Legbar Chooks

An Autosexing Breed of British Origin

The Legbar is an autosexing breed which means that the chicks can be sexed at hatching by looking at the down colour. Female chicks have well defined stripes. Male chicks have washed-out stripes that almost blend in with the down’s ground colour. Legbars come in Gold or Silver.

The Legbar is a composite breed but it has been around for long enough to be called a heritage breed. It was bred by crossing a Brown Leghorn with a Barred Rock. The progeny was then crossed back to a Brown Leghorn until the Leghorn type was fixed.

Legbars are a light breed and excellent layers of white or cream eggs. Considering that male chicks don’t have to be raised unless a replacement rooster is needed, this is a very economical breed to keep. Sadly it is one of the rarest heritage breeds we have here in New Zealand.

Thanks to Marina Steinke for supplying the above information and photographs.

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