The Legbar Thread!

I hatched a crestless
White Sport
There goes my theory! Was one of the parents non-crested? I am still interested in exploring how small crested birds are producing large crested off-springs. Some of my non-white chicks are growing in a 4H. I will check on those to see if they have large crests or not.
 
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Here is a quote from Tim Adkerson who is a wizard at chickens and the genetics that comprise them.




If you cross two birds with small crests ( they both carry one crest gene), then some of the offspring will not have crests, some will have crests like the parent and some will have larger crests.
Thats absolutely correct, however theoretically chance of large crest would be 25% only. 25% for no crest and 50% for small crests. I was just surprised by the large crest in all 3 white sport. Must be a coincidence!
 
Here is a quote from Tim Adkerson who is a wizard at chickens and the genetics that comprise them.




If you cross two birds with small crests ( they both carry one crest gene), then some of the offspring will not have crests, some will have crests like the parent and some will have larger crests.

I think that there are other genes that influence the size of the crest. Not sure if it skull shape, a variant of the crest gene itself, or other genes that increase feather length (think the longer feathers that run along side the comb in some breeds) or amount ( recessive stubs). There may be other unknown genes that suppress the expression of the gene (think genes that decrease the expression of brown pigment in egg shells).

I have one hen that has no visible crest. She has yet to produce a chick without a crest whereas her non-crested sister has. I have a suspicion that she either has one copy of Cr and another gene that supresses the expression of Cr, or maybe she is missing a companion gene that enhances the expression that is found in the rooster (or her skull shape leads to a smaller crest and/or the crest gene she carries is a 'small' variant etc) . Its quite an interesting mystery. Love playing with the genetics trying to figure out what is going on!
 
That's a great looking egg! I only have one CL because i heard they aren't consistent layers. I'm glad one of yours is earning her keep!
 
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That's a great looking egg! I only have one CL because i heard they aren't consistent layers. I'm glad one of yours is earning her keep!
Mine are really good too -- I guess part of it is the strain and what people who raise the chickens are prioritizing.

As an Example, I have a friend on here who says the CL outlay her Marans 3 or 4 to 1.

Meanwile, I have a 3 1/2 year old hen who is pretty much, still, an-egg-a-day (except for molting and when she was broody- she was also on another premisis and had a broken bone that I hear nearly killed her - and so she wasn't laying at that time -- but she did survive. Her daughters are the same -- really productive. I expect at her advanced age - she may slow down this summer - especially when the heat kicks in -- Maybe 5 a week or even down to 4 - but she constantly amazes me with her high production.
 
At least one of our CL girls is giving us some really nice eggs consistently. Here is one from today:

Beautiful!!!
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