The Legbar Thread!

[Junibutt]

Does anyone know if Jill Rees had a male and a female line?
I believe she helped select birds for GFF so it would seem odd they they are not good, if not fabulous.

I strongly suspect that GFF will bring in another line pretty soon, and they will of course be expensive to start with. At least then the gene pool in this country will be getting diverse.


I do not like my Rees boys much at all either, and kept 3 out of a dozen or so that came, They may be improving with age.

They will be bred to "A" line girls, and the "A" line male to Rees girls. This male is third generation from a line of great , "low crowing" males that are real "gentlemen".
When I introduced 2 14 week Rees cockerels to the A line hens, the hens were all ready to show dominance and it was the cock who protected the new boys. Now the new boys hang out with him all the time and even sleep next to him - one on each side!

My line A x B cockerel is a real gentleman as well and protects the other younger cockerel (who is even taller and bigger than him) from the Legbar girls. They are roommates at night anyways because I have to keep them in the garage till about 10:00 AM to protect myself from any complaints by neighbors.

 

[serama mamma]

Does anybody have pictures of some cream legbars?

 

[sweetdreaming]

My Rees line pullets lay very green eggs, not even blue-green. I wouldn't call them olive but they are definitely green :/ Ill try to see if I can capture a picture showing somewhat there true color. The slightly bluer eggs are from my own hens, the green eggs are from my Rees pullets. I do not like taking pics of blue and green eggs lol it is so tough.

I bought 1 JR roo and 2 JR girls from GFF. I'M PRETTY SURE I had chicks from their first offering of JR birds, cuz I paid for them several months before they were available. When my favorite-of-the-two girls started laying, she laid green eggs!! The other girl lays pretty blue eggs. Needless to say, I'm not incubating the green ones, she's been relegated to the layer pen. Shucks!!

 

[chicken pickin]

I bought 1 JR roo and 2 JR girls from GFF. I'M PRETTY SURE I had chicks from their first offering of JR birds, cuz I paid for them several months before they were available. When my favorite-of-the-two girls started laying, she laid green eggs!! The other girl lays pretty blue eggs. Needless to say, I'm not incubating the green ones, she's been relegated to the layer pen. Shucks!!

I dont love the green eggs but Im not against them, green eggs are acceptable with this breed. That said I definitely plan to somehow better my blue eggs in future generations.

I have recently been contemplating getting rid of my Rees male and try to incorporate the Rees pullets in with my other male to see what comes of it. I don't know if I will like some of the traits that will come from this but test mating couldn't hurt. Im not in love with how my Rees male looks and it will sure be a project I think to move in a better direction using him. But bringing the Rees pullets into my line is a little iffy since I don't prefer the Rees male traits nor do I want the green eggs incorporated into my line. What is a girl to do lol.

I go back and forth on my thoughts daily on where to go moving forward. I think incorporating the 2 will help hatch rates but not sure if it will help beyond that

@KPenley You have a Rees pullet and BB Male correct? If so how are you liking the results of their offspring?

 

[sweetdreaming]

. Here's my only JR roo. Not the best pic, I just ran out as the sun was setting and he was headed for the coop. Pros: he's a sweetheart. Not real big, but not little like I've heard from others. His comb would be nice if it didn't hv to compete w/ his big crest (Are straight combs and big crests mutually exclusive?!), His color is not as washed out as some JR's I've seen. Cons: that TAIL ANGLE!.

Here's one of the roos I kept from my first hatch. 10 weeks old. They are all F1 hybrids w/ JR roo on my original hens. I hope I don't jinx myself, but I'm really liking this boy!! He has the lowest tail angle I've ever seen (I hope it's not just BROKEN!!), comb is OK so far, and he has more chestnut and nice pale butter coming in on his saddles. He is the smallest of the 3 boys, tho (I know, I know, need to build the barn before u paint it....!!).

 

[sweetdreaming]

.
A quick pic I took tonight of some of my other 10 week old JR babies (JR roo from previous post X my home-bred girls). This is another of the 3 roos I have: he's very similar to #1 above, more color, a little higher tail angle, maybe gonna hv a wonky comb. These girls aren't as "homogeneous" as I would expect considering their mommas are all very similar (I have culled ruthlessly x 2 yrs!), but they hv retained much more salmon and are darker ("more melanized", is that the correct term?) than the JR hens. Better crests than my originals, too, like the JR's. All sweet, almost-too-friendly birds (JR did well on that trait!!!)

 

[racinchickins]

Does anybody have pictures of some cream legbars?

If you go back through this thread, there are lots of pictures of legbars from all over the country.

 

[chicken pickin]

. Here's my only JR roo. Not the best pic, I just ran out as the sun was setting and he was headed for the coop. Pros: he's a sweetheart. Not real big, but not little like I've heard from others. His comb would be nice if it didn't hv to compete w/ his big crest (Are straight combs and big crests mutually exclusive?!), His color is not as washed out as some JR's I've seen. Cons: that TAIL ANGLE!.

Here's one of the roos I kept from my first hatch. 10 weeks old. They are all F1 hybrids w/ JR roo on my original hens. I hope I don't jinx myself, but I'm really liking this boy!! He has the lowest tail angle I've ever seen (I hope it's not just BROKEN!!), comb is OK so far, and he has more chestnut and nice pale butter coming in on his saddles. He is the smallest of the 3 boys, tho (I know, I know, need to build the barn before u paint it....!!).

.
A quick pic I took tonight of some of my other 10 week old JR babies (JR roo from previous post X my home-bred girls). This is another of the 3 roos I have: he's very similar to #1 above, more color, a little higher tail angle, maybe gonna hv a wonky comb. These girls aren't as "homogeneous" as I would expect considering their mommas are all very similar (I have culled ruthlessly x 2 yrs!), but they hv retained much more salmon and are darker ("more melanized", is that the correct term?) than the JR hens. Better crests than my originals, too, like the JR's. All sweet, almost-too-friendly birds (JR did well on that trait!!!)

The offspring are looking good so far!

 

[chicken pickin]

Does anybody have pictures of some cream legbars?

If you look up towards the upper right corner of the this page you will see a spot that says recent images in this thread click view all and it will open up the photo gallery.

You can also go to this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/603454/cream-legbar-pictures and view the many pictures people have posted there.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I meant to post this a while back. A friend did a drawing of a pair of my legbars. This is kind of what I envision as my ideal for type (with a more obvious crest).