#cream legbar

[ainawgsd]

We're probably going to order chicks this weekend or early next week. 14yo's first choice is sadly not available for the dates we're looking at. So his pick is now the mottled ancona. 11yo holding firm to Rhode Island red, although he is sad that his second choice, buff silkie, is not available for the dates we're looking at either. I am still set on cream legbar. My second choice is still undecided, waiting to see what husband picks. But I am sad that bielefelders and buckeyes are not available for our dates either.

[simplepotatofarmer]

pepper tried to steal ginger's piece of grass.....

[qwigoqwaga]

One of the new chickens started laying eggs! I’m guessing it’s Clementine. The green egg is probably Annabelle’s.

[coneygoil]

Chicory 🤎

[berkshirebowls]

Well, I broke down this spring and decided to pick up a small flock of chickens from my own. Very small (4). This is little Greta taking a nap after causing some chaos.

[grampasoup]

I feel I should atone for reblogging that mad dog thing, so here's Miss Piggy glaring majestically at my phone in case it suddenly becomes something she can fit into her beak.

[fairmaiden8]

Cream Legbar vs Crested Legbar: Which Breed Lays the Most Beautiful Eggs

Introduction to Cream and Crested Legbars The Cream Legbar is a breed of chicken that originated in England. It was developed by Reginald Appleyard in 1920, with the goal of creating a bird that would lay blue eggs. The Crested Legbar, on the other hand, also hails from England but has been around for much longer than its cream-colored cousin. Both breeds are known for their distinctive…

[vh-island-hens]

Crested Cream Legbar hen.

[tetedurfarm]

leonard the sussex cross and his hoard of women

[eatyourdamnpears]

got the chickies today 🥺

[jensownzoo]

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I went out to add water to the ollas of the “cucumber growing system” and my box of chicks was just sitting there! No idea how long it had been there as I didn’t get a call. This is not normal procedure for my post office—when I’ve gotten chicks in the past they call around 7:30am and I have to go pick them up at the carrier annex. Not sure if things changed because of the pandemic or if my carrier was just being nice.

But!

Everyone was alive and active and doing great! My anxiety was starting to ramp up because the temps were climbing sooner than they were supposed to—when I didn’t get the call this morning I started to worry. But all is well! They’re running around the two guinea pig cages I’m using for temporary brooders (just for a few days so I can observe closely for issues). The legbars get gold stars for figuring everything out first—drinking, eating, and scooting under the suspended heating pad to get warm.

They even look sharper than the other breeds.

Okay maybe not this one. :-D

Here are two of the Midnight Majesty Marans with their feathered legs:

And here are some of the Sapphire Gems:

And here’s a sleepy chickie about to beak-plant:

I’ll get better pictures later when the light is better. Right now I’ve got to go “observe them for shipping stress” aka go squee over my chicks.

[ainawgsd]

Nine long weeks until we pick up our chicks.

Pictures from the Meyer Hatchery website

[birdgenetics]

Sex-Linked Barring, Part 2: Autosexing

Since they don't have chicks at shows, I will have to glean my photos off the internet.

Anyway, as you may know, barred chicks can be sexed at hatch, though it is not always 100 percent reliable.

Additionally, duckwing chicks can be sexed at hatch since they are sexually dimorphic. The female chicks will have sharper dorsal stripes while male chicks will have more diffuse stripes and will usually be more greyish overall.

Leghorn (gold duckwing) chicks courtesy of Don Schrider:

The male is on the left.

I have found that some other colors to have sexually dimorphic chick down as well, such as certain lines of Rhode Island Reds and Buckeyes. Ironic, because black tailed red has a low level of dimorphism in adult birds.

Crele is simply barring on a gold duckwing base.

While crele is an autosexing color, it takes selective breeding to create super distinctive male and female chicks.

Cream Legbars are crele with the cream gene. Regular gold crele Legbar's also exist.

I like this picture of cream Legbar chicks from Wabi Sabi acres because it exhibts how light the male chicks are and how large and obvious the head spot. The female is much darker. Some Legbar females have a faint head spot but this one is almost invisible.

Bielefelders are red crele.

This picture from Happy Wife Acres:

Even though they are not selected for it, you can still see a difference in these red Crele Old English chicks from Valley Hatchery:

There are some varieties that are called "crele" but are not barred gold duckwing. For example, "crele" Orpingtons are actually barred partridge. Since partridge chick down is not sexually dimorphic, I don't think these are, either.

Barred black tailed red can be autosexing, though, as exhibited in the Rhodebar breed:

BYC user dheltzel used this photo of Rhodebar chicks in the BYC Rhodebar article.

55 Flowery Hens are sort of unique in that the combination of crele and mottling makes for males that are almost white as adults.

There are many other autosexing breeds that were created but many are now either rare or extinct.

[qwigoqwaga]

Annabelle and Petunia apparently both laid eggs yesterday. It must be getting warmer out.

[coneygoil]

*melt*

[overmorrowpine]

very slowly making a sun chicken for a new sys icon

[image ID: a transparent square digital drawing of a side view of yellowy-orange chicken in flat colors. she has scraggly wing and tail feathers that look like flames, and her comb also looks like a flame. her beak and legs are cream colored, and her one visible eye is dark green. end ID]

(as this is a wip, please don't rb this unless we're mutuals, ty)