Cream Legbar: Pastel-Colored Eggs And More
A Cream Legbar chicken is a fascinating breed and is praised by poultry keepers all over the world. Although the breed remains relatively rare, the Cream Legbar gains popularity due to its striking looks and beautiful pastel-colored eggs.
The Cream Legbar is a breed that offers a wealth of fascinating topics to explore, so let’s get started!
- Cream Legbar hens lay 250 eggs yearly
- Heritage breed originating in the UK
- Color-sexed chicken
- Beginner-friendly and low in maintenance
- Lays blue to green colored eggs
- Up to 250 blue eggs
- Very hardy breed
- Friendly and low in maintenance
- Not suited as meat chicken
- Quite rare
Characteristics
This breed will surely draw enthusiastic attention with its distinct spiky feather crest and prolific egg-laying capacity of sky-blue to light-green eggs. They have a distinctive look, triangular body, and an upright tail. Cream Legbars typically show a blend of cream, gray, and gold-brown feathers, with hens usually being lighter colored than roosters.
| Eggs | 250 eggs per year |
| Egg Color | Pastel-colored green to blue |
| Egg Size | Medium |
| Weight | 5.5 – 7.5 lbs |
| Hardiness | Cold & Heat |
| Temperament | Friendly |
| Beginner-friendly | Yes |
| Color | Cream-grey-gold-brown |
These chickens typically have feathers that stick out from behind their combs, leading to their nickname Crested Cream Legbar. They have clean yellow legs, a yellow beak, and a single red comb. The comb can be floppy in some birds.
Cream Legbars are not a large chicken breed; they are medium-sized birds. The females typically weigh around 5.5 pounds, whereas the males weigh approximately 7.5 pounds.
It is an autosexing breed, meaning that the color or pattern of the feathering determines the sex of a day-old chick. This process is not to be mistaken with sex-link chickens, which are hybrid chickens bred from two different parents and where the day-old males and females have different plumage colors.
Cream Legbars are the most popular auto-sexing chicken breed in the world.
Egg Production
As the Cream Legbar is a Legbar chicken, they are very good egg layers, providing a plentiful supply of fresh eggs daily. Hens typically lay around 250 eggs yearly, that’s almost five eggs per week. However, the most remarkable feature of the Cream Legbar eggs is their pastel color.
Most websites state that Cream Legbar lays blue eggs, and although that is correct information, it’s worth noting that the eggs’ true color lies between light blue and light green. Don’t expect deep blue eggs or olive green; you may be disappointed. The Araucana breed is worth considering for those looking for breeds that lay deeper blue eggs.
Most chicken keepers owning multiple Cream Legbars state to have different egg colors depending on chicken to chicken. Some hens may lay eggs with more of a greenish tint, while others produce blue eggs. Keep this in mind before purchasing a Cream Legbar. Consult our ‘Egg Color Chart‘ to find out which breeds lay what color egg.
Cream Legbar chickens are not likely to go broody easily, although it may happen. Broody chickens temporarily stop producing eggs, which can be annoying if you’re not planning to hatch chicken eggs.
Personality
While the personalities of Cream Legbars vary from bird to bird, they are generally known for being docile and sociable. Most Cream Legbars are comfortable around humans and can be handled with ease. They are great to have around as they are not skittish or aggressive. They are fine to be kept in confinement; however, they love to roam and free-range.
In general, Cream Legbars are curious chickens and are very aware of their environment compared to other breeds.
This breed is a great asset to your backyard flock because they’re so low in maintenance. Legbars are highly resistant to disease and illness, making them a healthy breed. Additionally, they are very hardy chickens and can tolerate most climates. However, like all animals, they do need extra care during extreme weather or heatwaves.
Legbar Breed Profile
The Legbar is a unique auto-sexing chicken breed that originated in Britain. It was developed in the early 1900s by Reginald Crundall Punnett and Michael Pease at the Genetical Institute of Cambridge University.
To create the Legbar, they crossed Barred Plymouth Rock chickens with Brown Leghorns, resulting in gold and silver varieties. Later, the cream variant was born by crossing a Gold Legbar with a White Leghorn. Afterward, experimental cross-breeding with a cream-colored Araucana gave them their crest and blue or blue-green egg-laying ability.
The Legbar was the second auto-sexing chicken breed developed by the creators of the Legbar, after the Cambar.
The Legbar comes in three colors: gold, silver, and cream, but only the cream variant has a crest on its head and lays eggs in a range of pastel colors, including blue and green.
Summary
The Cream Legbar is a medium-sized, auto-sexing chicken breed created in the early twentieth century. They are known for their tendency to lay sky-blue to light-green eggs. These chickens tend to be docile and friendly, but their personalities can vary depending on the bird.
If you want to learn more about chicken breeds that lay colored eggs, check out our article ‘10 Popular Chickens With Colored Eggs‘. Or go to our listicle breed summary on ‘The Classroom‘, or, if you’re unsure where to start, take a look at our ‘Chicken Breeds: Ultimate Beginners Guide‘.
If you’re interested in reading more on brown-colored chickens, take a look at ‘Top 15 Brown Chicken Breeds: All Beginner-Friendly‘.
