Considering Cream Legbar chickens? The 14 things you must know first
Cream Legbar chickens are an incredibly unique breed with three major things going for them:
They are an autosexing breed, so when you order females, you know you’re actually getting females!
They are one of the very few breeds that lays beautiful light blue or light green eggs.
They are beyond adorable with their little feather crests that grow up from behind their combs.
And this is a versatile breed that thrives in many backyard and barnyard settings!
But before you get your own Cream Legbar chickens, there are many things about these birds you need to be aware of. In this article, I cover everything you need to know to decide if these are the right birds for you.
You’ll learn:
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What are Cream Legbar chickens?
Cream Legbar chicken facts
Alternative name: Crested Cream Legbar
Category: Pet & eggs
Origin: England
Egg-laying ability: Good
Broodiness: Moderate
Meat production: Poor
Cold tolerance: Poor-good (depends on comb size)
Heat tolerance: Moderate-good
Predator evasion: Good
Foraging ability: Good-exceptional
Toleration for confinement: Moderate-good
Temperament: Friendly
Aggression toward flock members: Low
Noise level: Moderate
Why are they called “Cream Legbars” and where do they come from?
Cream Legbars are one variety of the Legbar breed—the other varieties being the Gold Legbar, the Silver Legbar, and the White Frost Legbar (see #14 in the list below for more on this last variety).
The Legbar breed was developed at Cambridge University, England in the early 1900s by Reginald Punnett and Michael Pease. And, yes, Reginald Punnett is the same Punnett who created the “Punnett Squares” we all remember from biology class.
These scientists wanted to create a good egg-laying breed that was also autosexing, meaning that the sex of the chicks would be apparent at hatch as males and females would be different colors.
So, they started with the Gold Legbar, which was created by crossing Brown Leghorns and Barred Plymouth Rocks over several generations.
Then, they crossed the Gold Legbar with White Leghorns and Silver Cambars over several generations to create the Silver Legbar.
And finally, the scientists crossed Gold Legbars (that were heavily inbred to bring out recessive traits) with White Leghorns and Cream Araucanas. These Araucanas were the British type (not the tufted, rumpless American type).
So, the Cream Legbar breed can be summed up this way:
Their Plymouth Rock heritage contributed autosexing—so chicks can be sexed at birth
Their Leghorn heritage contributed excellent egg-laying ability
Their Araucana heritage contributed blue and green eggshells and adorable crests
What do Cream Legbar chickens look like?
Cream Legbars have beautiful coloring. These chickens are an interesting mix of black and shades of gray and tan. The roosters have a very noticeable barring pattern.
Check out the video below to see a beautiful flock of Cream Legbar hens and roosters.
Other notable features of Cream Legbar chickens
The most noticeable trait in Cream Legbars is the adorable little feather crests they have on their heads, just behind their combs. The crests are considerably larger in the hens, and much less noticeable in the roosters.
The combs in this breed are medium to large in size and upright in the roosters. The comb in the hens can be either upright or it can flop to one side.
The birds have medium- to large-size wattles and white earlobes.
These chickens have yellow legs, yellow beaks, and reddish-bay eyes.
In the video below, you can see these features in a beautiful Cream Legbar rooster (who happens to be very interested in a dog’s bone).
And in this video, you can see the breed’s features illustrated in a beautiful show-quality Cream Legbar hen.
How big do Cream Legbar chickens get?
Cream Legbars come in both a standard type and a bantam (i.e., miniature) type.
These are their ideal weights:
Roosters: 7 lbs
Hens: 5.5 lbs
Bantam roosters: 30 oz
Bantam hens: 22 oz
What do Cream Legbar chicks look like?
Cream Legbar chicks come in shades of brown and red. They have “chipmunk striping” down their backs. You can see what they look like in the video below.
And if you’d like to see how Cream Legbar chicks look as they grow, check out the video slideshow below. You’ll see chicks aged 5 days, 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks, and 15 weeks, respectively.
The 14 things you must know before getting Cream Legbar chickens
Here’s everything you need to know!
Cream Legbar chickens:
Are autosexing, so males and females look different at hatch
Produce a good amount of blue or green eggs
May include hens who lay white eggs
Don’t always lay through the winter
Sometimes get the itch to hatch and raise chicks
Are very hardy
Are prone to frostbite on their combs
Are predator-savvy
Make excellent free rangers
May destroy your backyard and garden
Are happy in backyards and runs
Are generally friendly in temperament
Are peaceful in a mixed-breed flock
Produce the occasional all-white bird (the rare Frost White Legbar)
Now let’s get into the details!
#1 Cream Legbars are autosexing, so males and females look different at hatch
One of the great benefits of the Cream Legbar breed is that you can tell their sex at hatch.
If you’re new to chickens, you might not realize that hatcheries sex their chicks through a vent sexing technique that’s only about 90% accurate. This means that even though you’ve ordered all female chicks, you still might end up with a rooster (or even multiple roosters).
If you’re a homesteader, extra roosters might not be a big deal to you, but if you’re an urban backyard chicken keeper, this can make your life difficult. You’re not allowed to keep roosters, but you don’t want to kill them either.
One of the easiest ways to avoid this problem is by ordering sex-linked hybrid chicks or an autosexing breed like Cream Legbars.
Female Cream Legbar chicks have very dark brown “chipmunk stripes” running down their backsides and they have eye barring. Male Cream Legbar chicks, on the other hand, have much lighter, more diffuse striping, as well as a light-colored spot on their heads.
To see how distinct these differences truly are, check out the video below.
Just how accurate is this autosexing? Autosexing of Cream Legbar chicks in a good strain is near 100% accuracy.
#2 Cream Legbars are good producers of blue or green eggs.
Egg color: Light blue or green
Egg size: Medium
Age of lay: 5-6 months
Eggs/week: 3-4
Eggs/year: 150-200
Another thing Cream Legbars are famous for is their egg color. These birds lay either light blue or light green eggs. To be clear, each individual bird will lay either blue or green eggs (not both colors), but you could get blue-egg-laying hens or green-egg-laying hens.
Cream Legbars tend to start laying at around 5-6 months of age and they lay 150-200 eggs a year. And some hatchery strains may lay even better than that.
Check out the video below to see a Cream Legbar hen laying an egg.
#3 Some Cream Legbars lay white eggs.
Some chicken keepers are surprised to find they end up with a Cream Legbar hen who lays white eggs instead of blue or green eggs. White eggs are caused by a recessive trait that sometimes shows up in hens. They definitely aren’t the norm, but this does happen.
#4 Some Cream Legbars don’t lay very well in the winter.
A lot of Cream Legbar keepers have been disappointed that their hens either stop laying in the winters or they don’t lay very well. So, at least some strains are not good winter layers.
If you require winter layers, this may not be the right breed for you.
#5 Some Cream Legbar hens don’t want to be mamas, but some do.
Cream Legbar hens may go broody from time to time, but many hens won’t go broody at all. Some strains may be more or less than broody than others—so if broodiness (or lack thereof) is important to you, make sure to ask your hatchery or breeder what their strain of hens tend to be like.
Below, you can see a video of a broody Cream Legbar hen who’s incredibly angry about being disturbed.
The hens who do go broody are typically wonderful mothers.
#6 Cream Legbars tend to be very hardy birds
Cream Legbars are tough birds that can survive in most climates.
As one chicken keeper said of her Cream Legbar, “My ‘old’ hen still produces an egg everyday—even in this 100-degree Texas summer heat.”
And another said of her flock, “They are a hardy bird that seems to do well in the North Georgia climate, from the hot summers to our winter ice storms...”
But, unfortunately, there is one exception to this breed’s hardiness…
#7 Cream Legbar combs are prone to frostbite
Like all breeds with medium- to large-size single combs, Cream Legbars are prone to comb frostbite.
To see how big the roosters’ combs are, check out the video below of Odysseus, the gorgeous Cream Legbar rooster. This is definitely a comb that will be at risk of frostbite in an unheated coop.
And even some of the hens have large combs, which you can see in the video below.
Frostbite is an incredibly painful condition for chickens, just as it is for you, and should be avoided at all costs.
I hang Sweeter Heaters over my chickens’ roosting bars to prevent frostbite in my single-comb breeds (and to take the chill off on the cold nights for all my breeds). These are radiant heaters that you hang above your chickens’ roosting bars. They don’t heat the coop, but instead warm the chickens underneath the heaters on the roosting bars, saving their combs from frostbite.
You can find small Sweeter Heaters here on Amazon, medium Sweeter Heaters here, and large Sweeter Heaters here. I use them in all my coops and I seriously can’t recommend them highly enough. They are a must-have for all single-combed breeds—and appreciated by breeds of every comb type!
#8 Cream Legbar chickens are predator-savvy
Cream Legbar chickens are an incredibly alert and active breed. They also blend in well with most surroundings, and some are very flighty. And for a chicken, they can run pretty fast. All these traits go far in helping them to evade predators.
#9 Cream Legbars are excellent free rangers
Aside from being predator-savvy, Cream Legbars also do great on the range because they love to explore and they love to forage. These birds forage enough that you may save a bit on feed.
As one chicken keeper said of her Cream Legbar flock, “These birds can definitely take care of themselves.”
In the video below, you can see a Cream Legbar hen happily foraging.
And here, you can see a flock of very young Cream Legbars busily foraging.
#10 Cream Legbars may destroy your backyard and garden.
The flipside of being a good forager is that Cream Legbar chickens do tend to “over-forage” your backyard and garden. If your backyard is relatively small, they might make a wasteland out of it pretty quickly.
As one chicken keeper said of her Cream Legbar flock, “They are avid foragers to the point of being neurotic, and will dig and scratch everything in the yard.”
#11 Cream Legbar chickens may be kept in backyard runs.
A lot of birds that do well free ranging don’t do well in backyard runs, but the Cream Legbar is an exception. They tolerate confinement pretty well.
Of course, like most chickens, Cream Legbars prefer to have a lot of space in which to forage and explore, so the more space you can give them, the happier they’ll be.
Below, you can see a flock of Cream Legbars happily scratching around their enclosed run.
The other reason Cream Legbar chickens do well in backyards is because they’re not one of the noisier chicken breeds.
If you’re new to chickens, you do need to understand that all chicken breeds are a little bit noisy. Roosters will always crow. Hens will always cackle a lot around egg-laying.
But some breeds are decidedly noisier than others, constantly talking and squawking. Cream Legbar chickens, on the other hand, are pretty average in the noise department.
Below, you can hear a Cream Legbar hen talking.
And in this video, you can hear a Cream Legbar cockerel just learning to crow.
And here, you can hear an older Cream Legbar cockerel’s crow.
#12 Cream Legbars are generally friendly in temperament
Cream Legbars are friendly in temperament. And I say ‘friendly’ because their temperament seems to range from docile to somewhat flighty. As far as being handled goes, the dispositions of these birds seem to run the gamut.
But most of them are friendly enough that they like to be around you, even if they don’t like it when you touch them. As one chicken keeper said of her hen, “…[She] is 2 years old now and is definitely a bit flighty but still follows me around.”
And some strains of these birds actually are downright docile. One chicken keeper said of her Cream Legbar hen, “She’s one of the cuddliest chickens we’ve had, and that’s saying a lot. She loves being stroked and massaged on her upper back and neck.”
Below, you can see a young Cream Legbar who appears to be enjoying be petted.
And here, you can see someone hand feeding Cream Legbars who have jumped on her lap.
#13 Cream Legbar chickens are peaceful in a mixed-breed flock
Cream Legbar chickens tend to be very easy going and peaceful. They will likely get along very well in a mixed-breed flock with other standard-size chickens.
As one chicken keeper said of her Cream Legbars, “The hens are quiet and are generally not aggressive to the other birds.”
#14 You may also find a rare white variety of Legbar chickens called Frost White Legbars
Some Cream Legbars carry a recessive trait for white feathering, and when these Legbars mate, they usually produce some all-white offspring. These are called Frost White Legbars or White Sport Cream Legbars. When breeders breed these white sports together, they get more white offspring.
These are rare, beautiful Legbars with all the same traits as their Cream Legbar progenitors. They offer you another variety with which to adorn your backyard.
Breeds you may want instead of Cream Legbars
If you are interested in chickens who lay blue or green eggs, you’ll also want to consider Ameraucanas, Easter Eggers, and Araucanas.
You can learn more about these breeds in my articles:
And if you like the crested look, be sure to check out Polish chickens and Appenzeller Spitzhaubens. Learn more about these breeds in my articles:
