Sexing cream legbars- they all look alike to me

[LtDanFan]

Thats absolutely horrible! I an so glad you guys were safe and some of the babies made it out These guys could be pure legbar however I would not personally breed them due to the not distinct patterning as a chick. Plus one has no crest whatsoever. Still very cute girls and hopefully you will get some blue or green eggs!

No plans to breed at this time. I really just wanted the blue eggs and also there were no hatching eggs available near me besides these. I did notice a bit of a crest on the light grey one, it doesn’t show in the pics for what it’s worth but they are still growing. I just was curious about the lighter grey one since it doesn’t look like the pictures ive seen.

 

[Carontheroad]

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Unfortunately, about a week after i posted we had a brooder/heat lamp accident and the brooder caught on fire along with the floor in the living room where they were being kept until the garage brooder was complete. Out of the 6 cream legbar chicks that hatched, we only found 3 alive once the fire was out. I presumed at the time that they were all female, if i can find the pics of the survivors right after the fire i will post them as well. These are the three i have left. I think 2 females but I’m wondering about the light grey one. Maybe not pure legbar? Or is this a cockerel? They are about 6 weeks now. View attachment 4145340View attachment 4145339

Wow, so sorry to hear about your fire. That’s why I opted to go with a brooder plate instead of a heat lamp. I was worried that it wouldn’t be warm enough as I brood them outside in the walk in coop but they do just fine in quite cool weather.

I’m new to legbars but have 20 4 week olds right now that I hatched (11 females and 9 boys). Your grey one looks like my cockerels. More pronounced crown and minimal if any crest. The rooster dads for mine were opal and crele and the hen moms were the same. The crele are darker like your last 2 pictures. Not much of a crest yet on the middle pullet but mine are all varying sizes as well.

 

[LtDanFan]

Wow, so sorry to hear about your fire. That’s why I opted to go with a brooder plate instead of a heat lamp. I was worried that it wouldn’t be warm enough as I brood them outside in the walk in coop but they do just fine in quite cool weather.

Ironically enough, the day we came home to the fire was the day that they were going to be moved into the garage. My partner and i had just picked up a stock tank to set up as a brooder for the garage, and he had plans to make a lid that very afternoon. Unfortunately, we came home to a house filled with smoke and carnage. Animals were all locked up except for 1 cat who had been with the chicks before, but we presume he knocked it over. I did have a brooding plate delivered the day after the fire (previously ordered). Hard lesson learned. The next group has been brooded outside in a metal brooder with a lid.

 

[Carontheroad]

Ironically enough, the day we came home to the fire was the day that they were going to be moved into the garage. My partner and i had just picked up a stock tank to set up as a brooder for the garage, and he had plans to make a lid that very afternoon. Unfortunately, we came home to a house filled with smoke and carnage. Animals were all locked up except for 1 cat who had been with the chicks before, but we presume he knocked it over. I did have a brooding plate delivered the day after the fire (previously ordered). Hard lesson learned. The next group has been brooded outside in a metal brooder with a lid.

OMG, so scary. You have and angel watching over you. Hard lesson to learn. Thanks for sharing your story, it may help others to avoid the same fate.

 

[LtDanFan]

Yes!!! I hope so. We had plans to move them into the garage in a stock tank brooder (made of metal) but hadn’t done so because it just seemed a little too cold here early this spring. I can’t express how much regret i feel for saying “just let him stay out, hes good” because he had been around the chicks before and he is the one intact male cat ive ever met that does not pee around the house. I can only presume he was trying to get to the heat somehow as his favorite place to lay was under the covers or under the tortoise table with the heat pads on. Can’t blame him much, he has no fur lol.

 

[LtDanFan]

I do believe that one is a cockerel

Darn it!! I decided after the fire to keep the survivors and pray for all hens or re-home roos (originally, my plan was to soup the roos and keep the hens since i also had 6 barnyard mix chicks hatched about a week and a half prior). I was convinced the 3 CCL’s i had left were all girls, so i purchased a hatchling boy (along with a few EE’s due to min shipping requirements) and if this one is indeed a roo, then i will have to get rid of one. Anyone in the SW or N. IL area looking for a CCL roo?? Lol. I will give it more time as I could swear that the others looked similar to him, then overnight changed colors but i am not really supposed to have roosters, and i dont want to push my luck further with 2 of them.