Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: threeranger on August 21, 2010, 21:39
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Hello,
Not sure if this is Chicken Chat, or Hen House material as it's not mega important :)
Just got this new girl, and forgot to ask the breeder what cross she is....we just liked her colours ! The breeder is now on hols for a while, so can't ask them, so thought I'd see what the experts here think as a mini saturday night quiz. The breeder has mainly hybrids for sale, and have the common range of Black Star, Speckled Star, Amber Star, White Star, Gold star, Bluebelle etc
However this one doesn't seem to fit any of those, my googling so far has suggested possible cream legbar as one half (or part) of her - due to her tuft of hair, and pronounced tail feathers, but as for colourings....she has a different shade/pattern of orange on the neck (welsummer-ish ?) to her main body.
50 points to the winner ;)
Thankyooo
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I'd agree - think there's some welsummer there, her neck patterning is very like my welsummers. But crossed with....?
(Do I get any points?) :D
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I agree there is some legbar in her (the crest is from the araucana part of the legbar :)).
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Looks very much like my jasmine.. legbar x.....she lays pale blue eggs, so maybe yours will too!! :D
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Ermm ok now how shall I award the points....could get confusing ::)
Well, we won't know the definitive answer until the breeder is back, but I want to award some points anyway as you all agreed with my guesses, which makes me feel far clevererer-er about chickens than I actually am :)
So Henamoured gets 7 for being first reply, with Joyfull 6 and Evansent 5....obviously these points disappear like on 'the weakest link', if you are wrong !
Oh the suspense ;)
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Well, whatever she is, she is a beautiful birdie. Have you named her yet?
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I think you've cracked it there Tom - not many Skyline pics on google to compare with, but those that do, look like a very good match.
The only other one I wondered was a Columbine, as they have a little tuft of hair too, but tail doesn't seem as long.
Thanks for your thoughts everyone, I hope to have an answer from the breeder soon, once back from hols.
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She looks like a hybrid or first cross with a cream legbar I would think. She lacks the red face and yellow legs and general body shape (muscular prominent brest), salmon coloured brest barred tail, of a purebreed cream legbar though has similar feathering. The suggestion of a Skyline is very pausible though I have no personal experience of this hybrid.
She will probably be a blue or olive coloured egg layer.
HF
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Ok, i now have confirmation from the breeder......
It is similar to a skyline.....and indeed related to cream legbar.....
But apparently......she is a......
Columbine !
So i think that makes me the overall winner....just !
Total fluke though.....great effort everyone :D
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I have a welsummer x cream legbar and she looks like this
(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x285/cariad_01/Chooksville/DSC_2036.jpg)
And here are my Welsummer and Cream legbar (who had just had her knickers washed)
(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x285/cariad_01/Chooksville/DSC_2034-1.jpg)
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I think this thread really illustrates the problems which occur when small time breeders produce hybrids with poorly standardised genetic make up and christened their resulting birds attractive names which are more intended for marketing than for defining a breed type. As chicken keeping these days is becoming so widespread and popular the market for a chicken which is a prolific egg layer has specific egg colour and looks attractive has spawned a multitude of crosses generally classified as hybrids. Classical hybrids were originally developed as prolific egg layers giving high returns on costs, for commercial purposes. Their attractiveness wasn't a consideration hence the rather plainly feathered but prolific Ranger and several of similar ilk. The genetic makeup was highly controlled using breeder stock so consistent results were maintained over time.
Pure breeds were even more standardised through in-breeding but for appearance and show standards to an extent that they breed to type. Whereas hybrids are created at each generation from known genetic stock.
Todays "hobbyist" hybrids vary a lot between breeders in genetic formulation so similar or identically named birds might be different in appearance, ie some Columbines even from the same breeder might be crested or not.
Saddly indiscriminate breeding is corrupting the past breed standards and breeders are causing a lot of confusing with their naming. I often see new new keepers who claim to have Light Sussex when in fact they have a hybrid which has been given a similar or identical name. They then expect to buy pure breed chx at a similar price to the hybrid they bought. Cream Legbars are a breed which is much cross bred and there are lots of chx around which claim to be Cream Legbars but in fact are cross breeds or corrupted strains.
HF
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but even the cream legbar was the result of crossing various birds:-
•The Cream Legbar originated as part of genetics breeding experiments by Professor Punnet [www.jstor.org/pss/769385] and his associate Michael Pease: it was formed from a cross between Brown Leghorns and Barred Rock with a bit of Araucana blood in them, shown in the crest and the blue eggs they lay.
extract taken from creamlegbar.co.uk website.
However like with dog breeds (such as the Parsons terrier) these have been proved to breed true to breed type and standard over several generations.