The Legbar Thread!

[Johnn]

Part of it is supply and demand. There is a greater supply on your side of the Atlantic. A lot of very interesting breeds in the UK that aren't in the USA.... have you ever heard of one called, I think, a Bluebell? Glad that you will be getting some hatching eggs. Chicks are the cutest things ever.

Yeah i have heard of BlueBells they are very popular over here. My friend was going to get me one instead of Melow but she changed her mind because she thaught it looked ugly

 

[ChicKat]

Yeah i have heard of BlueBells they are very popular over here. My friend was going to get me one instead of Melow but she changed her mind because she thaught it looked ugly

Well, you sure wouldn't want to have an ugly replacement...... Hold out for another Cream Legbar. :O)

 

[Johnn]

Well, you sure wouldn't want to have an ugly replacement...... Hold out for another Cream Legbar. :O)

I will most likley hatching but apparentley its hard to hatch them under a hen then it is ot do it in a incubator :/

 

[ChicKat]

Interesting to hear.

I had some in the incubator at the same time I had a hen sitting on some. -- Then I decided I needed to move her, and she got confused about just where her nest WAS...pretty dumb on my part, I know. So she kind of 'abandoned the eggs...but then she went back to them.

Once the incubator eggs hatched, instead of putting them in a brooder, I put them under her at night---and wow, so nice to have the hen take care of chicks. No worries about power failure and not enough heat in the brooder, and no worries about them not getting enough exercise...she drilled them like a little army. It was so great to watch. And no need to clean the brooder etc.

Hen's do a lot of work for you, when they are the ones to raise the chicks. IMO it's better for the chicks too....but then you miss them thinking that you are their parent. That is kind of fun when they jump on your hand etc.....

 

[Johnn]

Interesting to hear.

I had some in the incubator at the same time I had a hen sitting on some. -- Then I decided I needed to move her, and she got confused about just where her nest WAS...pretty dumb on my part, I know. So she kind of 'abandoned the eggs...but then she went back to them.

Once the incubator eggs hatched, instead of putting them in a brooder, I put them under her at night---and wow, so nice to have the hen take care of chicks. No worries about power failure and not enough heat in the brooder, and no worries about them not getting enough exercise...she drilled them like a little army. It was so great to watch. And no need to clean the brooder etc.

Hen's do a lot of work for you, when they are the ones to raise the chicks. IMO it's better for the chicks too....but then you miss them thinking that you are their parent. That is kind of fun when they jump on your hand etc.....

I dont own a incubator thats why i have to rely on the hen to hatch the eggs

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Quote: I'm sure that's a huge difference. Supply and demand.

Good luck with getting more.

Has anyone grown out any extra cockerels for processing? Is it a worthwhile endeavor?

 

[ChicKat]

I'm sure that's a huge difference. Supply and demand.

Good luck with getting more.

Has anyone grown out any extra cockerels for processing? Is it a worthwhile endeavor?

Here's an old story: My dh's grandmother put her two daughters through college from the egg money she got raising white leghorns. She had about 100 white leghorns all the time. Interestingly, when the family ate chicken, it was leghorns that they ate. In this day we would tell someone that leghorns for other than egg production aren't recommended. -- I see no reason why a thrifty homesteader couldn't process their excess cockerels. JMO.

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Quote: That's excellent. Thanks for sharing this... I was thinking along those same lines. I don't believe in waste...

 

[1muttsfan]

The old-style Leghorns were sturdier birds, more dual-purpose than today's birds. Delawares would be good for all-purpose use, they lay great eggs (brown though if you prefer white) and the cockerels are great growers.

I had much better luck hatching CL eggs under a broody than in the incubator - both were shipped eggs. 5/7 shipped in September under a bantam frizzle Cochin, 3/34 in the bator with winter-shipped eggs.

 

[RyeRanch]

I have a flock of 4 CL layers and have been getting 17-21 eggs per week. As the days get longer, the numbers are increasing a bit.