Cuckoo Bluebar...

[PJReindel]

Here are my 3 oldest, they are 9 weeks old ( I have a batch at 5.5 weeks, 3.5 weeks and 2 weeks and some under a broody which should hatch next week and more in the incubator which were set Wednesday right behind them). We took these last night.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's a nice looking trio. Looks like a rooster and 2 pullets. Good odds.

 

[PJReindel]

Yes, definitely one boy and two girls. Those 3 are direct siblings. I ran two breeding pens.my first two hatches were all from one pen and the last hatch and the upcoming are from the other. I'm hoping I can pull out 2 males and hopefully 4-6 females from each pen to build my strain with!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They have nice coloring too. I always end up with more roosters than pullets from my hatches. I like them.

 

[drumstick diva]

nice looking birds

 

[PJReindel]

This batch I hatched 3 and got 2:1. The batch behind them looks about 50-50. We shall see how the next couple batch go.

I started with two nice Cream Legbars males, one Crele one Cream, and two Andalusians hens. They're not the best Andalusians out there but, they were all I could get my hands on. They come from hatchery lines and seem to have very good egg production 5-6 eggs every 7 days from them both. One has much better blue color but, really lacks lacing. The other is quite dark (not black though) with great lacing. Hopefully I have some good stick to move forward with!

 

[PJReindel]

So, I haven't updated my Bluebars in a few weeks. They've changed quite a bit! My eldest are 13 weeks now.

Here is my eldest male. He had been crowing for about a month and is finally starting to get the hang of it! He picked up the "black" coloration from the cross so he appears barred. He will not be used for breeding...

Next is one of my eldest females. She has become quite friendly. She flys up into my lap and perches allowing me to pet her...

Finally, is my only blue male from my 10 week old batch. He will be used in breeding my F2 generation. He's crowing now too and sounds like a broken squeak toy. Lol...

 

[PJReindel]

Well, if there's anyone still following this thread, here is an update on my cuckoo Bluebars.

The two hens were hatched on Valentine's day and the roo was hatched 3 weeks later. These three are all siblings. I have 3 more unrelated breeding coming behind them to give me 4 unrelated pens for next year.

One of the two hens was hanging out in nesting boxes today and doing a lot of chatting. Other hens have moved right in to lay so I can't see if she laid today or, if she's just starting to get the feeling and will lay soon!

I intend to use splash offspring from the F2 generation to cross back to cream Legbars for the F3 to help strengthen the blue egg gene

 

[PJReindel]

And this little gal laid her first egg yesterday! And her second today! Tiny and light blue.

 

[Suzi18]

Does anyone know if Cuckoo Bluebars come in any color other than the blue/gray color i see in most pictures?