The Legbar Thread!

[The Sheriff]

I agree about keeping the whites separate if one decided to keep them. Mine would join my layers once we find out what color eggs they lay. My layers live with my Icelandics so they can't lay white eggs. Any other color is fine.

I have only had my two original girls from Greenfire laying, so that narrows it down for me. It has to be one of those throwing the whites. That being said, all of us who have cream legbars, especially those that got them very early on, got them from the same source. It makes sense to me that the source of our birds carries the gene. I don't know if the reputed lines B and C have thrown white chicks or if it is limited to Line A. I just don't want to jump to a decision this early and throw the baby out with the bathwater by removing my two hens from line A, only to find out that the others carry it as well. So I think we need to keep the discussion going and try to figure it out. It would have all been a lot easier if Greenfire had disclosed which line our birds came from. I was never able to find out.

I think the whites are very pretty and if I had more coops and pens I would love to raise them for a few generations and see what happens. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to build the coop until after filing for and being granted a divorce.

 

[debs_flock]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to build the coop until after filing for and being granted a divorce.

Aw Mary, I'll send DH over to help. He is just finishing up the Hen Haven (four plex) to go with the Poultry Palace (four plex), Chick Chalet (six plex) and the two singles, the Egg House and the Show House (didn't start going with theme naming until the addiction was thoroughly ingrained. A couple of days ago, we drove up to Meadow Vista and scored on some cyclone fence panels, they will be the Cockpit and Camp Kenmore and three as yet unnamed pens to go with the Patio.

Deb

 

[redchicken9]

Debs_flock,
Could you PM me coop photos? I'd like to see how the 4-plexes and 6-plex are laid out. Thanks!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Debs_flock,
Could you PM me coop photos? I'd like to see how the 4-plexes and 6-plex are laid out. Thanks!

I think we'd all like to see!

 

[debs_flock]

Okay, I'll take some photos this afternoon.

Been picking and prepping plums all day before the deer beat me to them all. I freeze all the prepped fruit and make jam/jelly/syrup, etc when the weather is cooler. So far I've only canned the stuff that needed to be fresh, whole plums and plum preserves. I can't believe how well the trees produced this year.

(Yes, besides my chickens, I like old-lady hobbies too!)

Deb

 

[The Sheriff]

Thanks Deb but I'd better pass unless your DH is willing to come clean them weekly as well.

But I would love to see pics of your coops. Love the names. It took me awhile to figure out the meaning of Camp Kenmore but then I got it.

My body, in its current state of arrested decay, just refuses to budge sometimes even when my mind desperately wants to go. I need to keep things pretty simple so I can keep going longer. I was able to fulfill my dream of living in the country late in life and I don't want to mess it up by having more than I can take care of.

 

[Debbi]

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. 

Thanks Gary, that was what I was looking for. Do the Whites also lay blue eggs, or is it too soon to know yet, in that no one's chicks are old enough? I agree with keeping them separate! I like the CL coloring so would stick with that color only. As for getting APA approval, going by the UK standard won't mean squat, unless you plan on showing in the UK. I agree with breeding towards the original standard for the breed, but when it comes up for APA approval, there will be changes made to suit the USA Legbars. This is what happened with the Black Copper Marans from France, and will also happen here...just saying.

 

[RachaelS]

Quote:
Yep, would love to see them also

 

[Dirt Farmer]

While reading the comments about the white sports I remembered that the white rock was a sport of the wildly popular barred rock back in the 1880's (at least some strains). It went on to become commercially much more significant than the beloved barred rock, being half the recipe for much of the world's table bird. I'm not particularly interested in white birds but you don't know where the experiment may end. I'm tempted to toy with crossing a CL back to a Good Sheppard barred rock at some point, to see if I could create a Monster Cream Legbar. (It would never get APA approval with that name.)

 

[ChicKat]

Had a nephew show up since Sunday, so it's been go, go, go, and largely go swimming in the South Yuba River! I took some egg photos, but then needed to charge a battery. Four eggs so far, and each a pinch bigger, but still a small egg. Cracked the first 2 to see the inside of the shell (white). Is there a breed where the inside is blue? For those of you weighing eggs, what type of scale do you use? A little OCD could be fun! I still don't know my layer. I have plans for nesting boxes, but this summer is blowing by, one hot, blue day after another. I mean it's moving fast! I loved reading the last 2 days of posts (23 of them). So much variety of topics. Blackbird13 did you find those pullets? Leah21 and ChicKat thanks, I am so excited about these eggs. I've been reading about breeding programs. I think I'd like to have 3 lines and do Spiral Matings, see Harvey Ussery's The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, p250. I want to put a shout out on this book. It's a new purchase. After thumbing and reading a few of the back chapters, I think it's a good buy, plus it has details on building nesting boxes!

This is really similar to the egg scale that I got---it has been working fine for a year now....you can set to grams or ounces...etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500X0-1g-Di...266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item564b331c6a
The egg shown in that photo is exceptionally small, BTW if it is the same scale that I have. I will try to dig up an egg weighing pict. from my blog. I put a fruit cup on ...reset to zero, and weigh from there without rolling worries.


whoops...tried to make it large enough so the numbers were visible---but got this instead...an egg photo collage.

Thanks for alerting us to the book..........