The Legbar Thread!

[Junibutt]

Just went to their site Junibutt - and the chick does look yellowish. Do you have some of the Reese line, or are you also going by pictures? Interesting that the female in that set has a less defined chipmunk stripe than most "wild type" chicks.

Know what else is interesting? - we have two divergent thought lines. lonnyandrinda wouldn't grow out a chick like that and Junibutt observes that it is similar to the GFF Reese line chick in appearance. Fascinating diversity in approach and thought - and only in 12 to 15 weeks will that chick begin to show 'true colors' and even then it will probably make some changes after that.

@ChicKat I am just going by the pictures which could be really misleading sometimes. GFF claims their chicks will be extra cream and less chestnut vs. lonnyandrinda is afraid they will have brown/red in them. Personally I like the chestnut coloring better and extra cream will make them start looking closer to Cuckoo Marans which I am just not a fan of.
Well only time will tell what these will look like and if someone else has similar chicks in future, we can compare to see what they look like when they grow up.

 

[blackbirds13]

Babies hatched this weekend and pictures are below. Opinion and critiques welcome. I am new to the breed and know very little but want to learn and improve my chickens.

Cute chicks. I'd grow all the boys out for a bit. The chick down here in the US is all over the place and our birds are currently not really standardized so what one person gets certain results from may not comply with what you will get from these chicks. In my flock some of your males I would cull now because they would turn out more colorful than I breed for. but others get different results.

You will want to watch them as they feather out in the first 6- 8 weeks and see if they have some chestnut areas on the plumage then watch the hackles of both male and female and the saddle and back in the males to see what color starts to form there. If it's a yellow/gold then the bird lacks the cream gene either in single or the pair entirely. For the bird to be genetically a cream legbar you need a pair of the genes ig/ig. If it only has one ig cream gene you can get to double cream but it will take some careful breeding and hard culling. If you have photos of the parents that would give you a good idea of what you can expect. The striping of one of your females looks like it could be cream but photos do not give an accurate representation of the actual color a lot of times

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

Cute chicks. I'd grow all the boys out for a bit. The chick down here in the US is all over the place and our birds are currently not really standardized so what one person gets certain results from may not comply with what you will get from these chicks. In my flock some of your males I would cull now because they would turn out more colorful than I breed for. but others get different results.

You will want to watch them as they feather out in the first 6- 8 weeks and see if they have some chestnut areas on the plumage then watch the hackles of both male and female and the saddle and back in the males to see what color starts to form there. If it's a yellow/gold then the bird lacks the cream gene either in single or the pair entirely. For the bird to be genetically a cream legbar you need a pair of the genes ig/ig. If it only has one ig cream gene you can get to double cream but it will take some careful breeding and hard culling. If you have photos of the parents that would give you a good idea of what you can expect. The striping of one of your females looks like it could be cream but photos do not give an accurate representation of the actual color a lot of times

Blackbirds- what about the striping on these females could give away a cream girl? Is it possibly the one on the right that has lighter brown striping on the back?

Just curious as what to look for in my female chicks.

Thanks

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Down color doesn't mean much in the females that I can figure. For example, I grew this batch out this spring- all but Green Band were cream. Well- orange band passed at about 2 weeks old from a brooder light burning out so I guess I don't know about her. She was the smallest on on the end.


Green band is third from right ^^^^



green band is third from left ^

 

[Junibutt]

@blackbirds13 just curious about your signature, it says deciding between Marans and Cemani. Where would you get the Cemani's from if you went that way. Import is banned and GFF is selling them for an outrageous price of 5k a pair.

 

[KPenley]

I'm not M, but I know that she got them from Toni- Toni-MarieMarie who has had them since 2007. GFF does an amazing job bringing new or rare breeds to the USA, but there are sometimes others who do it too

 

[blackbirds13]

Blackbirds- what about the striping on these females could give away a cream girl? Is it possibly the one on the right that has lighter brown striping on the back?

Just curious as what to look for in my female chicks.

Thanks

The area around the stripe in 2 photos looks like it could have a grayer tone but the heads looks a bit red. The lighter stripe is not a reliable denoter of cream.

@blackbirds13 just curious about your signature, it says deciding between Marans and Cemani. Where would you get the Cemani's from if you went that way. Import is banned and GFF is selling them for an outrageous price of 5k a pair.

As KPenley stated prior, I hatched chicks from Toni-Marie and bought birds from a gentleman in New York who's had them for a number of years. Both of these lines need work and a lot of it. Greenfire has some nice birds. They are not perfect either but they may be some of the blackest. The type is not as gamey as the traditional Cemani but I'd love to have a rooster

. I promised the husband only 2 breeds.... so..... very difficult decision AND I need to clear up some more time in my schedule but I don't know if I will like the Cemani. I've always been fascinated by them but I'm unsure how such a small bird with small-medium eggs, black skin and darkened meat will really fare in the US than a novelty. This is a breed that will need a lot of work .... part of my attraction to them I think.

 

[madamwlf]

I would say both the Marans and Cemani need a lot of work. The bad part I see about the Cemani is the small amount of eggs they lay a year. I see them more a novelty and that's it. You can't do much with just 60 eggs a year.

 

[blackbirds13]

I would say both the Marans and Cemani need a lot of work.  The bad part I see about the Cemani is the small amount of eggs they lay a year.  I see them more a novelty and that's it.  You can't do much with just 60 eggs a year.

I would not necessarily agree that you can't do much with just 60 eggs a year as the breed is very popular world wide. And most folks with them will tell you that the 60 is very much on the low end. The man in New York has bred his for egg production so they lay way more than 60. I'm thinking more than novelty but not for the self sustenance folks.

 

[Junibutt]

I would say both the Marans and Cemani need a lot of work. The bad part I see about the Cemani is the small amount of eggs they lay a year. I see them more a novelty and that's it. You can't do much with just 60 eggs a year.

Its kind of like the Aseel who only lay about 60 a year. They are also bred for their looks and fighting abilities. Aseels are very good broody mamas though!