The Legbar Thread!

[dretd]

I can see why you like him--he's quite stunning and I am jealous of his ear lobes

 

[normanack]

I tried to get some pics of the cockerels today with no luck. They're in a large bachelor pen for the winter so I can never get too close. Just know, his breast is dark grey and all of his feathers are barred- my phone went for a swim in the washer and the camera hasn't been working right since. This guy was the only one that stood still. He is rose combed and one of my favorite cockerels out of the 4 I have. He does have a super small crest, his tail could be lower, but I like him.

I like him, too. And the picture would be beyond fantastic if not for the swimming phone.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Thanks. He is one that I consider 'light brown' just because he does have color. Not as much color as some of the others, but still colorful

 

[chicken pickin]

I tried to get some pics of the cockerels today with no luck. They're in a large bachelor pen for the winter so I can never get too close. Just know, his breast is dark grey and all of his feathers are barred- my phone went for a swim in the washer and the camera hasn't been working right since. This guy was the only one that stood still. He is rose combed and one of my favorite cockerels out of the 4 I have. He does have a super small crest, his tail could be lower, but I like him.

He really is beautiful!!! And I LOVE his rose comb. That is something Id love to add to my flock down the line. I am a big fan of rose combs.

 

[ChicKat]

Honestly, I think it will be near impossible to try to match OAC colors to the hackle colors on either sex of CL--there are simply not enough color choices on the pale end of any of the colors. There would have to be a similar multi-paged OAC chart just for 'whites'.

Personally, I don't really care what color cream is, I care if the color of the hen is a representation of ig/ig or not.

Here are two girls same lighting and photo technique:

Gorgeous pullet - Beatrix is also nice. I agree that the crest is perfect. The breast is really salmon too.... Even the crest looks very CL female to me. It will be awhile before you are sure, on either of them - but keep posting as they are growning...

 

[ChicKat]

I tried to get some pics of the cockerels today with no luck. They're in a large bachelor pen for the winter so I can never get too close. Just know, his breast is dark grey and all of his feathers are barred- my phone went for a swim in the washer and the camera hasn't been working right since. This guy was the only one that stood still. He is rose combed and one of my favorite cockerels out of the 4 I have. He does have a super small crest, his tail could be lower, but I like him.

Kind of surreal - and did you shoot this at 'the magic hour' for photography -- like an hour before the sun goes down..or is that a special effect thanks to your washing machine? This is a really intersting coloration. I'm thinking this is the basalt you were talking about.

Here is a comparison pict -

Really low light - but the dark neck and breast are new.... I kind of like it. It kind of reminds me of these CLs http://www.zazzle.com/diane_jacky/cream legbar

You have seen Diane Jacky's work if you have seen hatchery catalogs, posters in the feed stores and websites for hatchery. I think that we need to consider that the full range may also have an intense barring. What is really interesting too is this rooster is the same one that appears as slide 14 - on the Cream Legbar website gallery - so there is a variation of color that a bird can have over a lifetime - varied by seasons, molt, sun exposure, probably feed and age....All so interesting, isn't it?

 

[GaryDean26]

Regarding the color match of the ears and eggs, it was explained that there is no linkage between the two and that it was more of a custom that folks bred to.

Yes, I know that the Lamona has red ear lobes and lays white eggs, and that the Penedenseca had white Lobes and lays dark brown eggs. I DID however think it was significant that the Basque hen with the defect for white lobes also had the defect in that she laid a white egg. I haven't done any research on linkage of egg color to ear lobes, the only linkage I have really read up on is the Blue egg to the pea comb. The are very closely linked to where cross over only occurred one in sixteen bird. Still we know that Isbars and Cream Legars have single combs, so linkage doesn't mean that you can't get different results. Just that you are more likely to get one if you have the other.

So no linkage between egg color and earlobes then? I guess that is good. With people suggesting that the self-white Legbars have linkage to bluer eggs, I was going to have to suggest that red lobes would have to link the hens to greener eggs if that linkage existed. Lol.

Quote:
Prepotency is the ability of a bird to pass a gene to its offspring. A hen that is a prolific layer is proponent if she can produce daughters that are prolific layes when cross to improve another line that may not be as good of layers. A cockerel that has white earlobes is prepotent if he can produce offspring with white earlobes when paired to a hen that has red showing threw on her earlobes.

Quote:
Yep...That is consistent with what I have been observing. I have been culling birds that show red on their earlobes at a young age and keeping the ones with good color.

Quote:
Are you saying by "hard to stabilize" that if I mix say a 2013 GFF Cream Legbar with say a Rees line legbar that I might throw the balance out and end up with red showing through on the lobes even if I breed to lines together than have consistently produced white ear lobes or that it is just hard to establish from birds that are showing red on the earlobes now?

 

[dretd]

Quote:

Yep...That is consistent with what I have been observing. I have been culling birds that show red on their earlobes at a young age and keeping the ones with good color.

Quote:
The reason I asked about the earlobe color is that it has been widely reported to be hard to stabilize....

Are you saying by "hard to stabilize" that if I mix say a 2013 GFF Cream Legbar with say a Rees line legbar that I might throw the balance out and end up with red showing through on the lobes even if I breed to lines together than have consistently produced white ear lobes or that it is just hard to establish from birds that are showing red on the earlobes now?
I think that I am saying I am concerned about both of the above. I have no idea how closely related the Rees' line is with the previous importations. What is the origins of the Rees line (since she has said she has only been showing for about 5 years, they must have come from somewhere not that long ago) or any of the lines for that matter? When you start mixing lines with different breeding together, you can get some unexpected genes being expressed in the progeny. And since the trait is polygeneic, breeding 2 birds together that have a little red in the earlobes you will probably get birds with varying degrees of red in the earlobes, or even all white mixed with one with red, you'll still get red.

I have a feeling that we will not find Prepotency works for white earlobes, alas.

 

[KPenley]

I think that I am saying I am concerned about both of the above. I have no idea how closely related the Rees' line is with the previous importations. What is the origins of the Rees line (since she has said she has only been showing for about 5 years, they must have come from somewhere not that long ago) or any of the lines for that matter? When you start mixing lines with different breeding together, you can get some unexpected genes being expressed in the progeny. And since the trait is polygeneic, breeding 2 birds together that have a little red in the earlobes you will probably get birds with varying degrees of red in the earlobes, or even all white mixed with one with red, you'll still get red.

I have a feeling that we will not find Prepotency works for white earlobes, alas.

Amen about weird stuff popping up. I'm delivering about 10 birds to a farm tomorrow who just cares about blue eggs. They are golden, mostly crestless and mottled! And these came from good looking parents! Can't wait to see what pops out from the next matches

I still need some time to tell, but I think I have all white earlobes on boys who came from a father with a red spot on one earlobe...so maybe Mama's genes were strong enough to fix it (her earlobes are white).

 

[chicken pickin]

At what age do you all think its safe to say they earlobe wont have leakage? My boy had beautiful white nice shaped earlobes for the longest time he is now almost 9months old and just last month he started to get a little red leakage in his pretty white lobes.