Single Cream Legbar, bad idea?

[Evadig]

Oh goodness, not what I meant at all. It's good for me to know what kind of issues I could encounter. Of course I feel awful that she's a target

No I know you didn’t mean anything
She’s doing a lot better since everyone got glasses. I hope you get a good situation, whatever you end up doing !

 

[MrIgmo]

I have 3 Legbars and 3 lavender Orpingtons that we raised as chicks. I got the Legbars exactly a week after the Orpingtons. The Orpingtons were the last 3 chicks they had when I got there, I wasn't planning on 3 but didn't want to leave the last one alone. So I got 3 Legbars to keep things balanced, although I was the first person there on that day and had my pick. So I got the darkest chick, the lightest chick and one that was in the middle with her wild feather pattern being very defined and pretty. The lightest turned out to have a blonde crest so we call her Blondie. The middle birds crest is red and I call her Becky as an inside joke. And the darkest has dark brown crest and we call her Tail Feather because she had one extra long TailFeather that was broken and dangling at the tip until her first molt.
The orpingtons I got were are pathetic, one of them was clearly the runt of the whole batch. Runt grew up to eventually take the head bird title from blondie, whom was the most dominant when they were chicks. They actually had a knock down, drag out fight in the middle of the yard that lasted for a couple minutes.
Blondie is kinda on the fringes of the flock now, she's the lowest in pecking order and tends to do her own thing. She goes to bed first every day and sleeps on a shelf in the corner that I intended to use for other things, it's about 2 inches higher then the roosting bar and I've seen runt try to knock her off of it but she can't. And the orpingtons wait to roost until it's actually dark outside, 30 or 45 minutes after the legbars go inside.
They are all nice to each other though. They mostly pair up when grazing in the yard but the pairs change and don't really matter what breed. One of my orpingtons has really kind eyes, as opposed to runt who has an intense look like an eagle or something has. We call that bird grandma and she goes broody occassionally and will sleep the nesting box if we leave eggs in there overnight like she knows it's the right thing to do or something. She will also roll any eggs laid in the other nesting box over into the clutch in the main nesting box everyone usually uses.
Overall I think those two breeds are really good together. Although I initially wanted to get 2 of each and have 2 Welsummer, Speckled Sussex, or Marans. Whatever I foud first. I have to say I read that the legbars were skittish and that orpingtons were friendly but my chickens are opposite. My Legbars like to be held and my Opringtons will only tolerate it for short periods.
They'll fight over food sometimes but it's almost always Runt taking something from Becky or TailFeather. Those two are so agressive together that the other two Orpingtons just let them go first. But if Runt wants what they have she will take it. Blondie has to sneak up and get whatever she can get on the tail end of the event. I've even seen Runt run completely across the yard to stop Blondie from eating chicken feed out of the feeder in their coop, simply because that wasn't what the flock was doing at that moment. Apparently she is in charge of when they stop and move on to the next activity.
My Legbars prefer to free range, they don't eat much feed. The Orpingtons will eat anything. But my Legbars stopped laying when it got cold and my Orpingtons never stopped laying everyday. If I had to pick 2 of each to keep I know which ones I would, but I wouldn't like having to do. I'm happy with them, they get along really good considering the horror stories I read on here sometimes. They groom each other and stuff. I watched TailFeather bury her head under Grandma birds wing during the first thunder storm they ever lived through.
I say do one of each or pairs but having singles of any breed with pairs of any other isn't fair. Maybe a single RIR or something scrappy but even then 2 on 1 would ensure they were bottom of the pecking order. Having three of each forced them to form that one odd couple and that couple made breed relations normal. LOL. It's a progressive flock.

 

[lovethefarmlife]

I'm looking to get 6 individual breeds for our next flock, but I'm wondering if that will be an issue with Cream Legbars. It will be the smallest chicken by at least a pound, and of course stand out with its interesting crest. Should I just pass on them, or will doubling up on Legbars help even the odds? Will two Legbars form a crest gang and start beating up the other birds?

I'm intending to house them with Opingtons, Bielefelders, and Sussex.

Thanks for your help.

I have a single cream legbar in a mix of 11 and she is doing great!

 

[Rose the Legbar]

I have a Legbar in my flock and she has a lot of spunk. The old lead hen at the time did start to pick out her crest feathers at one point but that stopped. She is highest on the flock rank as well now.

My original flock grew up with crested flockmates so they don’t pick at my new feather legged and bearded chicks. I highly suggest getting at least a few chicks with a crest, beard, or feathered legs so that when you add new birds with those features, they won’t pluck it out. If you are concerned about crest picking I would suggest getting two legbars.

 

[GaryDean26]

There is always a pecking order in a flock. The strongest and most fierce are at the top of the pecking order and the weakest and most timid are at the bottom. Size can make a difference in strength but my wife swears that the Legbar hens were the most fierce when she had a mixed laying flock. I have read in breeding commentaries that were published 100 years ago that poultry farmers used to feel that the more fierce a hen was the better her laying potential. So...it is possible that those smaller gamier hens will pick on the larger softer hens. I didn't ever see the Legbars gang up on the bigger hens but my wife is a lot more observant than I am and that is what she said was going on. I do now that the Legbars I got back in 2011 we pretty aggressive. The cockerels attacked on more than one occasion and I always had to carry a rooster pole into the run with me to push the cockerels away when they would come running at me with puffed up hackles. I bred out all the mean males in the first 2-3 years and never need a rooster pole any more and never see cockerel puff out their feathers or challenge anyone in any way. I wonder if the fierceness my wife saw was from those early year hens (that is when we had the mixed laying flock) and if it was bred out along with the aggressive males. I also wonder if there is anything to the fierce hens being better layers. I did some 1-year laying records in the first few years of the flock when we had 12 pens and could split hens to different pens to verify how many eggs they laid. I have moved a few time and have been pretty much a one pen flock from the past 9 years. So I haven't been able to track eggs. I think a Legbar would do fine in a mix flock. I wouldn't worry about hens picking on crests. The males hold onto the crests when they mate and that breaks feathers and pulls them out. Back feathers in prolific layers after fall out. They need the same nutrients to grow feathers as they do to make egg shells so when they are laying a lot of eggs the back often go bald. Again I think a legbar would be fine. We has a cochin x silkie in our mixed laying flock who was half the size of the legbars and she did fine. The more space the6y have the better for flock dynamics. If they are able to spread out those at the bottom of the pecking order find their own spot away from the dominant hens. When they are housed too close to each other and can't get away that is when lower raking hens get picked on the most.