The cream pullets should produce all cream chicks, tilting overall ratio of cream to gold in favor of the cream. But I rather like the appearance of the gold pullets, I'm not certain I want to breed all creams, despite that being part of the proposed SOP.

If what I described is true, then a cream roo is crucial to breeding creams since his genetics affect every chick.

Mine are Jill Rees from GFF. I have been told by a very knowledgeable CL man that he keeps and breeds his gold. Thanks for this information..... I want to know how this works. I am pleased with these CLs. If you looked at some of the pics I have posted do you think these dark pullets will turn cream? What did yours look like when they were 6 weeks?

 

[dheltzel]

Mine are Jill Rees from GFF. I have been told by a very knowledgeable CL man that he keeps and breeds his gold. Thanks for this information..... I want to know how this works. I am pleased with these CLs. If you looked at some of the pics I have posted do you think these dark pullets will turn cream? What did yours look like when they were 6 weeks?

I didn't really pay that much attention as they were growing. They will likely all be homozygous for cream. Once you have your flock all cream, there is no way to recover the golds, all will be cream, but if your flock were all gold, it's possible the recessive cream gene is still there and could pop up in future matings.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

So, I posted something on the Cream Legbar pictures thread related to a lovely golder-looking bird. I got confused about which thread I was on, and asked a question. I'd still like to ask the question here, apologies for the cross-post if you follow both threads:

I've been following the recent cream discussion with interest, because I find it so interesting to read discussions of how to influence such a complex color pattern. I do find myself hoping, though, that perhaps we will ultimately have different variants of CL coloring that can be equally valued, because although the light birds are attractive, I happen to think that the "gold" birds that everyone is talking about "fixing" are actually really quite lovely. It would be nice to have a few variants in patterns (sorry, I meant coloring) accepted for growth of the breed (or am I misguided, in that if you go too much in that direction, they look too much like a brown leghorn?). Mine are hatchery stock (except my most excellent cockerel, from ChicKat) and I'm not/will never be a breeder, so I don't have a dog in this hunt. I just love my CLs and am expressing a preference regarding their coloring...

Could someone explain what is meant by "crele"? (I saw those in the online show.) Is that, perhaps, what I'm "looking" for or referring to as a variant? What is the difference between "crele" and "gold"? (Apologies if my questions are stupid/basic - I'm simultaneously working on an aloha naked neck project, and feather genetics are completely scrambled in my head right now!)

- Ant Farm

 

[KPenley]

So, I posted something on the Cream Legbar pictures thread related to a lovely golder-looking bird. I got confused about which thread I was on, and asked a question. I'd still like to ask the question here, apologies for the cross-post if you follow both threads:

I've been following the recent cream discussion with interest, because I find it so interesting to read discussions of how to influence such a complex color pattern. I do find myself hoping, though, that perhaps we will ultimately have different variants of CL coloring that can be equally valued, because although the light birds are attractive, I happen to think that the "gold" birds that everyone is talking about "fixing" are actually really quite lovely. It would be nice to have a few variants in patterns (sorry, I meant coloring) accepted for growth of the breed (or am I misguided, in that if you go too much in that direction, they look too much like a brown leghorn?). Mine are hatchery stock (except my most excellent cockerel, from ChicKat) and I'm not/will never be a breeder, so I don't have a dog in this hunt. I just love my CLs and am expressing a preference regarding their coloring... 

Could someone explain what is meant by "crele"? (I saw those in the online show.) Is that, perhaps, what I'm "looking" for or referring to as a variant? What is the difference between "crele" and "gold"? (Apologies if my questions are stupid/basic - I'm simultaneously working on an aloha naked neck project, and feather genetics are completely scrambled in my head right now!)

- Ant Farm 

Technically, crele is the pattern of barring on top of duckwing. So both cream and 'crele' (which is a working name for the gold Legbar variety, it will probably be voted on soon) Legbars are crele patterned. The gold birds will be patterned much like the cream variety, but with more vibrant gold, red, and black in addition to areas with grays (since they are not diluted). The first draft is being worked on currently for this variety and I would not be surprised if it's presented in the next few months. These things take time to iron out, but it is being done.

Keep working on shape everyone, and don't panic if your pullets are very melanized (black). They may be able to add proper barring to a Cock bird that is too light! And young ones may change. Balance takes time. The recent online show was a success, but did teach us that the new gold variety standard is needed to both educate newcomers to Legbars about the differences between cream and gold, as well as give the gold bird breeders a standard to breed towards. Best wishes!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Technically, crele is the pattern of barring on top of duckwing. So both cream and 'crele' (which is a working name for the gold Legbar variety, it will probably be voted on soon) Legbars are crele patterned. The gold birds will be patterned much like the cream variety, but with more vibrant gold, red, and black in addition to areas with grays (since they are not diluted). The first draft is being worked on currently for this variety and I would not be surprised if it's presented in the next few months. These things take time to iron out, but it is being done.

Keep working on shape everyone, and don't panic if your pullets are very melanized (black). They may be able to add proper barring to a Cock bird that is too light! And young ones may change. Balance takes time. The recent online show was a success, but did teach us that the new gold variety standard is needed to both educate newcomers to Legbars about the differences between cream and gold, as well as give the gold bird breeders a standard to breed towards. Best wishes!

This is very helpful, and very hopeful. I find both lovely and am heartened that there may be a place for both at the table, so to speak. (Mine are neither, but somewhere in between, but that's ok.

)

- Ant Farm

 

[dheltzel]

This is very helpful, and very hopeful. I find both lovely and am heartened that there may be a place for both at the table, so to speak. (Mine are neither, but somewhere in between, but that's ok.

)

- Ant Farm

I agree, and having a different color, but otherwise identical standard will broaden the gene pool so that future crosses can be made to re-invigorate inbred show lines, or correct faults not present in the other color's lines. If cream is a standard recessive, using gold birds to cross into a cream line will be easy (like Am breeders use black to help the lavender birds).