The Legbar Thread!

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I have a range of blues in my legbars. None I would qualify as anywhere close to a super blue or a robin's egg blue and I really have not seen anything close to that anywhere. The range of blue that each lays independently seems 'mostly' consistent in my birds but there is some subtle changes that occur with each hen. Some look bluer at the start then get lighter as the cycle goes on and if the weather or climate changes or with stress. I am hoping to cull for egg color in my older girls when I go through them this summer and that's just for ones that I might deem more pale than others (and smaller than others). I would imagine to intensify the color will require a few generations of careful breeding, growing out till laying then culling. Since the process for that will be quite intensive when it comes to time and space it is something someone like myself who is new and less able to do massive hatches will have to work on for years.
I do not use a chart to check and test my egg color as I don't really care to be that detailed at this point but I do see a small range in color in my hens. My 2 gold hens have a more saturated color but it's not as clean a blue as I'd like. I have kept them and may try breeding them forward in the next year to see what they produce with the advances I've made in my own birds and with the Rees line. I cannot and do not trap nest but I will be taking each girl and placing her in a separate pen to ascertain what color range of egg she lays, what shape and how large or small. I did this when making cull decisions on my female Marans. I am going to try for a deeper blue as opposed to a lighter blue but that will then be weighed with other aspects the bird offers as I'm looking to cull smaller, tawnier birds this year. When I say deeper blue I'm looking for the more saturated colors in what I already have. I am not as ambitious as you are in the deepness of the blue that will make me happy for now.
I have some Rees chicks growing out so it'll be interesting to see what they lay. I may not cull any of those until next year if that's when they start laying.
As always I am really appreciative when you take the time to write posts. Im glad to have your eye on occasion as well as my own. I did notice that it wasn't the necessarily the shade of gray but the spacing that shows mor or less white. So I am glad you pointed that out also since I am new to this and still learning what to look for.

I did take picture of my 2 boys wings this morn.

First picture is the wing of the dark boy


This second picture is of the light boys wing

I think those wingbays look clean of color from what I can see. The shoulders are minimally colored and their is quite a bit of white in the bow and bar wing areas on your lighter boy. Their earlobes are too die for by the way... The barring on the bottom boy in the fluff area has a less distinct look to it than the top boy also. The top boy seems to have better color and barring in the wing area and closer to what the SOP calls for. Type is hard to judge in the images but if they are the same then it'll be interesting to watch them as they grow. If you breed both of them it'll also be interesting to see what they throw and may give you some ideas on the genetics of the females you have.
 
I love the earlobes also!

I had another boy I was contemplating on holding on to and his earlobes were fantastic. I regretted having him processed the moment he left.

 
I love the earlobes also!

I had another boy I was contemplating on holding on to and his earlobes were fantastic. I regretted having him processed the moment he left.


I agree with your choice of the 2 over this 3rd boy. I'm down to just the 3 Legbar roosters as my adults and the crowing/noise level is so noticeable that I think 3 is going to be my max number from here on in.
He does have great earlobes but his barring is so spotty and sparse. His wing bay is not as nicely barred as the others and his shanks are not as yellow looking in these images as they could be. The base of his tail also looks a bit narrow. One nice thing about all three is the lack of white in the main sickle tail feathers.
I'm trying very hard to learn all the correct names for all the parts and studying type more. I finally broke down and bought a copy of the 2010 APA SOP and joined the APA. I am also thinking of starting to show my birds at some point.
 
I hope to come across those whose CLBs lay bluer eggs than clean Americanunas. Because I'm quite dissatisfied with the clarity and intensity of my 3 lines of CLBs, and am struggling to distinguish subtle differences to concentrate on breeding it up.
Just wondering if you happen to have access to an Online Auction Color chart (OAC) - sometimes it is better than a photo - to talk about color....


My favorite CL lays OAC179, the Isbars produced OAC81, OAC116, and one that is between OAC95 and OAC102 - I would love to get CL eggs of OAC213 or even OAC214 or OAC207......Anyone out there have eggs bluer than OAC179??

 
Chickin Pickin -
I agree with Blackbirds13 that the 'darker' of your two cockerels shows more distinct barring on the fluff. Interesting that the Cream Legbar is based on wild type - also called duck wing and also called partridge in Europe on the E-Locus - so the basis of the Cream Legbar is e+ (wild type)-- A barring on wild type is always called 'Crele' - To have the type of barring a BPR has, 'true' barring, would require a different genetic basis on the E-Locus - and hence wouldn't be a Cream Legbar.
 
Many people have also concluded by now, that if an outcross were needed a light brown Leghorn would be the best choice of chicken for that.  If that happened it would take some generations to return to the bluest egg.  


I have made an outcross to a brown leghorn and the hens from the back-cross lay a better shade of blue than a couple of my other pure hens.
 
I have made an outcross to a brown leghorn and the hens from the back-cross lay a better shade of blue than a couple of my other pure hens.
y'know, I think you just made the stock-market value of brown leghorns go up!!
wink.png
 
y'know, I think you just made the stock-market value of brown leghorns go up!!  ;)


:D The thing I did battle with on the leghorn crosses was color. The 'light brown' hen I used was more of a basic wildtype and it did mess with the color some. I have wanted to see how cream would affect dark brown though, one of these days I'll try it.
So far none of the legbar pullets are cream, just light brown in my flock this year. I do have 1 or 2 cream cockerels though. I sold a trio of rose comb light brown legbars recently, the lady has been following my posts here on BYC for a while I guess and said she is like me and a few other breeders that prefer the light brown. So I guess I'll try to get some folks together that want to help me work on wording for a light brown legbar color standard.
 
If an outcross to BLH is done you will need to then put a CLB onto the blue egg laying daughters to fix the cream.

The temptation not to do this is high due to the price put on the CLB and the time iit takes.

You have cream don't turn it back into gold you will end up with flocks full of rubbish. .


On the other hand if you want golds " make them "
 
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Not sure about elsewhere, but the legbars are selling for about as much as marans around here. I made the outcross to bring the rose comb in. When I made the outcross, not only did I bring in the rose comb, but the back cross pullets lay bluer eggs, the production is better than my originals, and they lay a couple weeks sooner than my pure birds. So far other than color, nothing bad has happened breeding wise from the outcross.
So far, I know of a couple other breeders that have done the crossing and had similar results in the offspring. I don't suggest everyone does it, but they are a composite breed and the leghorn is a large part of that mix. Some of us like a more leghorn style legbar and some don't, we all have our end vision and with luck, the legbar club can guide us into a similar view using the standard.
 

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