The Legbar Thread!

[flyingmonkeypoop]

She is from my rose combed birds so she does have some pure leghorn in her. All of the pullets I kept last year are much better than their mothers in my opinion just because they flow better. I think it has to do with the longer backs; my previous ladies seemed so cobby and short in the body which I didn't like at all. These birds all have longer backs. Something else I noticed is floppy combs. My pullets all had smaller combs through winter but the last few weeks they have doubled in size and flopped over like they are supposed to.
I do worry about crestless chicks though. The smaller crested birds hatched out looking clean headed and developed the small tassel. I do have about 1/4 chicks that hatched looking like silkie chicks as far as crest goes. Maybe I'll keep a couple larger crested pullets as breeders this season just to see what they throw.

 

[ochochicas]

This month I did a little experiment with my legbars. I banded all my hens and have been figuring out which hens lay which eggs. I marked their eggs for two weeks and then stuck them in the incubator. I got a 50% hatch rate this time. One hen had a 100% hatch rate, and the others had much less luck. They are going to be removed from the breeding pen and I will just sell their eggs for eating.

I would like more legbars in the future, but there are so many people selling chicks and eggs in my area that I don't know if I need to breed them. My hens are all turning 2 years old, and I no longer have a rooster. How old are all your hens when you stop breeding them? If I got another rooster this summer or fall, would the 2 1/2 year old hen be too old to use for hatching eggs?

 

[chicken pickin]

This month I did a little experiment with my legbars. I banded all my hens and have been figuring out which hens lay which eggs. I marked their eggs for two weeks and then stuck them in the incubator. I got a 50% hatch rate this time. One hen had a 100% hatch rate, and the others had much less luck. They are going to be removed from the breeding pen and I will just sell their eggs for eating.

I would like more legbars in the future, but there are so many people selling chicks and eggs in my area that I don't know if I need to breed them. My hens are all turning 2 years old, and I no longer have a rooster. How old are all your hens when you stop breeding them? If I got another rooster this summer or fall, would the 2 1/2 year old hen be too old to use for hatching eggs?

I don't think 2.5 years old is too old for breeding at all, if to you they are a good representation of the breed and they have traits you would like to see passed forward to future offspring I say they still have plenty of time to use for breeding. I plan to continue to use my favorites that continue to fit into my breeding plans for as long as they keep laying me eggs.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

You will get different opinions on when a hen is too old as a breeder. If a hen has something I like, I'll breed from her as long as possible. Our original dun sumatra hen is going to be 8 this year and still produces good chicks. My original legbar hen Ingrid has a higher tail but is HUGE and lays HUGE eggs and all of her offspring are giants. She still lays well so I'll breed from her for a while. Plus since she has a name and is my original, she will stay here until she dies of old age. Some breeds are spent as layers by 2-3 years old but I prefer longevity of lay.

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

This month I did a little experiment with my legbars. I banded all my hens and have been figuring out which hens lay which eggs. I marked their eggs for two weeks and then stuck them in the incubator. I got a 50% hatch rate this time. One hen had a 100% hatch rate, and the others had much less luck. They are going to be removed from the breeding pen and I will just sell their eggs for eating.

I would like more legbars in the future, but there are so many people selling chicks and eggs in my area that I don't know if I need to breed them. My hens are all turning 2 years old, and I no longer have a rooster. How old are all your hens when you stop breeding them? If I got another rooster this summer or fall, would the 2 1/2 year old hen be too old to use for hatching eggs?

Do you always hatch 2 week old eggs? I would think that maybe a lower hatch rate could be due to older eggs. The fresher the egg the better the hatch rate.

 

[Regin]

This month I did a little experiment with my legbars. I banded all my hens and have been figuring out which hens lay which eggs. I marked their eggs for two weeks and then stuck them in the incubator. I got a 50% hatch rate this time. One hen had a 100% hatch rate, and the others had much less luck. They are going to be removed from the breeding pen and I will just sell their eggs for eating.

I would like more legbars in the future, but there are so many people selling chicks and eggs in my area that I don't know if I need to breed them. My hens are all turning 2 years old, and I no longer have a rooster. How old are all your hens when you stop breeding them? If I got another rooster this summer or fall, would the 2 1/2 year old hen be too old to use for hatching eggs?

When test hatching I only use eggs less than 7 days old. Even after a couple days the viability decreases. When filling up an incubator I'll give the older eggs a go. I've had 3 week old eggs hatch, but the rate is very low. I turn my eggs pre-incubation also.

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: Actually I collected eggs for two weeks, but a friend of mine wanted to fill her incubator the week before I started mine, so I gave her all my eggs from the first week. The oldest egg I had was 8 days.

Age aside, my other blue egg laying birds have a 90 - 100% hatch rate every time. The majority of my legbar hens lay eggs with shells that are very rough. It seems the rougher the egg, the less likely it will hatch. They are all fertile and go until day 9 or 15 or so and then quit.

 

[tdhenson86]

I showed my favorite legbar pullet this weekend. It was a small show and of course she was the only legbar there. The judge thanked me for having the standard there and said it was easy to understand and all. My hen has a smaller crest than some but it is still obvious. He said her crest was too small in his opinion but the type was good. I also had a dozen or so people ask me about the breed so I pointed them to the threads here and also the breed club page.

That's great! Thanks for showing her!

 

[Junibutt]

Do you have pics of your birds that you consider "darker" cream? I would be interested to see.

That is nice that you have one that will sit with you for long periods. I have one friendly one that walks close to me to be pet also cat like, she kind of rubs my leg as she walks by. Its rather cute.

@chicken pickin here are the pics. I don't know if she still fits in the cream definition or she would be considered a "Gold" or Crele. She is from GFF A & B line crosses done by Diane McDonald. She was six lbs before winter but has lost some weight over the course of the harsh winter and is 5 lbs 5 ounces right now and slowly gaining it back.

 

[tdhenson86]

I got the dreaded green egg today. Sorry about the color (blues are hard to photograph on a phone). The 8 are the colors I've been getting, but today, that last one showed up. Won't be keeping those genetics around!