The Legbar Thread!

[ChicKat]

I have heard that it is unwise to help a chick hatch. Hatchability is one of natures ways to prevent weak sickly chicks from hatching if they don't have the ability to get out of the shell unassisted. So you could be encouraging a weakened chick into the world.


On the other hand...Just watched this very cool vid (1-hour) and you can see the mother hen assisting a chick. So in nature it could be that they get an assist. Go to post 39 in this thread--
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/717112/chickens-brain-dead-lies/30#post_12029747

If it were me, I wouldn't assist, just as part of insuring the healthiest of genetics into the future for my flocks.

Fortunately it is your chick, and your choice. Good luck with what ever you decide.

 

[HaplessRunner]

LOL Kathy. Ok here are my 2 CL roos that are in line for a breeding pen. Kestlyn had warned me (back on Aug 2) that #3's larger crest could push his comb to one side (not good) and she was dead on the money. lol Also he shows more barring on his neck (right?) so that may be an indicator of a single dose of the barring gene (also not good for cream??)... Do I have that right? (breeding him with I think #2 doesn't show as much barring as #3, and has a straight comb. They are both 5 month old. (4-11-2013) Does #2 look like he may be double barred, or just less barred than #3? I have an older rooster that KP believes is dbl barred, but he has a couple of his own issues. Carries his tail pretty high. So what do y'all think about these 2? I was telling Kathy, I finally hatched a boy (8-16), and I can't wait to see how he feathers in. He's from the other rooster (not pictured). Looking forward to hearing back from y'all.

I do not have that much experience but I believe that you are in a bit of a quandary. Roo #2 has the best comb but lots of red and gold bleed through. Roo#3 has slightly better colors but his cresting and comb combination is a problem. Tails look OK on both #2 & #3. Definite indications of barring in the hackles in #2. I will defer to others with much more experience than me.

 

[Pozees]

LOL Kathy. Ok here are my 2 CL roos that are in line for a breeding pen. Kestlyn had warned me (back on Aug 2) that #3's larger crest could push his comb to one side (not good) and she was dead on the money. lol Also he shows more barring on his neck (right?) so that may be an indicator of a single dose of the barring gene (also not good for cream??)... Do I have that right? (breeding him with I think #2 doesn't show as much barring as #3, and has a straight comb. They are both 5 month old. (4-11-2013) Does #2 look like he may be double barred, or just less barred than #3? I have an older rooster that KP believes is dbl barred, but he has a couple of his own issues. Carries his tail pretty high. So what do y'all think about these 2? I was telling Kathy, I finally hatched a boy (8-16), and I can't wait to see how he feathers in. He's from the other rooster (not pictured). Looking forward to hearing back from y'all.

To my inexperienced eye, of these two you have numbered 2 and 3 I prefer 2. Lighter hackle/neck, better comb and tail, overall more "together" looking. 3 is more muddy looking and less streamlined. Again, I have not looked at enough of these to know what I'm seeing, I could be completely off base.

I am just growing out my first hatches, and the one cockerel I have started crowing at 7 weeks of age. He is now 9.5 weeks and is already clucking to his two girls when I put fresh food in the pen. Very precocious little guy.

 

[TheTropix]

HaplessRunner, lol "I do not have that much experience but I believe that you are in a bit of a quandary." (that's funny!..even if it's true)
I wouldn't know how to act if I wasn't in a quandry, ROFL. Just kidding with ya. The colors were bugging the daylights out of me, but the people that DO know kept telling me BODY TYPE first, breeding the creamiest, best body type ones along the way. I'm kind of leaning toward #2, figuring he has fewer faults/DQ's to deal with. Does that sound right? I do still have #1, his biggest problem is that tail! High and migty it is. LOL Not so mighty right now, I think he's about to shed it. pretty raggedy right now, but high as ever. ;D

 

[CibolaChooks]

I have heard that it is unwise to help a chick hatch. Hatchability is one of natures ways to prevent weak sickly chicks from hatching if they don't have the ability to get out of the shell unassisted. So you could be encouraging a weakened chick into the world.


On the other hand...Just watched this very cool vid (1-hour) and you can see the mother hen assisting a chick. So in nature it could be that they get an assist. Go to post 39 in this thread--
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/717112/chickens-brain-dead-lies/30#post_12029747

If it were me, I wouldn't assist, just as part of insuring the healthiest of genetics into the future for my flocks.

Fortunately it is your chick, and your choice. Good luck with what ever you decide.

the moms definitely help out the chicks. I walked up to my broody Cochin. she had an egg in front of her. she had that egg peck and cracked from tip to tip and the baby hatched that way. I assisted one of them that was that way a day or so later because how badly she had that egg cracked everywhere, the chicks down was poking out everywhere and it was completely dry inside the egg. before i noticed that this was what was happening i also had removed a dead chick in an egg that looked the same and almost half smashed because she pulled it back under her. I found that one a few days before the first one i noticed. It had dried out and could not push itself out because of how badly she breaks the egg up.

 

[1muttsfan]

I prefer #2 over #3, while neither have correct color they both are quite stunning.

 

[TheTropix]

Thanks Pozees, I'm just learning about this stuff. too. But still, you're seeing what I'm seeing. I still second guess my interpretation of what I see. haha There's a way to lose some of the red/gold through breeding... is it the Double Barred or Cream gene that inhibits the red or gold? What is that formula?

 

[TheTropix]

Me too, Muttsfan and everyone, this is #1 roo. He's almost a year old. I have several young girls out of him and my hen and 1 boy. That pairing is producing a color problem with dark tips on some of the girls breast feathers, but a couple may not have them. I think I'm seeing touches of cream in those, so I'm hopin' and a-hopin'. lol I have a pullet that should start laying any time now, and she seems to have a nice clean chest. So I'm trying to figure out if #1 hen should go to one of the boys (likely #2) and pullet/hen#2 go with rooster #1. It's all guesswork for me. lol So I pester a couple (one in particular) of people on CCLclub/BYC for answers.
That poor tail ... it'll be beautiful again... later.

 

[ChicKat]

the moms definitely help out the chicks. I walked up to my broody Cochin. she had an egg in front of her. she had that egg peck and cracked from tip to tip and the baby hatched that way. I assisted one of them that was that way a day or so later because how badly she had that egg cracked everywhere, the chicks down was poking out everywhere and it was completely dry inside the egg. before i noticed that this was what was happening i also had removed a dead chick in an egg that looked the same and almost half smashed because she pulled it back under her. I found that one a few days before the first one i noticed. It had dried out and could not push itself out because of how badly she breaks the egg up.

So sad to loose chicks.

There are certain flock management rules that everyone has...and like everything, people won't ever have 100% agreement. Sounds like Ms. Hen was having a tough go of it there with that hatch..... I'm always ready to dish out advice to people of how I would do it and what works for me...or what Gail Damerow says......LOL.....

Sometimes people have to pre-determine the actions that they will take. There is a very experienced breeder on the BYC forum who raises RIRs and I think also a poultry judge...and their medicine chest for chickens is a hatchet. -- Then others will medicate their chickens...soooo it's a real 'to each his own' -- And I really DO respect anyone's individual approach to their own flock management. I do have to say that NYREDS has particularly healthy chickens with the approach that they take...so..it is one approach that works.

Sometimes I think chickens have so many chicks so easily (seemingly an easy to reproduce livestock) because there are so many other organisms AFTER chickens - from virus to huge predator.....

So, totally off topic, but this link is a Mareks Disease Fact page - and NYREDS comment is at the bottom.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mareks-disease-fact-site

 

[ChicKat]

Me too, Muttsfan and everyone, this is #1 roo. He's almost a year old. I have several young girls out of him and my hen and 1 boy. That pairing is producing a color problem with dark tips on some of the girls breast feathers, but a couple may not have them. I think I'm seeing touches of cream in those, so I'm hopin' and a-hopin'. lol I have a pullet that should start laying any time now, and she seems to have a nice clean chest. So I'm trying to figure out if #1 hen should go to one of the boys (likely #2) and pullet/hen#2 go with rooster #1. It's all guesswork for me. lol So I pester a couple (one in particular) of people on CCLclub/BYC for answers.
That poor tail ... it'll be beautiful again... later.

My birds are molting too -- no eggs for a L O N G time..... (or is that nasty one eating them in 40-seconds without a trace.... ) Should we post pictures of molty birds to see who's looks the worst??


Only one tail feather left....she is looking a bit less than gorgeous of late. I wonder if it is an affront to their dignity to photograph them in molt....poor little kid.... HOWEVER, I do have to say that the feather she has retained is 45-degrees from horizontal.