Picking a Cream Legbar Rooster

[Legbar Lover]

Just hatched some cream legbar babies and I want to pick a rooster as a spare. The ones that I have to choose from in this batch come from good stock anyway so I probably can’t go wrong, but as far as color what should I be looking for? Should the head spot be larger or smaller?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would pick the bird that most closely matches the Standard of Perfection.
http://creamlegbarclub.com/breed-1/

 

[BirdGirl2004]

First and Foremost...
! I hope that you enjoy this site as much as the rest of us do!! i Have learned SOOOO much from this site, and I hope that you do too!
I would LOOVEE to see some pics of you little chicks! I love seeing other peoples chickens, and I especially love Cream Legbars! They are gorgeous!!
I agree with @ChickenCanoe!! I would suggest looking at the SOP!!
Heres and article that could help! I was actually on the same article that chicken canoe posted, and was going to post it... but heres another GREAT article!!
http://creamlegbarclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CreamLegbarBreedGuide.pdf
Hope this helps!!
Good luck!

 

[Legbar Lover]

Thanks guys. I had read something similar. I was hoping I could choose a couple of chicks rather than keeping and raising all of them, i can’t tell much now except for health and color.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Normally, you'll have to raise them up before they show their adult characteristics enough to make an educated choice.
As you become more experienced with the breed, some flaws will become evident even in chicks so you may be able to cull earlier in the future. Meaning that, flaws and disqualifications observed in adults, with experience, you'll be able to detect those characteristics in chicks.
Just because they come from good stock, doesn't mean all the chicks will be excellent examples of the breed. It really doesn't work that way.
Out of every 20 cockerels I hatch, there are usually only one or two that are good enough examples of the breed to retain. I can probably determine 3 or 4 chicks I won't be keeping and then as they grow, I'll identify others due to color, comb, earlobes, conformation, etc..

 

[Legbar Lover]

I only raise an hovobater full a year I did 2 sets this year because I did something wrong with the first set and had a poor hatch rate. That is when I discovered my rooster wasn’t all that great. It was the first time I used him. His chicks were hard to sex sometimes. He was a bit wacky anywho. In the past I borrowed a friend’s rooster to make more girls and I had never had a problem sexing chicks. So when I decided I needed to cull my rooster I asked yet another friend with legbars if I could hatch his eggs so my rooster would not be related to my hens. That is when I found out his chickens came directly from the best of greenfire farms, so that is pretty cool. Now from his eggs there are 7 roosters to choose from and I need to pick a couple. I was hoping it was going to be an educated choice. I know there are never guarantees but I am starting with a good set of chicks.

I will load a pic of my new set of babies when I get a chance. I am going a hundred directions right now while Trying to decide on a rooster. County trapper is on his way out cause I have a bobcat that is getting past my perimeter hot wire fence. Hopefully the trapper sees a big red flag I missed. lost 3 good girls and it is heartbreaking. I have not had this problem in about 3 years. I forgot how sad and frustrating it was.

 

[Gray Farms]

I'd recommend marking the ones with larger head spots. Letting them all grow up and mature. And see if there is any difference in their adult patterns.

 

[Legbar Lover]

Thanks gray farms.

 

[Gray Farms]

I always like to let my birds mature to at least 5 months if I'm going to pick some out for breeders.

 

[mixedbreeds]

I had a bunch of Legbar chicks from Greenfire last year 7 turned out to be cockerels I had to go 5 months before I could choose. Then it really sucked the ones I wanted to keep were mean as hell so i ended up keeping a nice calm friendly one instead of the one I wanted. He is still a nice guy today