The Legbar Thread!

[Peep_Show]

The certifiable Cream Legbar chick that hatched on the 27th combed up REALLY quick. Do they all do that? (Jury is still out on what sex the other one is...but it hasn't an iota of a comb that hints boy-boy)

 

[estamets]

The certifiable Cream Legbar chick that hatched on the 27th combed up REALLY quick.  Do they all do that?  (Jury is still out on what sex the other one is...but it hasn't an iota of a comb that hints boy-boy)

Cream Legbars are auto sexing. Did your chick have clear eyeliner? Yes= pullet. No= cockerel. Easy peasey!

 

[ochochicas]

I did buy (at the same time) their Cream Legbar x RIR cross. They were brown eggs and the one that hatched yielded a nice chipmunky one (pullet, see pic above Post 7393/7395). The Sellers are also purveying 3rd Generation Olive Eggers and the eggs in question are definitely not olive.

I have left messages via the eBay messaging program to the Seller about "From your pure Legbar eggs: Just what is this? Boy? Girl?" and have gotten NO reply.
Sigh...

Not sure what to do. The yellow chick has a very distinct yellow dot and so I'll make the leap that he IS a boy. Orangey chick with spots does not have spot but does have some erratic chipmunk spots, so will most likely have to wait-and-see it..

Juni is right. 3rd generation olive eggers will not necessarily lay olive eggs or hatch from olive eggs. I have F2 Olive eggers and some of the hens have straight combs and lay dark brown eggs. If you want 100% olive eggers it is best to cross a blue egg (CCL, Araucana, Ameraucana) with a chocolate (Marans, Welsummer, etc.)

 

[ChicKat]

I think this is soooo cool.

They say if you keep chickens long enough you will see some unusual eggs.

This pullet laid an egg that has 2-colors on --

My flock ususally comes in at OAC179 p that's the norm - this egg is a bit more saturated OAC178 for those with Online Auction Color Charts---- but on the end of the egg..- the more narrow end...a patch of color that is OAC206.... now to get a chicken that can lay a whole egg of OAC206..that would be something. (I would rather have OAC213)--- but tell me how did she get such a dark color on her egg?

I know - fluke of the egg-laying mechanism - but pretty unusual to me, none-the-less.

 

[Junibutt]

I think this is soooo cool.

They say if you keep chickens long enough you will see some unusual eggs.

This pullet laid an egg that has 2-colors on --

My flock ususally comes in at OAC179 p that's the norm - this egg is a bit more saturated OAC178 for those with Online Auction Color Charts---- but on the end of the egg..- the more narrow end...a patch of color that is OAC206.... now to get a chicken that can lay a whole egg of OAC206..that would be something. (I would rather have OAC213)--- but tell me how did she get such a dark color on her egg?

I know - fluke of the egg-laying mechanism - but pretty unusual to me, none-the-less.

Wondering if that portion of the shell is thicker than the rest.

 

[ChicKat]

Wondering if that portion of the shell is thicker than the rest.

On the surface it is flat. I was going to blow out the egg and save it - so I don't know if there is a build up inside. I could try to look with 'candling' once I empty the contents...usually with the saturated colors, I don't have a lot of success seeing inside...but I will try for an answer to your question. :O)

 

[Peep_Show]

Did you get any blue eggs from that shipment or were they all sort of greenish tinged?

They definitely don't look like CL chicks. Or like @ChicKat said maybe they mixed up your eggs and you got something else instead.

Here's a photo of the two "supposed" CL chicks, the one that's a definite male on the left and the other that was really oddly colored. They're 24 days old today.



Oddly-colored chick as fresh hatched


Oh. BTW, the one that was guaranteed to be female (RIR x CL) is combing up nicely, too.

I contacted the egg seller about this one and even after seeing the pic she still insists it's a pullet.
I've NEVER seen a 3+ week old pullet with a comb like this. Am I way off base?

 

[ochochicas]

Looks like a cockerel to me.

 

[dretd]

Here's a photo of the two "supposed" CL chicks, the one that's a definite male on the left and the other that was really oddly colored. They're 24 days old today.



Oddly-colored chick as fresh hatched


Oh. BTW, the one that was guaranteed to be female (RIR x CL) is combing up nicely, too.

I contacted the egg seller about this one and even after seeing the pic she still insists it's a pullet.
I've NEVER seen a 3+ week old pullet with a comb like this. Am I way off base?

Hi Peep_show!

The down on the 'girl' is definitely off for a CL. It is possible that it is a mix of some kind. Another thought is that it may be recessive genetics coming out that have been buried.Scenario: If a person gets a set of hatching eggs from another and hatch a boy and a girl (brother-sister) they may think--eureka I can breed these two and make some babies and sell the eggs to make back my investment on the original eggs (IMO they are really multipliers of chickens not dedicated breeders). What they will have is an untested breeding of siblings and if they carry undesirable recessive traits, you will have a 1/4 chance of that coming forward in their offspring. THis is a test breeding and can be very valuable in the breeding program to understand your genetic. So it is possible with this scenario that the 'breeder' is breeding two Cream Legbars but the results are going to show the genetics of their stock not necessarily be good examples of the breed. That being said, my guess is that the chick is an e+/eWh mix and not pure e+. If I remember right, RIR are wheaten based so that would make sense if there was a CL/RIR cross as a possibility.

When looking at the above RIR/CL chick, I suspect it is a female. I am basing that not on the comb but on the feather pattern. In the wild type color pattern, typically the females will have a salmon/chestnut/reddish breast and the males will have black. It appears that this chick has reds not blacks in the breast which makes me think girl. On the other hand, males typically get red leakage in their shoulders in the wing bow--think the allowable chestnut in the male CL wing. It usually is a pretty distinct red and will show even through silver/white in a mixed breed IME. Although this one does have brownish red coming in on the wing, the hue is not the rusty red I would expect with a boy.

The comb--you can have a very large comb in girls at 3 weeks but I have never seen pink red in that larger comb at that age. It doesn't look like s/he has pink in the comb yet. Do a photo search on Leghorn females at 3 weeks and you will probably see the distinction between large for a 3 week old and extra large and reddish at the same age...ok got one for you:

Here is a photo I grabbed off of another thread. Looks like one female and the rest are males--3 week old White Leghorns:

So bottom line is that I am guessing it is a female but that I would not move forward with her as a breeder whether she was from pure Cream Legbar stock or not. I personally look at the down as the first cull (not a candidate for breeding) and since she has atypical down, it is not something I would want in my breeding pen.

Cute chicks non the less!

 

[Peep_Show]

Thank you for such detailed and understandable info.

I suspect that your guess of sibling matings is correct.

I am not planning on breeding chickens, just want eggs. (I like my neighbors and wouldn't spring another roo into the neighborhood....the ones here already are loud and echo screeching into the morning, the full moon, all day long) That's why I chose the sex-link/auto-sexing eBay eggs. If they're girls -- Hooray! -- I'm on my way to the layer flock. If they're not girls, I have had a beat-all-odds boy streak in this year's hatching with close to 70 eggs producing just three desirable pullet RSL Cinnamon Queens.

(Note: Not all 70 hatched due to high altitude and USPS variables, but those that did hatch were 5:1 male. All the supposed easy-to-sex pullet chicks have perversely not been so...and I have one wildcard (non auto-sexing) OE that we've dubbed "Pat" -- FBCM x FBCM/CCL -- that we're all scratching our heads about.)