The Legbar Thread!

[ChicKat]

Hi all !

got 3 eggs to hatch - to cockerels and one hen ..... I don't want to breed them together - so does anyone here want the cockerels ?

Also - I would like a cockerel

I can get pictures later - just putting it out there - I am in Vermont.

I will now go back and read the thread .... but I wanted to post now as my birds are 2.5 months old now - and ready for an exchange if there is one available.

Have fun reading!! & Welcome to Cream Legbars. Congratulations on your hatch. Here's something to consider, in addition to your post here..You may want to think about posting your offer for a cockerel trade in the 'buy-sell-trade' section of BYC....you just never know ..... I was on the forum for a couple of months, I think - before I even realized it was there.
:O)

 

[DoubleMM]

Morning... posting pics so I can get updates

 

[Junibutt]

Here are some pics of my 11 week old Legbars. How do they look so far. I know pics are not that great. Will post better pics next week. Following 2 pics are of Marco the cockerel:

Following 2 are of Hope one of the pullets. What % age gold she would be considered?

 

[ChicKat]

Junibutt

wow YOU got some really nice CLs from that hatch. It is interesting how little black is in the neck hackles on your pullet. (Especially compared to my pullet. Interestingly she is changing yet again to look more like the other ones. Are mine chickens or are they chameleons?

 

[KPenley]

Junibutt, your juvies are growing in great! I'm confused as to your question on percentage of gold though. Do you mean is your girl a double cream carrier? It's hard to tell whether she's a dark cream or light gold at this point. Somewhere closer to 24 weeks it's pretty clear if they're double cream or gold ( no cream dilution). If she's a single cream carrier, she'll look gold but could throw cream chicks. Test breeding is the only practical way to tell.

 

[Junibutt]

Junibutt

wow YOU got some really nice CLs from that hatch. It is interesting how little black is in the neck hackles on your pullet. (Especially compared to my pullet. Interestingly she is changing yet again to look more like the other ones. Are mine chickens or are they chameleons?

sometimes they do act like chameleons. looking at pictures of cockerels by other posters, my cockerel hardly has any red/gold on his back at the moment, so unless he throws a chameleon act as well, is that a good thing or bad?

 

[Junibutt]

Junibutt, your juvies are growing in great! I'm confused as to your question on percentage of gold though. Do you mean is your girl a double cream carrier? It's hard to tell whether she's a dark cream or light gold at this point. Somewhere closer to 24 weeks it's pretty clear if they're double cream or gold ( no cream dilution). If she's a single cream carrier, she'll look gold but could throw cream chicks. Test breeding is the only practical way to tell.

I don't know if they are single or double cream. These are from purchased eggs from 1st or 2nd generation of GFF's A or B or AxB lines. By %age gold I meant that the hackles on the pullets are looking more gold than cream and @ChicKat has posted (or about to post) a color reference chart on CCL club's site but I am not very good with color details (kind of color blind when it comes to details). The charts purpose is to clear a measurable reference as opposed to subjective references to gold/cream.

 

[Junibutt]

ok, I have sort have a problem now. Marco the cockerel who turns 12 weeks tomorrow, not only crowed today but also tried to mate with the 2 Legbar pullets. He is not even fully grown up yet and barely weighs 2 lbs. Should i separate him from the pullets? any other cause for concern?

 

[KPenley]

ok, I have sort have a problem now. Marco the cockerel who turns 12 weeks tomorrow, not only crowed today but also tried to mate with the 2 Legbar pullets. He is not even fully grown up yet and barely weighs 2 lbs. Should i separate him from the pullets? any other cause for concern?

If you have the room, I'd separate them. That's just how I do things though. But if separation isn't a good option, and the pullets seem ok, you could always give them a few weeks to see if Marco gets over this first hormone flux. Thanks for your answer to my question btw. I didn't know anything about a chart.
Best wishes!

 

[blackbirds13]

Quote:

Here are some pics of my 11 week old Legbars. How do they look so far. I know pics are not that great. Will post better pics next week. Following 2 pics are of Marco the cockerel:



Following 2 are of Hope one of the pullets. What % age gold she would be considered?

Pullet - Your pullet lacks double cream gene (ig/ig). Whether they are single carriers for cream or lack cream entirely is not really evident unless you breed them to a known carrier of cream and they produce any cream birds. If your male is a carrier for cream either single or double you will produce a small percentage of offspring that carry cream and a smaller percentage of birds that carry double cream if your pullets carry any cream at all. If nothing cream comes of this process and your male appears to carry cream then your pullets probably lack any cream. You can keep the offspring from these mating and breed them back to the father and produce cream birds if any of them carry the cream gene but you may not be able to still tell which pullets are carriers and which are not. It will require test mating or just mating them and keeping only the cream offspring if any are produced.

The gold tone in the hackle is a clear indicator that she is not double cream. If the other pullet is similar in tone then the same applies to her. If darker then it may indicate she carries no cream and this girl carries single but I have found that the only clear way to tell is to breed and hatch and grow out a lot of birds. An easier way would be to simply get cream pullets for your boy.

The cockerel - So far he looks good. There is some color coming out on his saddle but his shoulders and back look good so far so he may not have the melanizer issues of too much chestnut on the shoulders. He may be single if not double cream and workable in a cream program if that is your desire.

I have worked and still teach Graphic Design so I am more familiar with the Pantone colors. A new printed one is great but online it is subject to a vast number of deviations on different devices and subjective issues. Color charts are nice but they need to be replaced every few years as the tones of the colors tend to mellow or darken. I use one for my Marans eggs but I have 2 and notice that one has changed slightly than the other over the years I've had them. I doubt very much there is a chart that can indicate the percentage of gold or cream in a bird. Legbars are either single, double or zero carriers of cream and the color of the bird is determined by the levels of melanin, whether pheomelanin, eumelanin or autosomal and enhancers, diluters and melanizers, etc, and a chart cannot indicate the influence of any of those. JMO

ok, I have sort have a problem now. Marco the cockerel who turns 12 weeks tomorrow, not only crowed today but also tried to mate with the 2 Legbar pullets. He is not even fully grown up yet and barely weighs 2 lbs. Should i separate him from the pullets? any other cause for concern?

I agree with KPenley - give them sometime to see if they mellow out. I have a bunch of mixed ages and sexes and in my switching and adding I have had a couple of the older boys attempt the mount but then they stopped.... and yes I have the juvie crowing starting... I am not sure how long this will work but if you pull him you may want to do so with at least one more boy to keep him company. I try to keep my boys in groups for as long as possible until I choose my keepers.