The Legbar Thread!

[ronott1]

Ok, just learning here, where do the whites come from?? Mutants, or are they to be expected as sports every now and then? Any difference in egg color?

Mary, these were my two. They do appear to be boy/girl based now on their comb development.

So my girl had fairly dark chipmunk stripes.

Deb

The Question from Debbi was not answered. The whites are not in the British SOP are they? So they are not Auto Sexing and would be culls if breeding towards a Standard?

It is a DQ?

I think they are very pretty but thought that Greenfire and The Brittish Breeders were trying to avoid the Whites.

 

[debs_flock]

I'll update pictures of them today. I also wanted to update the coloring coming in on the boys, since I had three distinct colors of them at hatch.

Quote: I can't answer Debbi's question, but I did consider them to be autosexing. They were my first legbars, but I read their markings as male/female. That appears to be true based on how they look now. I'll look today when I pull them out of their brooder, they are ready to be kicked outside anyway.

Deb

 

[debs_flock]

Ok, just learning here, where do the whites come from?? Mutants, or are they to be expected as sports every now and then? Any difference in egg color?

I don't know where they come from, I'm too new with the breed. I wouldn't call them mutants or sports, since they appear to be cropping up often and in multiple locations. I don't know if it's been determined if the birds throwing them all came from the same group of imports. I also don't know if any of the white have reached POL yet.

Deb

 

[ronott1]

Quote: I don't know where they come from, I'm too new with the breed. I wouldn't call them mutants or sports, since they appear to be cropping up often and in multiple locations. I don't know if it's been determined if the birds throwing them all came from the same group of imports. I also don't know if any of the white have reached POL yet.

Deb
I really am not trying to squash enthusiasm, but I am fairly sure I read that the whites were something bad that needed to be removed from the Cream Legbar breeding program. That they popped up sometimes and were not to be used for breeding.

Sorry.

 

[GaryDean26]

My thoughts are that like laundry you need to keep the whites separted from the darks.

A breeder in the UK told me that the Legbars were crossed with white Leghorns somewhere along the way. Like most white breeds both dominate white and ressesive white are used in the white leghorns to elimiated leaks in color. The dominate white was breed out, but the ressesive white is still poping up in many Legbar lines in the UK (and USA). The whites are considered culls in a standard cream legbar flock, but there are people in the USA that are breeding for the whites to create a new varriety. I have encouraged people to breed for a white varriety, but at the same time will remove any birds that I discover with the ressesive white gene from the breeding program of a standard colored flock. Others who are not breeding to create a white varriety should do the same. Whites only belong in a breeding program for the white varriety. I am focusing on darks others are focusing on whites, in a few years I may get some whites when I am looking for a new color.

 

[pampered_poultry]

Thank you ! Hope we have some eggs soon.....

Richard,

These are beautiful pictures!

My CL that I got from you in March are maturing nicely. Can't wait for eggs!

 

[ronott1]

My thoughts are that like laundry you need to keep the whites separted from the darks.

A breeder in the UK told me that the Legbars were crossed with white Leghorns somewhere along the way. Like most white breeds both dominate white and ressesive white are used in the white leghorns to elimiated leaks in color. The dominate white was breed out, but the ressesive white is still poping up in many Legbar lines in the UK (and USA). The whites are considered culls in a standard cream legbar flock, but there are people in the USA that are breeding for the whites to create a new varriety. I have encouraged people to breed for a white varriety, but at the same time will remove any birds that I discover with the ressesive white gene from the breeding program of a standard colored flock. Others who are not breeding to create a white varriety should do the same. Whites only belong in a breeding program for the white varriety. I am focusing on darks others are focusing on whites, in a few years I may get some whites when I am looking for a new color.

Thank you for the explanation.

It would also be good to remember that the Whites will be harder to get into the APA since there is no equivalent in the British standards. It will take a lot of time for the Standard or dark Cream Legbars to get into the APA.

Ron

 

[debs_flock]

I'm not quite sure what you're referring to as enthusiasm when people report what is showing up. Everyone likes different things and develop and work with their own programs. There are many people on this thread that discuss crossing their birds with other breeds to work on different traits, not something I'd do, but they are free to do as they choose. As long as those birds don't show up with their lineage not acknowledged.

Also not quite sure why you were sorry for your comment. I think the CL are new enough in this country for everyone to still be feeling their way. More people will join in with the breed and more people will drop out. It's the nature of hobbies. Hopefully for the breed to be sustainable, the people joining in will outnumber those leaving.

It would also be good to remember that the Whites will be harder to get into the APA since there is no equivalent in the British standards.

Whether or not there is a British standard isn't too relevant. It's a lengthy process to recognize any "new" breed or variety. It's a matter of breeding true to type, records available & a demonstration of interest within the community. Some of this I'm guessing, I haven't really looked into the full process with the APA. I'm making the assumption it is similar to the process required by ARBA. I do have experience with the process in rabbits & cavies. Right now there are so many different breeds/varieties available, I can't even begin to think about the creative process and time involved in doing anything beyond trying to perfect what I have.

Deb

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
I'm not quite sure what you're referring to as enthusiasm when people report what is showing up. Everyone likes different things and develop and work with their own programs. There are many people on this thread that discuss crossing their birds with other breeds to work on different traits, not something I'd do, but they are free to do as they choose. As long as those birds don't show up with their lineage not acknowledged.

Also not quite sure why you were sorry for your comment. I think the CL are new enough in this country for everyone to still be feeling their way. More people will join in with the breed and more people will drop out. It's the nature of hobbies. Hopefully for the breed to be sustainable, the people joining in will outnumber those leaving.

It would also be good to remember that the Whites will be harder to get into the APA since there is no equivalent in the British standards.

Whether or not there is a British standard isn't too relevant. It's a lengthy process to recognize any "new" breed or variety. It's a matter of breeding true to type, records available & a demonstration of interest within the community. Some of this I'm guessing, I haven't really looked into the full process with the APA. I'm making the assumption it is similar to the process required by ARBA. I do have experience with the process in rabbits & cavies. Right now there are so many different breeds/varieties available, I can't even begin to think about the creative process and time involved in doing anything beyond trying to perfect what I have.

Deb
No really we should all enjoy the chickens we have. I wanted to make sure people reading this thread understood what is going on with the whites. They are Culls in Britian.

Enjoy the chickens and I hope the White Legbars do well!

Ron signing off....

 

[RyeRanch]

It is also my understanding that the whites will pop up in a colored flock becasue of a recessive white gene generally thought to be linked to the Legbar's Leghorn heritage. They are totally outside of the British standard. I think they are neat birds and that likely the best course of action would be to establish it as an alternate variety. I intend to keep the cream legbars and white legbars seperate for anyvforward generations and work to identify who does/does not carry the white genes in a cream flock. It seems that the legbars here in the us still have so many other issues with comb/crest desirablilty and size, exact coloring in the males, etc. before a standaridized birds comes around that if there are going to be two varieties of Legbar over here now is as good of a time as any to start working on it. In summary, keep the whites, but keep them seperate.