The Legbar Thread!

[estamets]

First egg from Hermione!

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Thought that this may be of interest to some Legbar raisers -- I just entered the 9-week weights for my chicks -- and then wondered what our spreadsheet average was for chick weight at 9 weeks -- and it is 1.55 pounds.

There are only 19 chicks who have weight entered at 9 - weeks -- so thanks to those of you who are helping us gather stats~

There are two heavy weights in the 19 entered for that age group - both male and both were over 2# at the 9-week mark.

@AZChiknGoddess

 

[ChicKat]

First egg from Hermione!

Looks large for a pullet egg! how old is the chicken and how much does the egg weigh? :0)

 

[estamets]

Looks large for a pullet egg! how old is the chicken and how much does the egg weigh? :0)

She's about 27 weeks old.

I didn't weigh the egg; I had to use it right away. It was pretty small, though, probably around 40g.

 

[Frenchcuffs13]

First egg from Hermione!

Congratulations Hermione! Great looking egg, so pretty. You must be proud!

 

[estamets]

Looks large for a pullet egg!  how old is the chicken and how much does the egg weigh?  :0)

Egg #2 is 55g! A very nice mint green with white speckles.

EDIT: the second egg was a double yolker.

 

[Chickencame1st]

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I would like feedback on these 2 hatch mate roos. 1 rooster. 3 hens. Look how dark one is in contrast to the other? Ideas??

 

[ChicKat]

One of the things that may be happening in our dark chickens is the pigment melanin. Here is a summary of a page from the handout from a chicken genetics seminar that was conducted by Grant Brereton and put on by the Sustainable Poultry Network. I attended the semianar about a year ago:

"Black extending genes: Melanotic (MI) (Secondary Plumage Gene)

• called 'MI'
• There are other black extending genes but the main one is Melanotic
• Helps to make self-black fowl on E, ER and eb (when pattern gene is present)
• When on a 'Patterned Partridge" (Wyandotte) background Melanotic gene turns the plumage into double laced (Barnevelder)
• On Hamburg-Pencilled background MI turns the plumage into Gold-Spangled (Hamburg)
• Gene works with other black extending genes which combine to make a solid black plumage
• The Melanotic gene is the gene responsible for all lacing that involves black on the outer edge
• Melanotic is regarded as a dominant gene but has varialbe penetrance in single dose depending on the bird in question. Sometimes its effects are minimal in single dose , but it appears to get more expressive after the first and second moults." Grant Brereton

Just a note also - the UK and Europan terminology is sometimes a bit different from the USA -- especially in the use of the term Partridge...

One of the trade offs in our breed for the dark gene - would probably be the dark breast barring in the mature male - and the crisp barring in the tail.

Another thing to recall is that Punnett noticed - and never could explain that Legbar chicks do come in a variety of colors. Here is a page from Punnett from a genetics journal of the time:

If your chick downs are like any of these (sorry for the bad reproduction - but I think you can get the idea)--- then I would say that you are home free.

We had been wondering about some females that had dark tips on the salmon breast feathers -- and from the above quote I surmise that that particular gene MI is present in those females. There are so many genes at work in a CL - that it isn't really accurate to say other than we can make educated guesses IMO -- based upon the appearance and on the genetic information that we find that appears to be applicable.

From your photo it looks like you have both of the down types from Punnett's day (i.e. light and dark)-- Males are the top 3 and females are the bottom 2.
HTH

 

[stryker]

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I would like feedback on these 2 hatch mate roos. 1 rooster. 3 hens. Look how dark one is in contrast to the other? Ideas??

ChicKat; Well said. That was very interesting and informational...

I had a black chick that looked just like that last year. Same exact everything at that age. Even the clearly marked head spot. He turned out to be a hen that lays white eggs... This is what she looked like at 10 weeks. She is stretching up because she was messing with the buckeye. I might be wrong on this and yours could be a roo.

 

[Chickencame1st]

ChicKat; Well said. That was very interesting and informational... I had a black chick that looked just like that last year. Same exact everything at that age. Even the clearly marked head spot. He turned out to be a hen that lays white eggs... This is what she looked like at 10 weeks. She is stretching up because she was messing with the buckeye. I might be wrong on this and yours could be a roo.

Wow. That doesn't even look like a cream legbar.