[massa]

hi, i recently hatched some cream legbar eggs and out of 6 eggs 5 hatched 2 were males and are going strong 2 were females and one had to be culled straight away and one died later but the other one came out as an unknown! it had the same markings as the others but was different shades of yellow not yellow and brown like the rest. they are now 8 weeks old and this one is pure white! is this normal can some be white? ill put a couple of pics on, here it is with one of the other boys hatched at same time.

[massa]

here's another pic

[joyfull]

sorry never kept cream legbars but no I don't think they should turn out pure white, hopefully somebody with a knowledge of this breed may come along and give you their opinion (my guess is she is a throwback to the original stock - or a different cockerel got into the breeding pen).

[AL Hathaway]

it looks to me and hubby that you have a legbar x leghorn cross to get the topknot  and white of a leghorn

identifying characteristics of a cream legbar

The Cream Legbar is a cross between the Brown Leghorn, Araucana and Barred Plymouth Rock. It is an autosexing breed which means young chicks can be sexed by the colour of their down shortly after hatching. The 'barring' pattern that is found on Cream Legbars are sex-linked, i.e. the males have two chromosomes for barring and the females only one.

but you will get a through back with a male that will just have the white and grey baring over the whole body.

as cream legbars only come like this Male – A yellow beak, legs and feet. Red face, comb and wattles. Ear-lobes white or cream A cream and grey crest, barred dark grey breast and tail with slightly paler sickles. Some white is permitted. Cream barred neck and saddle hackles, dark grey tipped with cream. Dark grey barred primary feathers in the wings, secondary feathers have grey barred coverts with cream tips. The back and shoulders are cream, barred dark grey. Weight should be between 2.75 and 3.5Kg.

Female – A yellow beak, legs and feet. Red face, comb and wattles. Ear-lobes white or cream. A salmon coloured breast and silver-grey body with broad indistinct barring. Primary feathers of the wings are peppered grey, the secondary feathers are lightly barred, with silver grey coverts. The tail has light barring. Neck hackles are cream with soft grey barring. Weight should be between 2 and 2.75Kg.

Leghorn

The White Leghorn is the most common of the lighter breeds. Before the introduction of cross-breeds, the female was considered one of the best layers and was used on many commercial egg farms. The White Leghorn should be pure white. This is a dominant characteristic - if White Leghorns are crossed with any other breed, the progeny will be almost completely white. Beak and legs are yellow, and earlobes white.

White Leghorns are small and should not be used as table birds. They are practically free from broodiness, which makes them an ideal layer. However, they are often nervous, particularly the hens, and care should be taken not to make sudden, abrupt movements or loud noises.

Other leghorns, such as the brown, black and blue, are less common. They tend to lay fewer eggs and are mainly kept by fanciers.