How can 2 cream legbars make a White legbar??

[Minky]

I know how it happens!!!

How!?? and are white legbars desireable or something you want to breed out. So the little girl chick is mine, and her dad is my rooster. Can i breed them together next year?

 

[duluthralphie]

Yes, you can breed them together.

What happens as I can best describe it is:

The white legbar is actually a bird without the gene that allows them to express color. This is very similar to a "white" lab (dog).

Without the gene that allows them to express color they will simply be white. Now environment and a few other things can affect the pureness of the color.

It can take several years for white to show up in a flock. If you have one bird originally that has the gene for white, 50 percent of the offspring will have one copy of the gene.

You have to keep the right rooster to get a hen and rooster with the white gene. One in four of this pair's offspring will be white, even though 75% of the offspring will carry the white gene...When I say white gene I mean the one that does not allow them to express color.

Draw a Punnett square and put a C (for color) and W for white on one bird and two C's for the colored bird Cw and CC and you can see how it takes a few generations and some luck to get the white. (depending on luck to keep the right rooster most of the time.)

When breeding a white to a white you always get a white...

Yes, I think my white legbars are very desirable.
I hope this helps.

 

[GaryDean26]

How!?? and are white legbars desireable or something you want to breed out. So the little girl chick is mine, and her dad is my rooster. Can i breed them together next year?

We have hatch 100+ Legbars a year since 2012. We didn't get any white chicks to hatch until 2016. Some people really like the white legbars and have abandoned the cream legbar variety to breed exclusively white legbars. Last year Myers hatchery was selling day old legbar pullets for $75 each (they dropped that to $54 each this year) so they are definitely very desirable to some people. The mark of quality in pure breed poultry is uniformity so those that are working on improving the quality of their Cream Legbars are culling the white gene out of their cream flocks. They don't want white to hatch from cream parents because it effects the uniformity of their breeding lines. A good breeder will have one flock dedicated to white legbars and a separate flock dedicated to Cream Legbars and will never cross the two so predicable results come from both. Here are some of mine for an idea of what the whites legbars look like when grown.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have three flocks of Legbars. I have Cream, white and gold crele. I breed only the best of each variety.

A white gene in the background will not hurt the "quality" of a legbar, (IMHO) it will however give you the chance for a white legbar.
Luckily the SOP's when complete will be close if not identical for everything but color.

The first thing I did when breeding my legbars was keep the bluest egg possible. Egg color was important to me then and still is. I have my flocks almost where I want them body type and color. I do have one pullet in the breeding pen laying a greener egg than I want. I have been busy so I have not bothered to find her, I just eat her eggs. She will be leaving the breeding pen in next week or so, once I isolate her.

Beings I am nearly done hatching for the year, some of my spare roosters will be making a visit to the pressure cooker. BTW White Legbar roosters taste almost identical to Cream ones...

 

[GaryDean26]

I have three flocks of Legbars. I have Cream, white and gold crele. I breed only the best of each variety.

.... BTW White Legbar roosters taste almost identical to Cream ones...

Yes...I have found this to be true too.

 

[MokiYoki]

White in legbars is the gene 'reccesive white'. Crossing white legbars to regular cream legbars will produce more of both. You just might not know for sure which colour the offspring are until they hatch! Also it will be hard to tell what cream legbars are carring the white colour without test crossing them.

 

[The Moonshiner]

White in legbars is the gene 'reccesive white'. Crossing white legbars to regular cream legbars will produce more of both.

Only if the regular CCL are carrying the recessive white gene.
White X white = 100% white
White X CCL that carry white = 50% white and 50% CCL that carry white.
CCL that carries white X CCL that carries white = 25% white, 25% CCL and 50% CCL that carries white.

 

[duluthralphie]

I use to say "recessive white gene" too. But I have since learned it is actually a gene that prevents the bird from presenting any color.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I use to say "recessive white gene" too. But I have since learned it is actually a gene that prevents the bird from presenting any color.

Interesting.
Have a link to that information?

 

[duluthralphie]

Interesting.
Have a link to that information?

http://creamlegbarclub.com/genotype/


The White Legbar is also identical to the Golden Crele Legbar and the Cream Legbar. It is understood to be a gold-based bird which has barring genes, and may or may not have the cream gene. The White Legbar does have two copies of the recessive white gene (c,c) which masks or prevents the expression of color and pattern.