The Legbar Thread!

[GaryDean26]

Beautiful birds! And congratulations on doing so well at the show! I'm sure it feels wonderful to have your breeding efforts and hard work recognized. That would be very exciting. I have never shown poultry, but it definitely is something I would love to do one of these days. I have a lot to learn and a long way to go before then.

Well...I am showing to promote the breed not to win, so I would have rather seen twice as many birds at the show and not won.

I never showed any chickens before we got Cream Legbars. We started showing Cream Legbars to help educated the poultry community on the breed.

Win or loose as long as people see the best examples of the breed we can offer I am happy

 

[kfelton0002]

Well...I am showing to promote the breed not to win, so I would have rather seen twice as many birds at the show and not won.

I never showed any chickens before we got Cream Legbars. We started showing Cream Legbars to help educated the poultry community on the breed.

Win or loose as long as people see the best examples of the breed we can offer I am happy

That is very inspiring to hear! Gives a greenhorn to poultry exhibition like me some confidence to get started. Do you recommend any resources for me to learn about showing poultry? I am going to purchase a copy of the Standard of Perfection. I look forward to learning from the folks on this thread about CLs. Here in Kentucky they seem pretty few and far between.

 

[chicken pickin]

This is Ohana. We got her originally as a mystery chick from my pet chicken. I have researched like crazy to find out exactly what breed she is, and the experts at BYC say she is a cream legbar. I am so happy to finally know what she is, and I look forward to those blue eggs. e

To me she looks more like a cream legbar mix. My guess is maybe she is an easter egger or olive egger, likely she will lay green or olive eggs. Just my opinion, i very well may be wrong.

 

[ChickenGrass]

To me she looks more like a cream legbar mix. My guess is maybe she is an easter egger or olive egger, likely she will lay green or olive eggs. Just my opinion, i very well may be wrong.

She looks like a cream legbar
I think she just has a gold neck because she is from a hatchery,
Goodluck
Fionn.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Sorry that I missed this! I used to use just ivermectin pour-on (3 drops per bird) all by itself. It's cheap if you get the generic and is good for almost all internal and external parasites. Unfortunately it isn't good against capillary worms and apparently my birds all have capillary worms. I only found out by having some birds die and sending one off for necropsy. The best thing for capillary worms is safeguard. They sell medicated pellets but they are pricy. I get the concentrate for goats which is $21 for 125 cc (that price is at my local co-op...$28 at Tractor Supply). It's supposed to be 1cc/10 lb of body weight. I have about 60 birds in my flock and I sure don't want to squirt a little less than 1cc down the throat of each bird. Instead I put a few handfuls of scratch in a bucket and add half a bottle and a little bit of water and stir the whole thing up by hand and then throw handfuls in each run making sure to scatter I'd around so the less dominant birds get some. I also check the egg boxes to make sure that there aren't any hens laying and missing out. I also need to make sure that the roosters are eating and not tid-bitting. Most people just use Wizine in the water which is cheap, effective and easy to dose. Most people just worm every 6 months but apparently I need to use the Safeguard more often since my birds are confined and have been confirmed to have capillary worms. I might need to dose every month. I use the Ivermectin just twice a year and dose them when the NPIP folks come out since I have to catch each bird individually anyway (once a year they get tested for three things...one of which is avian influenza and then after 6 months they get tested for avian influenza again).

Ah!! I knew I saw you on another thread somewhere, lol... you have Legbars from the early GFF lines, yes? Might be interested in a cockerel for my pullets at some point, if possible...

Also, I too have worm issues here... it's either capillary or gape worms, super awful... I use Safeguard and Valbazen, switching off every other time with the other type... btw, you *might* be having to deworm more often due to underdosing, just fyi... should be 0.23cc per pound for 5 consecutive days... sucks bigtime, but I had to individually dose all of mine like that...TB syringes, preloaded and doing it at night worked best... locked them all out of their coops then scooped up each one, down the hatch and into the coop they went...

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Ah!! I knew I saw you on another thread somewhere, lol... you have Legbars from the early GFF lines, yes? Might be interested in a cockerel for my pullets at some point, if possible...

Also, I too have worm issues here... it's either capillary or gape worms, super awful... I use Safeguard and Valbazen, switching off every other time with the other type... btw, you *might* be having to deworm more often due to underdosing, just fyi... should be 0.23cc per pound for 5 consecutive days... sucks bigtime, but I had to individually dose all of mine like that...TB syringes, preloaded and doing it at night worked best... locked them all out of their coops then scooped up each one, down the hatch and into the coop they went...

You can find out if it is gapeworm by sticking a q-tip down their throats and swiping. The reason for having to constantly re-worm is because they keep re-ingesting the eggs that come out in their feces. Birds that free range do a lot better because they poop everywhere but confined birds become worm egg factories and it's basically impossible to rid their runs of the worm eggs. You'd have to have them on wire or on concrete that gets regular bleach treatments. I think my next move is going to be to put a tarp under the shavings right after worming to at least keep them from ingesting years worth of worm eggs. I just found out that Northern Tool sells a tarp specifically for covering woodpiles that is 6' x 24' for $10 each which would almost perfectly cover the floor of my runs if I can figure out how to raise up the nest boxes to get the tarp under the legs (instead of a coop each breed has a large box on legs with a nesting box on the back). Ideally I could put them on wire when I worm them while I clean out their run but even then I don't know if that would get rid of the capillary worms 100% or just knock the numbers lower.

 

[Ravynscroft]

You can find out if it is gapeworm by sticking a q-tip down their throats and swiping. The reason for having to constantly re-worm is because they keep re-ingesting the eggs that come out in their feces. Birds that free range do a lot better because they poop everywhere but confined birds become worm egg factories and it's basically impossible to rid their runs of the worm eggs. You'd have to have them on wire or on concrete that gets regular bleach treatments. I think my next move is going to be to put a tarp under the shavings right after worming to at least keep them from ingesting years worth of worm eggs. I just found out that Northern Tool sells a tarp specifically for covering woodpiles that is 6' x 24' for $10 each which would almost perfectly cover the floor of my runs if I can figure out how to raise up the nest boxes to get the tarp under the legs (instead of a coop each breed has a large box on legs with a nesting box on the back). Ideally I could put them on wire when I worm them while I clean out their run but even then I don't know if that would get rid of the capillary worms 100% or just knock the numbers lower.

Nope, the q-tip swab only works if the gapes are actively spilling up out of the trachea when you do it... usually by then they are aspirating and/or dead... I don't really want to lose anymore... but I am 99.9% certain our issue is gapes... thought I lost a Legbar hen, cockerel, and 2 Am hens to heatstroke this summer... the hens all laid an egg, stepped out of the coop and fell dead... once it cooled down I noticed the lack of activity in everyone I had earlier attributed to the heat... after a Call duck almost choked to death in my arms, I dewormed her... by day 3 of treatment she was 100% better, but I finished the 5 days... the 2nd day, I had an OEGB with her head hanging, literally dragging it through the dirt and rocks... neck and head were purple from lack of oxygen... I was scared I had a respiratory issue... but I put her on the same deworming course as my Call... the next day she was holding her head up, color was back and she was eating, drinking and talking like nothing had happened... most of mine free range, but I still have to keep them on a strict deworming regiment... I understand they reingest the worm eggs expelled in their poo, but if they don't get the full course of proper dosage of dewormer, it just takes out the weakest worms and what is left can build up resistance to the dewormer...

Good luck on trying the tarps, but if rain can wash surrounding dirt into the pens worms will crop back up... not to mention tracking them in on your shoes/boots, etc... keeping them on wire 24/7 is about the only way to keep them completely worm free...

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Nope, the q-tip swab only works if the gapes are actively spilling up out of the trachea when you do it... usually by then they are aspirating and/or dead... I don't really want to lose anymore... but I am 99.9% certain our issue is gapes... thought I lost a Legbar hen, cockerel, and 2 Am hens to heatstroke this summer... the hens all laid an egg, stepped out of the coop and fell dead... once it cooled down I noticed the lack of activity in everyone I had earlier attributed to the heat... after a Call duck almost choked to death in my arms, I dewormed her... by day 3 of treatment she was 100% better, but I finished the 5 days... the 2nd day, I had an OEGB with her head hanging, literally dragging it through the dirt and rocks... neck and head were purple from lack of oxygen... I was scared I had a respiratory issue... but I put her on the same deworming course as my Call... the next day she was holding her head up, color was back and she was eating, drinking and talking like nothing had happened... most of mine free range, but I still have to keep them on a strict deworming regiment... I understand they reingest the worm eggs expelled in their poo, but if they don't get the full course of proper dosage of dewormer, it just takes out the weakest worms and what is left can build up resistance to the dewormer...

Good luck on trying the tarps, but if rain can wash surrounding dirt into the pens worms will crop back up... not to mention tracking them in on your shoes/boots, etc... keeping them on wire 24/7 is about the only way to keep them completely worm free...

My runs are completely covered and rain doesn't wash in but I may need to poke a few holes to let water from the nipple water system drain out...they can get a little messy. In this last hot summer I think the birds were camping out under the nipples and letting the water trickle over themselves. They got a bit muddy but it sure was hot. I lost a few to heat. I sent a hen off for necropsy and the report came back that she was perfectly healthy and the level of capillary worms was negligible.

 

[summerb123]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1144673/hen-contest-2

 

[Jorlyn]

Just joinine the thread. CCL are my favorite!