The Legbar Thread!

[CibolaChooks]

Hello, I have a question. I have read that the first generation cream legbars arent that nice "lighter roos" , but I have read that the first imported ones did lay well and had larger eggs. Wouldnt mixing all the legbars be a good thing???

I think so.

 

[KPenley]

Most of the Cream Legbars available in the US are a mix of lines A, B, and C (which is a mix of A and B). The new line is the 2013, and the Jill Rees line won't be available for some time. I'm not sure that anyone really has pure original lines anymore since most serious breeders are breeding and culling for type, color and egg production. It is most helpful to keep track of your bird's lineage though if you'd like to sell your bird's offspring in the future. Some people are looking for a line not too closely related to their own.

 

[GaryDean26]

Hello, I have a question. I have read that the first generation cream legbars arent that nice "lighter roos" , but I have read that the first imported ones did lay well and had larger eggs. Wouldnt mixing all the legbars be a good thing???

The first GFF line was made up of Legbars from two different sources. I have worked with three foundation Hens from the 2011 breeding pens of the GFF A flock.

One hen was very small, very dark plumage, and had a stocky body type. She was the most productive of the three hens and layed a very blue egg. She was non-broody. Her eggs never got over about 53 grams before we lost her at about 8-9 months old.

The 2nd hen was much larger. Easily outweighing her half sister by a pound. She had a longer body and longer neck, and really light plumage. She was very broody and layed eggs that consistently were 10 grams heavier than the first hen. The were a green tint color with a chalky texture. Now at 16 months old she is averaging eggs at 65 grams and up to 67 grams is not uncommon. Her largest single yolked eggs have be 71 grams, but she has laid double yolker up to 80 grams.

The 3rd hen had the same body type os the 2nd hen but was inbetween the two on body weight. She was a light colored plumage like the 2nd hen and had the correct cream genes. Her eggs were the bluer color of the first hen with a very smooth surface. Her egg size at 16 months is now averaging about 58 grams. Her largest egg is probablly about 60-61 grams.

I also have a cockerel from the from the 2011 breeding pens of the GFF B flock. His size is very good, but he lacks the well rounded brest. His comb was very erect with a small crest. His offspring paired with the first two hens produced greenish eggs with the chalky testure. Intresting enough the pullets laying the larger eggs are from the hen that laid the smaller eggs. The produced very well crested pullerts and cockerels with straight combs and small crests. All the eggs from both pullets have a chalky texture.

Finally I a cockerel from the from the 2011 breeding pens of the GFF C flock. His size is a lot smaller than my B line cockerel but has better type and very straight comb and huge crest. His offspring paired with the third hens produced very smooth eggs. I am not getting any really big eggs from their offspring. They produced very well crested pullets and cockerels with very floppy combs and large crests.

The cockerels from all three pairing were very colorfull last year. I opted to not keep any of them and brought in a cream cockerel from unknow mix of lines. I also kept my two foundation roosters. This year I would like to get good sized cockeresl out of my B line cockerel that will be paired with some larger pullets from the 2nd Hen. I want to get straight combed cockerels with larger crests out of the C line cockerel who I will pair with some really small combed pullets from the first hen. I have the foundation hens with the cream colorded cockerel, and will be looking for cockerels with good type and color.

So...yes their are strengths from all the lines. Ideally I would like to have larger birds that meet the weight standards of the breed, larger eggs, smooth shells, blue color (getting rid of the green tint from hen #2 will be a challenge), productive layers, well rounded brests, clearn combs, well crested hens, visible crest ont he cockerels, straight combs on the cockerels, and cream plumage.

Nearlly all of the F1 Cream Legbar in the U.S. are mixes of two Greenfire lines. The A and B green fire lines are mixes from different sources in the UK tooo, so unless you have a bird dirrectly from GFF line C you have a mixed line bird. So...everyone in the USA have a "Project" bird. We have all the ingredients to make cream legbars, but here are no "finish" lines in the USA. These are still being establish and likel will be for anyther 3 years minimum. Yes...some of the Cream Legbars in the US are produceing large eggs, yes some of the cockerels are undersized, but I don't think that you will find a single flock that will produce any desired traits consistently. There will be a lot of variation untill breeders that a few generation of standardize their flocks.

 

[1muttsfan]

All true. And the more birds we have to select from the better we will be able to improve type. Many people have only a rooster and a few hens, so can not get the large numbers that would make it easier to cull down to a few really good birds.

 

[ChicKat]

mine have been changing colors. they have only been laying for a cpl months now but i got really nice sky blues for a month then out of no where a green like you got and now its been off and on blue to blue greens

pictures? references to the color charts? This is very intriguing.......... tell us more specifics please.

 

[AlleysFarm]

Well here is her egg from today under the same natural light. But looking more blue.. why is it under flash though they look green?? LOL

 

[ChicKat]

Well here is her egg from today under the same natural light. But looking more blue.. why is it under flash though they look green?? LOL

Nice, nice shade of blue IMO. Lighting and the wave-lengths of color can be very tricky....especially blue. Then add in the digital cameras, the uploads to computer and then how they may appear on other's computers when they see them -- there are a lot of links in the chain. Thanks for posting.

 

[1muttsfan]

I forgot to post this picture - first pullet egg from my November hatch! It does appear more saturated in the pic than in real life, but is a nice blue color just like the egg she hatched out of. It is in with 4 bantam eggs and a Basque egg for comparison.

 

[ChicKat]

I forgot to post this picture - first pullet egg from my November hatch! It does appear more saturated in the pic than in real life, but is a nice blue color just like the egg she hatched out of. It is in with 4 bantam eggs and a Basque egg for comparison.

Nice!!

 

[yoie]

So excited! I have five out of six legbar eggs pipped! Can't wait to see what hatches, will update later!