Cream Legbars

[ChicKat]

I'm in agreement....that picture is precious on a lot of levels....and the chick's personalities already are showing up. ;o)

Sounds like you are going to have a good hatch. Congratulations.

 

[littlecritters]

Hi, I'm considering adding Cream Legbars to our flock and have a few questions that I hope you can help with. Do they handle cold weather well...and are there any concerns with their combs in the winter? Do eggs from different lines vary in color or are they all blue? Are they calm and docile? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[CibolaChooks]

everyone needs one of these under there perches https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/706208/goose-duck-ponics-up-and-running#post_9604931

 

[GaryDean26]

Hi, I'm considering adding Cream Legbars to our flock and have a few questions that I hope you can help with. Do they handle cold weather well...and are there any concerns with their combs in the winter? Do eggs from different lines vary in color or are they all blue? Are they calm and docile? Thanks in advance for your help!

Cold Weather: The roosters have large combs and some people in the northern states with cream legbars did have problems with frost bite. This breed comes from the UK and should do well in northern states.

Egg Color: All the USA lines are showing variation from A7 and a C17 on the egg color reference cards and vary from bird to bird.

Temperament: There is also variation on this, but in general the hens are calm and docile (all of mine are). They can be coaxed with treats to approach their care giver and will eat out of their hand once trained. The cockerels also are calm and docile, but I would not recommend hand feeding them. Like all all breeds I have seen, the roos can show aggression once they start mating (4-5 months) but mellow out as they mature (after about 7-8 months). Mature roos could also could show aggression during breeding season. Their temperment comes from their Leghorn and Plymoth Rock ancestors. They are easier to work with that a Leghorn but it is hard to beat the temperment of the Plymoth Rocks. Legbars are somewhere in the middle.

 

[littlecritters]

Cold Weather:  The roosters have large combs and some people in the northern states with cream legbars did have problems with frost bite.  This breed comes from the UK and should do well in northern states.

Egg Color:  All the USA lines are showing variation from A7 and a C17 on the egg color reference cards and vary from bird to bird.

Temperament:   There is also variation on this, but in general the hens are calm and docile (all of mine are).  They can be coaxed with treats to approach their care giver and will eat out of their hand once trained.  The cockerels also are calm and docile, but I would not recommend hand feeding them.  Like all all breeds I have seen, the roos can show aggression once they start mating (4-5 months) but mellow out as they mature (after about 7-8 months).  Mature roos could also could show aggression during breeding season. Their temperment comes from their Leghorn and Plymoth Rock ancestors.  They are easier to work with that a Leghorn but it is hard to beat the temperment of the Plymoth Rocks.  Legbars are somewhere in the middle.

Thank you for the comprehensive reply, I appreciate all the info. Do you or any other folks on this thread happen to know of any breeders in the NY-NJ-CT-MA-PA area?

 

[GaryDean26]

Sure do. I will send you a PM.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Well I have been waffling the last few days but have come to a decision, a very sad one.

Hubby thought he would be smart and buy a bunch of auction birds and dumped them in with our CL chicks a few weeks ago, before I knew it. The damage was done. I was the one doing all the reading and researching so I knew better, he did not. He finally admitted tonight he'd done the wrong thing and we will operate a mostly closed flock with very careful quarantine for the exceptions. Anyway long story short the birds we got had a respiratory illness of some kind, I would guess MG from the symptoms. So far over the last few days I have pulled out and segregated 2 CL males, 1 CL female, 1 Isbar, our prettiest baby blue ameraucana, and the last remaining silkie (this was one of the auction batch). Two other auction adult roosters that were already being kept segregated in their own pens also have it, so I don't know if they ALL picked it up at auction or they ALL already had it.

This leaves us with 2 male and 5 female CL chicks if no one else gets it...

Long story short, as we hope to be a breeding operation we will destroy all birds that show symptoms, I hope not all of our sweet little CLs develop it. It's a watch and wait game... We do have another batch from someone else in the incubator hatching as I type. Maybe we can still make a go of breeding in the spring... but the two hatched so far are female (only 1 left to go). LOL It's strange I am sad about that- normally those are numbers to be excited about!

So far our free ranging birds are not showing any symptoms. They were cooped adjacently so it's iffy whether or not they were exposed. If they aren't carriers already... GRRR I keep second guessing myself on what I should do...

 

[normanack]

Well I have been waffling the last few days but have come to a decision, a very sad one.


This leaves us with 2 male and 5 female CL chicks if no one else gets it...

I think your husband owes you several dozen hatching eggs after this episode is over. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

 

[normanack]

I'd greatly appreciate your comments on this 6-week-old chick: color, crest, type, whatever one judges a chick on. What would you think if you saw her in your flock? No holds barred, and many thanks. p.s. Is a chick of this age's coloring likely to change significantly? For instance, can one tell salmon from chestnut at this age? Thanks again. In the picture with two pullets, she's on the right. In the group picture she's the one on the left.

 

[GaryDean26]

I'd greatly appreciate your comments on this 6-week-old chick: color, crest, type, whatever one judges a chick on. What would you think if you saw her in your flock? No holds barred, and many thanks.
p.s. Is a chick of this age's coloring likely to change significantly? For instance, can one tell salmon from chestnut at this age? Thanks again.

1) Crest Type. This look great. Not too big, not too small.
2) Crest Color: A lot of the birds in the USA have the black cresting. My wife loves the black crest so we will probably keep some for the laying flock, but the correct color for the UK standard is a brown or gray color on the Hen with he additional allowance of some chestnut on the Roo. So...great color too.
3) Whatever:
a) The comb looks crooked, but this is a small thing. The hens combs are allowed to flop after the 1st point anyways so this should be fine.
b) The hackle is light. I am still learning how to identify correct hackle color, It may have some gold I can't really tell for sure.
c) Legs are yellow. So that is great (some are willow/green or pale colored)
d) Can't really say anything about the body type. All I remember from the standard is that they are supposed to have a prominent breast and that they should be wider at the shoulder than at the tail in a wedge shape.
e) Beak is yellow: It has some dark streak through it, but this should go away as the bird matures ans is a small item.

Yes, I the color will change a ton in the next year. It is looking like this one has the correct salmon coloring on the breast. Eyes will eventually change from black to orange or an orangish red.

In summary...the Crest, Comb, Barring, and Cream color hackles are the things that are easiest to see in a photo and the hallmarks of the breed. This pullet looks good in all of those categories.