We have added a few 20 week pullets in our little backyard flock and we got our first egg from one yesterday. Yay! But whose is it? Our suspects are an Easter Egger or 2 Legbar – breeds both new to me. The culprit will eventually reveal themselves but was hoping for some help with the educated guessing game from people who have EE or Legbars. I checked under their skirts for evidence, but couldn’t tell who deserved an extra treat! No squatting behavior has shown up so I’m stumped. The color seems to be an EE but I’ve also read that Legbar sometime can start out on the green side and then become more blue with age. Looking at their combs I wouldn’t have thought ANY of them were about to lay. The EE’s comb is very small and pink, but when I search images it seems like a lot of EE have more pinkish than red combs. If I had to choose one based on comb size and color it would be our larger Legbar. Can you help me with your guess? EE or Legbar? It is shown next to a mature Orpington egg.
Legbars "should" lay blue eggs, but not all of them do. I have three Legbar hens, two of them lay green eggs, the third one lays an egg that is bluish green, but still mostly green. I have Easter eggers that lay blue eggs, Araucanas, too.
I would guess Legbar for that egg. From my experience, EEs take a little longer to start laying than leghorn crosses.
I confess I hope it is the EE since it is so green. I probably should mention that I hatched our Legbars under a broody. They came from nice robin blue eggs but I have no clue how much the roo's genes would influence the offspring's egg color. Could it turn out that green in just 1 generation? Having fun looking at this pretty little egg all the same!
Are there any other Legbar keepers that have gotten green eggs like this? I was herding them around yesterday, trying to get someone to squat and reveal the mystery layer. No one was impressed enough with me to bother!
Can you post pics of your legbars? Have you checked pelvic points? Signs of onset of lay---I've found the pelvic points to be the most accurate. Squatting: If you touch their back they will hunker down on the ground, then shake their tail feathers when they get back up. This shows they are sexually mature and egg laying is close at hand. Combs and Wattles: Plump, shiny red - usually means laying. Shriveled, dryish looking and pale - usually means not laying. Tho I have found that the combs and wattles can look full and red one minute then pale back out the next due to exertion or excitement, can drive ya nuts when waiting for a pullet to lay! 2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent: Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying. More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.
Here are the Legbars. Wanda in back is the most likely suspect but her comb is still very pink when you compare it to the red of our laying hens. However, now that the suspect has laid two more times, Wanda's vent now looks like she may be the one which really bums me out. Considering the eggs they came from, I am really surprised how green her eggs are. Still trying to catch her in the act to confirm - holding out for that 10% chance my assessment is wrong and it is really Dink, our EE. Still no squatting. Our last batch of hen all started squatting 1-2 weeks before laying. My Legbars are much more shy and flighty than my dual purpose hens though. Only one of my mature hens will squat when you touch her back. The rest do it only when it strikes them and they squat without a touch. I tried measuring by fingertips but all were less than two fingertips and none obviously wider than the others. Does this technique works on such young birds?
Are those birds from the same hatch? They look rather different in feather color and comb size. Pelvic points has worked pretty consistently for me with new layers.
The woman I got the eggs from had two trios so they may be completely unrelated. Since I was not getting them for breeding I did not ask her to document parentage.
