The Legbar Thread!

[dretd]

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.

So that averages 4-5 eggs per week. That actually sounds very good for this time fo year!

How big are your eggs and how old are the hens? What sort of color range are you getting?

 

[GaryDean26]

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.

I have never had any white Leghorn cockerels to process, but I have used Cream Legbar Cockerels for table meat. The meat was very good. It was a very light colored meat and not as gamy as some breeds I have processed. I would recommend skinned to plucked though. The skin was a lot thicker than my dual purpose breeds. Our dual purpose breeds last 2-3 meals at our house. The Legbars are just about perfect for one meal which can be nice for those who aren't big on left overs.

I don't like selling cockerels unless they are going with pullets or to a home that already has Cream Legbars (I am working on establishing Cream Legbars not muttbars). Even then I wouldn't want to re-home a cockerel that we wouldn't breed. So table meat seems the logical choice for chicken breeders who are trying to improve a breed.

I wouldn't raise a Legbar for meat since they take up just as much coop space, just as much pasture space, and are just as much work as larger meat birds for only half the meat. If I were in it for the meat I could double my hourly wage with a bigger bird. So...no Leghorns, Legbars, etc. are not "meat bird", but our slow growing, pasture raised, Legbar Cockerel are way better meat than anything we could buy at the local grocery store.

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.

So that averages 4-5 eggs per week. That actually sounds very good for this time fo year!

How big are your eggs and how old are the hens? What sort of color range are you getting?



I am averaging 4-5 eggs a week right now from my Cream Legbars too. One foundation hen has laid eggs ranging from 64-67 grams last week, and another foundation hens laid eggs that ranged from 57-59 grams.

The pullets that are laying are all are ranging between 54-60 grams.

The hens are 58 weeks old and the Pullets are 27-30 weeks old. 75% of my eggs are around an OAC 123. The rest of a bluer color but I don't remember the number (It is the bottom row in the same column as the OAC 123).

 

[Dahlisgrams]

I have never had any white Leghorn cockerels to process, but I have used Cream Legbar Cockerels for table meat. The meat was very good. It was a very light colored meat and not as gamy as some breeds I have processed. I would recommend skinned to plucked though. The skin was a lot thicker than my dual purpose breeds. Our dual purpose breeds last 2-3 meals at our house. The Legbars are just about perfect for one meal which can be nice for those who aren't big on left overs.

I don't like selling cockerels unless they are going with pullets or to a home that already has Cream Legbars (I am working on establishing Cream Legbars not muttbars). Even then I wouldn't want to re-home a cockerel that we wouldn't breed. So table meat seems the logical choice for chicken breeders who are trying to improve a breed.

I wouldn't raise a Legbar for meat since they take up just as much coop space, just as much pasture space, and are just as much work as larger meat birds for only half the meat. If I were in it for the meat I could double my hourly wage with a bigger bird. So...no Leghorns, Legbars, etc. are not "meat bird", but our slow growing, pasture raised, Legbar Cockerel are way better meat than anything we could buy at the local grocery store.

While I wouldn't raise them just for meat, I too would like to avoid rehoming substandard cockerels for obvious reasons. Good to know regarding the flavor and skin. Thank you.

 

[Johnn]

So far i think i will hatch cream legbars under a broody, only thing putting me off is that ages ago i read somewere that CLB eggs are harder to hatch under a broody so it will result in a lower hatch rate than it would be if it was done in a incubator....

 

[ChicKat]

It is so interesting, I have also heard things about 'difficult to hatch' - and I remember one poster on BYC saying that they may take longer then the 21-days.

From my experience though (albeit limited) they weren't difficult to hatch. I have a cute little brinsea though (did I spell that correctly?) and that system is really a good one.

 

[Johnn]

It is so interesting, I have also heard things about 'difficult to hatch' - and I remember one poster on BYC saying that they may take longer then the 21-days.

From my experience though (albeit limited) they weren't difficult to hatch. I have a cute little brinsea though (did I spell that correctly?) and that system is really a good one.

I was going to get a incubator but i dont wanr one anymore, im just hoping i can hatch some out under her, i might get a mix so 3 CLB and 3 of something else incase its true and the CLB dont hatch....

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks for the insight on processing, and the tip about the skin, size and flavor.

Somewhere, I thought that I had read that part of the early appeal of the Cream Legbar in the UK was that times were so hard there, that the expense of growing out cockerels (to egg laying age) was a hardship on people and in those tough times there 'wasn't a piece of corn to spare'. The knowledge of who would grow up to give you eggs and who wouldn't was of tremendous value.

Processing excess cockerels does make good sense. Somewhere too, I had thought that the Barred Plymouth Rock contributed both the autosexing capability and a leaning toward dual purpose.

I wish I knew where I got these two factoids...I know it was on the internet someplace...one of those midnight inquiries.

If white leghorns were sturdier birds 'back in the day' were the browns also? I think as well, that 'back in the day' (like during the Great Depression) people were thankful to have food at all - much less be very particular about the food that they got.

What would the ideal bird be? Easy keeper, healthy, good egg producer, and semi-dual purpose. Then everyone would fine-tune to their own style. JMO.

 

[1muttsfan]

Here is a section from Genetics of the Fowl, by F.B. Hunt (1949), discussing autosexing breeds.

"The differentiation of male and female chicks in pure Barred Rocks has already been discussed. Apparently the distinction between the sexes caused by females being hemizygous and males homozygous for B (sex-linked barring) is heightened in chicks having less black in the down than Barred Rocks. This was first recognized...(in) the Cambars, a breed in which there is a clear distinction between males and females at hatching. ... In this breed the males have pale down, the females darker down with irregular stripes on the back and dark spots on the head. ... By procedures similar to those employed in establishing the Cambar, ... The Legbar, produced by adding B to Brown Leghorns, has been described by Punnett (1940)."

Other autosexing breed developed in a similar way were listed - Buffbar, Brussbar, Dorbar from Buff Orps, brown Sussex, and Dorkings respectively.

Later in this section he states "It seems inevitable that as soon as such breeds are developed to the point at which they meet economic requirements in egg production, conformation, color of the egg, and other respects, they will play an important role in the poultry industry."

As we see in the importance of sex-links in modern commercial egg production. I find autosexing breeds more interested myself.

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks RyeRanch and GaryDean26. so with 4-5 epw if the hen doesn't go broody or take a vacation that is above 200, and that does give them time off for winter vacation when daylight is short -- and other chicken necessities?

Has anyone had a Cream Legbar go through a molt yet? Are they fast or slow at the process? I have to say I have had my EE molt, and she got back to laying very quickly (and looks beautiful now too.)

 

[ChicKat]

" I find autosexing breeds more interested myself. "

In addition to that, IMO they are more sustainable.