Discussion of Legbar Standard of Perfection for -Alternative- Legbars - SOP discussion

[ChicKat]

Here is the Class Campion from the same show.

wonder if it is the same cockerel.......

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Out of all the cockerels I hatched this season, this guy is the only one I am keeping. He does have a crest, it is small and slicked back. About the color compared to the crele leghorn cockerel, the hackle is much lighter.

 

[ChicKat]

Out of all the cockerels I hatched this season, this guy is the only one I am keeping. He does have a crest, it is small and slicked back. About the color compared to the crele leghorn cockerel, the hackle is much lighter.

I'm noticing that too - the saddles and neck have a variance....he is a beautiful cockerel BTW. Is the crest one that has more warm coloring in it - more like the saddles?

This is a really gorgeous example, and I think has a similarity to the one that dretd posted in that the saddles are more golden colored - while there is the light color in the neck...Maybe this could be the 'ideal' target for crele Legbar

This is a good differentation too, I just went back to look at all the Crele Leghorns and they all have a hackle-saddle match. Our breed for our 'crele' seems to have a hackle-saddle mis-match. What do others of you see in your birds?

 

[chicken pickin]

Im glad you brought up the thought that the Legbars are a fast growing breed. I was recently looking at my youngest group of Legbars and noticed they were fully feathered by 5 weeks of age. I was thinking wow that was fast and thought maybe its because I don't baby them with the heat lamp.

 

[ChicKat]

Im glad you brought up the thought that the Legbars are a fast growing breed. I was recently looking at my youngest group of Legbars and noticed they were fully feathered by 5 weeks of age. I was thinking wow that was fast and thought maybe its because I don't baby them with the heat lamp.

Me too -- it's like 4 weeks in the brooder is all you get -- then out the door. (but you live in brrrrrrrr NH -- definitely yours aren't babied)--- Some talk awhile back that cold temperatures produce smaller crests in males...

 

[chicken pickin]

I think that flyingmonkeypoop's cockerel looks like a good representation of what I was envisioning the "colorful" Cream Legbar to look like. My original CL looked similar to the cockerel posted above though not as vibrant. I agree with you ChicKat that the majority of CL we see have a hackle-saddle mis-match.

 

[sol2go]

Speaking to a few points that were brought up:

FOR CRELE
short legs
I had 7 CL sisters (until the coyote attack greatly reduced their numbers).
There was a lot of variety including short legs. The short legs also came with fuller bodies; some small some large, but all fuller. Although we may want fuller bodies, it makes sense to me to stay with the legs as described for the Cream Legbars (not short).

yellow/orange color
ditto my remark about legs above; stay with yellow
However I think the photo of Lillian does over emphasize orange (even the breast feathers look orange instead of salmon) and the background color is probably intensifying that (since blue is the compliment or contrasting color to orange).

barring
I am in favor of more visible barring, as it seems to be one of the distinctive features in off-patterned CL's, even if their color is more correct; particularly in the hackle feathers of females. I have not seen it so much in my males. I wonder what the genetic factors are.

autosomal red
Including the red seems appropriate because it adds color to the crele pattern and is one of the factors that we try to eliminate in the Creams.

feather variations
Again, I think it would be worthwhile to take some time and breed away from the Cream and see what is most typical and distinctive in the variations to help support the drafting of a new SOP.

OTHER OPTIONS
white sports
Are so pretty and soft. They look great with the same yellow features as the CL's. I hope they can be accepted as a variation. Has anyone seen them in the rosecomb iteration?

rosecombs
Seem like a brilliant option. The crest looks so good, the faces are more visible, and it should offset comb problems that seem typical to the single combs. I don't think it helps offset the "waste" factor of the incorrect CL offspring. Perhaps it is yet another viable variety?

 

[chicken pickin]

Me too -- it's like 4 weeks in the brooder is all you get -- then out the door. (but you live in brrrrrrrr NH -- definitely yours aren't babied)--- Some talk awhile back that cold temperatures produce smaller crests in males...

I have yet to do a winter hatch with my CL. My first CL batch this year hatched in mid March and they were inside for quite awhile then in the garage for a bit after that. All the males combs still got quite large.

I may have to test this and do a very early hatch during the worst of winter. Again do my best not to baby them with lamps and get them outside sooner to test this smaller comb theory.

I wasn't planning on hatching until Spring so we will have to wait and see what I decide.

 

[sol2go]

re: the mismatched hackle/saddle as it relates to gold...
I couldn't get this guy to stand still the other day...basically I'm submitting his photo because I was happy that his hackle and saddle were more similarly colored than the roo he came from (working towards the SOP of Cream).
But based on the wing tell, he is still gold, among other things to work on. He is about 5 months old.


I wonder if it takes more than lack of cream to emphasize the mismatched hackle and saddle feathers.

Or if the "gold" wing triangle is more specific to the autosomal red.

 

[ChicKat]

re: the mismatched hackle/saddle as it relates to gold...
I couldn't get this guy to stand still the other day...basically I'm submitting his photo because I was happy that his hackle and saddle were more similarly colored than the roo he came from (working towards the SOP of Cream).
But based on the wing tell, he is still gold, among other things to work on. He is about 5 months old.


I wonder if it takes more than lack of cream to emphasize the mismatched hackle and saddle feathers.

Or if the "gold" wing triangle is more specific to the autosomal red.

Yep, I think that this is a beautiful cockerel coloration that we would risk loosing - to the world...and a 'crele' SOP could help preserve it....... I wonder if there are any breeds that use a different hackle, saddle coloration as one of the indicators of variety-- I know that the duck wings use the wing triangle - brown = gold duck wing and white = silver duck wing so we would not be blazing a new trail with that one...as the tell - although more subtle to say ones is "only gray-white" and the other one is "not only gray-white".....

ETA - edited and changed 'type' to 'variety' -- you all knew what I meant though didn't you .....