The Legbar Thread!

[cjwaldon]

Yes White x White only results in Whites. I was breeding my Whites together and getting 100% White chicks but found that most of the chicks were dying in shell before hatch. Also a lot of them were deformed. Whites hatched from Cream parents carrying the recessive White are healthy but breeding the Whites together (in my case) resulted in unthrifty chicks that died or were defective.

I'm thinking they are just too inbred. Crossing the recessive White into the new line and then breeding those chicks together will add some new blood and continue the Whites. I'm hoping it's just inbreeding and not some weird lethal gene or something because the Whites really are stunning!

CJwaldon is working on the Whites so maybe she can chime in

I was going to wait until I got some to hatch before saying anything. They took five weeks before giving me any eggs, and most of them set so far have been clear. I just put two eggs in lockdown. I think they're both quitters but I'll give them the benefit of a few more days. I've been wrong before. The discussion on white being lethal in mammals is fascinating. I don't think this is the case with the white sport Legbars, IMHO. I believe the problem is due to inbreeding. But, will find out over the next few months/years as some of us work on getting viable breeding white legbars.

This is a white sport Legbar hen Thespoiledchicken graciously sent me so that I could work on this project. I am thrilled to have these birds.

 

[wlhtx]

I think the whites are really cool looking. I've never had any experience with other white breeds (White Rocks for example), so I don't know if they breed true or not.

 

[ChicKat]

I was going to wait until I got some to hatch before saying anything. They took five weeks before giving me any eggs, and most of them set so far have been clear. I just put two eggs in lockdown. I think they're both quitters but I'll give them the benefit of a few more days. I've been wrong before. The discussion on white being lethal in mammals is fascinating. I don't think this is the case with the white sport Legbars, IMHO. I believe the problem is due to inbreeding. But, will find out over the next few months/years as some of us work on getting viable breeding white legbars.

This is a white sport Legbar hen Thespoiledchicken graciously sent me so that I could work on this project. I am thrilled to have these birds.

Beautiful birds Thespoiledchicken and cjwaldon. The white ones have a really distinctive look.

I agree it is kind of strange about leathal white. Those dogs who guard goats and sheep, live with goats/sheep, and can't be bonded to humans come to mind. they are always white. Here is just one example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maremma_Sheepdog

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

Beautiful birds Thespoiledchicken and cjwaldon. The white ones have a really distinctive look.

I agree it is kind of strange about leathal white. Those dogs who guard goats and sheep, live with goats/sheep, and can't be bonded to humans come to mind. they are always white. Here is just one example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maremma_Sheepdog

Actually, I have had those dogs, Maremmas, Great Pys, Anatolians etc...the Livestock Guards ortian Dogs (LGD) and they do bond with people. However you make sure they bond to the sheep as whatever they bond to, they will protect. I have two of them and they will protect me. They are not part of the lethal white issues. They do not have the blue eyes, deafness, etc...it's a different white than a white coat.

Here are a couple of good links

http://www.findpuppiesnow.com/index.php?page=about_aussies&sub=white_aussies

http://www.bordercollie.org/health/kpwhite.html

http://www.bordercollie.org/health/kpmerle.html



Merle


The merle gene is a color modifier that acts on the basic coat color and produces a mottled pattern and can also produce blue eyes. This gene is in addition to the 2 color genes that each dog carries. A dog with a merle gene will be a merle. A sable with a merle gene is referred to as a sable merle. Merling in a sable coat is more subtle than it is in a black coat. In a black coat, the merle gene produces a pattern of varying shades of gray with black patches. Although the term "blue merle" actually denotes this gray blue pattern, breeders most often refer to a tricolor dog with the merle gene (blue merle, white and tan) as a blue merle, and a bi-black dog with the merle gene (blue merle and white) as a bi-blue. If 2 merles are bred together, the offspring can have 2 merle genes, one from each parent. These are referred to as "double merles," and most often are blind and/or deaf to some degree. For this reason, merle to merle breedings are not done by most breeders.

White factor

The white factor gene is a color modifier that affects the amount of white on a dog. Unlike the merle gene, a dog with only one white factor gene may not be easy to distinguish. White factored dogs often will have a larger white tip on the tail and/or white along the stifle (the front edge of the hind leg). However, there are dogs with these markings that are not white factored, as well as white factored dogs that have very little white. Where the white factor gene becomes readily apparent is when a dog receives 2 white factor genes, from breeding 2 white factored dogs together. A dog with 2 white factor genes is called a "color-headed white" (CHW) and has a normally colored head and a predominantly white body. In contrast to the double merle, (which also looks white, but does not have a normally colored head), color-headed whites are perfectly normal in every way. The only difference between them and the other colors is the amount of white on their bodies.

Diane Pagel
Carnation, WA

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks for the info DeltaBluezTess,

I was trying to think of Gt Pyrenees, and had a brain fade. I see them a LOT in the TX Hill Country up by Utopia guarding their goats/sheep. :O)

 

[CibolaChooks]

Presently I am terrified of predators. Almost paralyzed. I need to build a fortress and electrify it.... When I drive down the highway and see chickens in someone's yard, I get a bit of reassurance...but I feel sometimes like I am just preparing the smorgasbord for the racccoons and snakes and diseases. I need to snap out of it don't I??

I just moved my goats back down by my main coup. I am currently fixing all my fences and putting extra protection around my fruit trees. I will be getting some donkeys asap. Donkeys will fix almost all predators problems except maybe the flying ones. No fox or coyote will dare come in my fenced area unless it wants to get thrown or stomped to death. I'm not sure about the coons but since a raccoon isn't apart of the herd it might get stomped too. the chickens will have their own fenced area inside the donkeys fenced area. some people have had luck with chickens ranging with their donkeys but some have also reported chicken stompings.

 

[KPenley]

I just moved my goats back down by my main coup. I am currently fixing all my fences and putting extra protection around my fruit trees. I will be getting some donkeys asap. Donkeys will fix almost all predators problems except maybe the flying ones. No fox or coyote will dare come in my fenced area unless it wants to get thrown or stomped to death. I'm not sure about the coons but since a raccoon isn't apart of the herd it might get stomped too. the chickens will have their own fenced area inside the donkeys fenced area. some people have had luck with chickens ranging with their donkeys but some have also reported chicken stompings.

Do you use the goats as protection against raccoons? Or does the stomping info just apply to donkeys?

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Good call on the Donkey. Boy or girl? Had a friend that had problems with the girls breaking out of the fencing and she switched to a boy and he stayed put. I had another friend that had some attack 'llamas' and they worked out really well for her.

Have you tried putting up a game cam to see what is coming through and when? My old game cam was being tempermental, so I just got in a new Bushnell for my b-day that lets you record video too. I put it up outside the chicken area and mostly got wild birds and bunnies but I got a coyote pair late at night this week. It was reassuring because they were on my neighbor's property on the other side of the boundary fence. They were traveling, not hunting. They could just as easily have gone on my side and sniffed around the hen house. In your case, it would capture the neighbor's dog and you could then go back to them and get compensation for your losses.

 

[wlhtx]

Do you use the goats as protection against raccoons? Or does the stomping info just apply to donkeys?

I currently have my laying flock housing with our 5 goats. They get along really well together and I have had zero losses from that group of birds - despite less than secure housing. (We are currently rebuilding our barn and this is supposed to be a "temporary" situation.) I've even witnessed three of the younger goats stomp a poisonous snake to death that had come by the pen. Good goats.

My chicks and juvies are in a separate pen right off our back porch. I have had two predator losses from that pen (one of which was my absolute fav CCL pullet) until I started leaving our dogs out every night. No losses since...

 

[glendor787]

Soo, why are this breed so expensive? I see hatching eggs for 100 dollars? I'm