The Legbar Thread!

[All Ball]

She looks like a cream legbar
I think she just has a gold neck because she is from a hatchery,
Goodluck
Fionn.

That is one very gold girl. I don't see any cream in the hackles, and the breast looks almost brown rather than salmon. But she looks like she has loads of personality! Hope you enjoy her and get lots of nice blue eggs!

 

[GaryDean26]

That is very inspiring to hear! Gives a greenhorn to poultry exhibition like me some confidence to get started. Do you recommend any resources for me to learn about showing poultry? I am going to purchase a copy of the Standard of Perfection. I look forward to learning from the folks on this thread about CLs. Here in Kentucky they seem pretty few and far between.

The University of Kansas used to have a historical collection of publication for the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station that I really liked. They are hard to locate now since list of them was removed the the universities website but some of them are still stored there and come up on searches.

The Kansas Circulars _ List of Publications

67. Pedigreeing Poultry, 1918, SC067.PDF, 1.8M
99. Poultry Breeding Records, 1923, SC099.PDF, 2.3M
122. Poultry Management on the Farm, 1926, SC122.PDF, 2.3M
127. Fitting and Exhibiting Standard-Bred Poultry, 1926, SC127.PDF, 1.9M ***THIS IS THE ONE ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CHICKEN SHOW***
147. Culling Poultry, 1929, SC147.PDF, 3.9M

I also like some of the old Breed Guilds like Harry Lamona book below.

1) The Mating and Breeding of Poultry by Harry Lamona

There are some good breeding guides too that tell how to identify the best birds in the flock. The judges look at these type of things before they even look at the breed standard. If the birds doesn't show good vigor and traits for production before they look at breed type their is no reason for them to evaluate it for breed type.

1) Laws governing the breeding of standard fowls by Judge Card
2) The Call of the Hen by Walter Hogan
3) Breeding and Culling by Head points
4) Heritage Chicken Manual Chapters 1-3

You should be able to get through this winter reading list before your first hatch in the spring.

 

[ChickenGrass]

That is one very gold girl. I don't see any cream in the hackles, and the breast looks almost brown rather than salmon. But she looks like she has loads of personality! Hope you enjoy her and get lots of nice blue eggs!

I agree,
She's not my hen she is @BlueJuniper hen.
I hope you get lots of blue eggs anyway.
Goodluck,
Fionn.

 

[KF0002]

The University of Kansas used to have a historical collection of publication for the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station that I really liked. They are hard to locate now since list of them was removed the the universities website but some of them are still stored there and come up on searches.

The Kansas Circulars _ List of Publications

67. Pedigreeing Poultry, 1918, SC067.PDF, 1.8M
99. Poultry Breeding Records, 1923, SC099.PDF, 2.3M
122. Poultry Management on the Farm, 1926, SC122.PDF, 2.3M
127. Fitting and Exhibiting Standard-Bred Poultry, 1926, SC127.PDF, 1.9M ***THIS IS THE ONE ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CHICKEN SHOW***
147. Culling Poultry, 1929, SC147.PDF, 3.9M

I also like some of the old Breed Guilds like Harry Lamona book below.

1) The Mating and Breeding of Poultry by Harry Lamona

There are some good breeding guides too that tell how to identify the best birds in the flock. The judges look at these type of things before they even look at the breed standard. If the birds doesn't show good vigor and traits for production before they look at breed type their is no reason for them to evaluate it for breed type.

1) Laws governing the breeding of standard fowls by Judge Card
2) The Call of the Hen by Walter Hogan
3) Breeding and Culling by Head points
4) Heritage Chicken Manual Chapters 1-3

You should be able to get through this winter reading list before your first hatch in the spring.

Wow thank you! Once I get my state nursing boards taken (and passed hopefully

) I will try to get through some of these! Saving them to my computer!

 

[KF0002]

Just sharing pics of my CL chicks. They are Jill Rees line, the parent stock were from GFF. I have two groups, the first group are nearly two weeks and the second group just hatched yesterday. I have 3 cockerels and 3 pullets between the two groups.

I will start with group 2, born 1/5/17. Two females, one male.


Same

Same


Cockerel 1 from group 1 (this group born 12/25/16)

Same

Same


Cockerel 2 from group 1

Same

Same


Pullet from group 1

Same


Hoping to add some White Sport CL's in the spring also!

 

[gbartha]

Hi Everyone. I am over in CT and I have 5 chickens (3 buff orpingtons and 2 barred rock mixes). I am looking to add colored eggs to my flock. I am in contact with a breeder and he has available Ameraucanas, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Marans, Cream Legbars and White Sport Legbars.

I am looking for a hardy bird that is also nice to my other breeds. Would a legbar be the best or an Ameraucana? I would be getting fertile eggs and hatching them myself.

Are legbars hard to hatch?

 

[GaryDean26]

I have never owned Ameraucana but back in 2012 when people were just getting stated with the Legbar breed one breeder told me that after keeping Americana for several years they were replacing all their Ameraucana with Cream Legbars because the Legbars were out performing the Americana in every way. Others have probably found the opposite to hold true on their property. You can get really good quality Legbars and you will love them to death or you can get average to poor quality Legbars and after keeping them for a few years will want to replace them with something else to see what else is out there.

Breeders focus on different aspects of the breed. Some are out to produce the bluest egg at all cost and as a result the egg size may be tiny and the rate of production quite low. Others may set out to produce the larges egg possible and a results have a wide variety of blue, green, olive eggs and poor production. A third breeder may have the goal to have the most productive hens possible and as a result have smaller eggs and a wide range of colors. No one can breed for everything so if you have a specific goal for your blue-egg hens ask farms/hatcheries that you are looking to what they breed for and for farm records. If you do that you should be very pleased with what ever breed you go with.

If you are looking for a uniform standard breed flock don't get Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers. They are hybirds and should be more productive layers due to the hybird vigor but are not pure breeds and will not be what you want if you are looking for a standard breed flock.

If you are looking for something unique you could look into the Maiden Rock Bantams.

If you are looking for high production you could look into the Saphires, the Murry Hatchery Whiting True Blue or the U of A Blues.

My dad go Araucanas in the mid 60's from Myers Hatchery. When I was looking for blue egg layers that was the first breed I looked into but found that I wasn't a fan of ear tuffs. I then looked at the Americanas but wasn't a fan of the ear muff. When I learned of the Cream Legbar it was just what I was looking for. The only problem was that it was only available in the UK. So...I started a breeding project to recreate a blue egg laying legbar type chicken in the US. Fortunately The Cream Legbar was imported to the USA around the time I was starting the breeding project so I was able to get the real thing. I have been very happy with my Cream Legbars. We have done a lot of sorting to get to where we are though. We had aggressive cockerels early on that we had to weed out of the flock and currently only are getting sweet boys. We have gone through ups and down with production as we have focused on production some years and on color, type, and other points other years. We have worked on egg size, color, mature weights etc. If you can find good Cream Legbars don't pass them up. If not look to see if you can find good Americana or another breed. If you look at what is available before you make your decision you will have more options than if you decided what you want first (i.e. Cream Legbars that only were available in the UK at the time) and then can't find it.

Good luck.

Remember they are ALL chickens and all will behave as such no matter what they look like.

Our highest hatch rate with the Cream Lebards has been around 95% and our lowest around 35% that is better than most breeds we have worked with. The only breed that was better than that were our Breda Gueldre flock.

Legbars can be very dominating in a flock. We have had smaller Legbar hens take the top of the pecking order over Marans hens that were much larger than they were. For the most part they are good with the other members of their flock though. Your question is kind of like asking if Asians get along better in a multicultural community than Hispanics do though. It really is up to the individual not the ethnicity. Same with chickens and breeds. Just because they are one breed or another they are all chickens and so in the same way as there are Asian and Hispanics that adjust well and that don't adjust well every breed of chickens out there has both ends of the spectrum. Ask the breeder/hatchery about their specific flock because their flock is going to be different than other flocks of the same breed. The rule is usually to keep hens that are all the same size (to not keep 4 lbs hens with 8lb hens, etc).

 

[dheltzel]

Remember they are ALL chickens and all will behave as such no matter what they look like.

Agree with all this. I have show quality Ameraucanas (6 color/size varieties), as well as a large flock of Legbars. I also produce Olive Eggers (Legbar X Welbar) and a Black Sexlink that lays *lots* of light blue eggs. All of them are great in their own way. For first time chicken owners, I recommend the Legbars and Olive Eggers first for temperment and productivity. If the only concern is the highest possible production of blue eggs, the sexlinks, being hybrids, will win that. Ameraucanas are terrific, but I sell fewer chicks because they are not sexable at hatch (all the others I mentioned are easily sexable). If someone wanted eggs and was going to raise up all the roosters anyway, then I would recommend they strongly consider Ameraucanas, they are great pets and stunningly beautiful in black, lavender, etc.

Actually, most of my customers get a few of each (depending on their tolerance for raising roos, of course). It's like a box of assorted chocolates, so very hard to choose . . .

Hi Everyone. I am over in CT and I have 5 chickens (3 buff orpingtons and 2 barred rock mixes). I am looking to add colored eggs to my flock. I am in contact with a breeder and he has available Ameraucanas, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Marans, Cream Legbars and White Sport Legbars.

I am looking for a hardy bird that is also nice to my other breeds. Would a legbar be the best or an Ameraucana? I would be getting fertile eggs and hatching them myself.

Are legbars hard to hatch?

I find Legbars hatch about the same as the Ameraucanas. Blue and white eggs generally hatch better for me than the dark brown eggs (Marans, Welsummers, Welbars), probably more humidity related than anything, I plan to try a different, dryer incubator for them this year.

I would suggest that you try and assortment, or get the cheaper ones, because it will not really make all that much difference.

 

[Charli Jo]

I've already got some. They are lovely!

 

[Merrymouse]

Hi All, Can someone please talk about the temperament of these birds? Are they loud?, flighty? Are they ususally high in the pecking order? How do they do in a cold climate? etc

Thanks