Cream Legbars

[caychris]

Hi everyone, I have a question... hope you don't mind me just jumping in.

I just hatched 5 cream legbar chicks, I think I have 2 boys and 2 girls and then there is one that I am confused about. He/she is the one in the top of both pics, can anyone tell if it is a cockerel or pullet? These are my first CCLs and I'm very excited to start breeding them, also I LOVE the little crests on these babies, so cute!

With the muted striping Id say boy. It will be easy to tell quickly as the feather The female wing feathers show more signs of stippling and the males tend to be grey and more barred.

 

[Lozuufy]

With the muted striping Id say boy. It will be easy to tell quickly as the feather The female wing feathers show more signs of stippling and the males tend to be grey and more barred.

Ok thanks. I was thinking it probably was a boy but hoping it was a girl

. I probably won't use him for breeding then, since I want to breed ones that are easy to sex at hatch.

 

[dheltzel]

Hi everyone, I have a question... hope you don't mind me just jumping in.

I just hatched 5 cream legbar chicks, I think I have 2 boys and 2 girls and then there is one that I am confused about. He/she is the one in the top of both pics, can anyone tell if it is a cockerel or pullet? These are my first CCLs and I'm very excited to start breeding them, also I LOVE the little crests on these babies, so cute!

She is a pullet, I see 3 pullets in the top pic. When it comes to sexing the autosexing breeds where the chicks are someone ambiguous, go by the head spot. No head spot = pullet, every time. Some pullets have very small head spots, but males always have large ones, like the boy in the pic.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

Hi everyone, I have a question... hope you don't mind me just jumping in.

I just hatched 5 cream legbar chicks, I think I have 2 boys and 2 girls and then there is one that I am confused about. He/she is the one in the top of both pics, can anyone tell if it is a cockerel or pullet? These are my first CCLs and I'm very excited to start breeding them, also I LOVE the little crests on these babies, so cute!

I can see why you are confused. Usually the boys don't have such distinct striping but there is a break in the striping on the head and you wouldn't see that with females.To me it looks like you only have one distinct female patterned chick in that picture. The chick at the bottom in the first pic is what the males should look like with some minor variation. Indistinct striping with a messy head spot.

Since clear auto-sexing is one of the attributes of this breed I would only breed your birds that had good, clear indications at hatch. Congrats on your hatch and welcome to CLBs!

 

[caychris]

I can see why you are confused. Usually the boys don't have such distinct striping but there is a break in the striping on the head and you wouldn't see that with females.To me it looks like you only have one distinct female patterned chick in that picture. The chick at the bottom in the first pic is what the males should look like with some minor variation. Indistinct striping with a messy head spot.

Since clear auto-sexing is one of the attributes of this breed I would only breed your birds that had good, clear indications at hatch. Congrats on your hatch and welcome to CLBs!

Are we really sure that breeding only clear autosexing is passed this way it sounds reasonable but with all the variation in down colors etc Im thinking there may be better indicators and maybe we should be looking at the male side a bit closer for autosexing being passed to the females.

 

[ChicKat]

She is a pullet, I see 3 pullets in the top pic. When it comes to sexing the autosexing breeds where the chicks are someone ambiguous, go by the head spot. No head spot = pullet, every time. Some pullets have very small head spots, but males always have large ones, like the boy in the pic.

I agree the chick is female.

Although as BBS says the dorsal stripe has a break -- when I look at the face-on picture I see a V - thus female -- and as dheltzel said -- that chick lacks a headspot.

 

[henless]

That's so interesting - I only have an "n" of 2, but my earlier CL hatch was early (pips day 19, hatches day 20 for most), and for my current, I've got pips on day 19 again. Maybe Dumbledore carries the "impatient" gene...

The littles are doing well outside - they had their first super-fierce thunderstorm last night and did just fine. They are all scared of me because the way I brooded them, I loomed a lot even though I tried not to (they were on the floor). I've been sitting in their growout tractor to get them more used to me, and though they almost all avoid me still, one of Paula's girls has decided to adopt me as her best friend - just like her mother (whom I still miss, she was my very first chicken and loved me an awful lot). She loves to jump up on my knee and shoulder. Here's a selfie we took yesterday - it's nearly identical to selfies I have of me and Paula.





I just finished the new brooder for the CLs in the hatcher (Lissa's babies - I was worried she might get sick with Marek's but she and Dumbledore have been resistant so far which is excellent). It's elevated because, in addition to not wanting to loom over the chicks, my back could NOT cope with brooding ANY more chicks at floor level - EVER!!!! (There's a divider because I'm also expecting some other chicks in the mail next week - German New Hampshires and Blue Copper Marans).



That's so funny that you say that, I was JUST thinking about this tonight and had started a list. Including sitting tight, taking someone under your wing, pecking order, etc., etc...

OK, I'm pooped - gotta go to bed. Still need to get the last bit of the brooder set up tomorrow morning before work...

- Ant Farm

Love the pic of you and Paula's girl. So sweet!

Raised brooders are the best. Much easier to tend to the chicks than having to bend over or crawl in.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

Are we really sure that breeding only clear autosexing is passed this way it sounds reasonable but with all the variation in down colors etc Im thinking there may be better indicators and maybe we should be looking at the male side a bit closer for autosexing being passed to the females.

I am not sure I completely understand what you are saying but I think both sexes should be easily identifiable at hatch. If they aren't then they should 't be bred forward.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

I agree the chick is female. 

Although as BBS says the dorsal stripe has a break -- when I look at the face-on picture I see a V - thus female -- and as dheltzel said -- that chick lacks a headspot. 

LoL, I guess we all agree that chick is confusing! I defer to Chickat.

 

[dheltzel]

It's not clear to me that fixing this is as simple as selecting to easy to sex chicks, but it is certainly worth a try. I agree that it is frustrating to feel like the sex of some is ambiguous. I have 4 different autosexing breeds (5 if you count the 2 lines of Legbars), and the hardest to sex are the legbars, but they are still 100% sexable, at least with experience. If it is that easy to get all chicks easily autosexing by only selecting clearly marked chicks, then we should have this taken care of in short order. If there are genetics in CCL's that make something desirable (like crests, for ex) but also have the side effect of making the chick down ambiguous in some chicks, then we will likely be dealing with this for some time to come.

It's an easy theory to test. I plan to select the very best colored chicks this summer to keep as breeders. I will mark or separate these and see if the chick down colors improve.