Wyoming Unite!!!!

N F C · Jun 4, 2017

I'm around (or maybe running around in circles :hmm

). Work is crazy and the days are long but I pop in when I can.

Bob, your fresh lettuce sure sounds good. We used to grow a lot of that in FL but haven't had time to do any gardening here yet.

The chick-lets are growing up. Today for the 1st time, 2 of them ate out of my hand...that started my morning off with a smile.

Hope you all are doing well!

N F C · Jun 4, 2017

Bob, almost forgot to ask you...what breeds go into the Sapphires you have? I couldn't remember but Little Bobbi is sure turning out to be a pretty girl.

R2elk · Jun 4, 2017

N F C said:
Bob, almost forgot to ask you...what breeds go into the Sapphires you have? I couldn't remember but Little Bobbi is sure turning out to be a pretty girl.

Sapphires are created by breeding a Cream Legbar Rooster to a White Leghorn hen. They should lay a blue egg because blue egg color is dominant over white egg color. The ones that I grew out started laying at about 5 months old and laid a large to extra large blue egg. Because of their leghorn mothers, they laid almost as well as white leghorns. It was not uncommon to get 13 eggs in a 2 week period from one Sapphire hen. I had two that I grew out. One followed the leghorn pattern and just decreased the amount of eggs she was laying when she went through her molt while the other one took a short break during her molt.

If the legbar rooster happened to have a brown egg gene also (very common in the Jill Rees line of Cream Legbars) then the Sapphires could lay green eggs if they also got that brown egg color gene.

Did your one Welsummer turn out to be a rooster as you were suspecting?

N F C · Jun 4, 2017

Thanks for the breed info Bob!

Yep, we have a Mo in the bunch (with the Legbar girls named Eenie, Meenie and Minie it only seemed right to have a Mo). We're planning on keeping him...at least if the neighbors don't raise a fuss. Never had a rooster before, Mo will be our first.

R2elk · Jun 4, 2017

N F C said:
Thanks for the breed info Bob!

Yep, we have a Mo in the bunch (with the Legbar girls named Eenie, Meenie and Minie it only seemed right to have a Mo). We're planning on keeping him...at least if the neighbors don't raise a fuss. Never had a rooster before, Mo will be our first.

Do any of your Legbar cross pullets have a rose comb? This second batch ended up with 2 of the 5 pullets with rose combs and only one of the 5 cockerels had a rose comb.

My experience with Welsummer roosters is that they are very well mannered.