The Cream Legbar chicken has a somewhat unique history. While other chicken breeds are often bred on farms, sometimes accidentally, the Legbar chicken breed was effectively bred in a lab. This blue egg laying chicken was designed for a very specific purpose by a team of scientists.
We will discuss this in a bit more depth soon. For now, let’s dive into the origins of the Cream Legbar Chicken.
Cream Legbar Chicken Facts at a Glance
| Eggs` | ~ 230 per year |
| Egg Color | Blue or green |
| Use | Eggs |
| Comb Type | Single comb |
| Weight | Male: 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) Female: 6 lb (2.75 kg) |
| Temperament | Friendly and docile, but can be aggressive during the breeding season. |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
The Origins of the Cream Legbar Chicken
We do want to point out that there are various types of Legbar chicken. However, only gold, silver and cream Legbar are recognized varieties.
We will only be talking about the cream variant, as it is the most popular. However, to be honest with you, there are very few differences between the Cream Legbar chickens and the gold and the silver ones, outside of a small difference in appearance.
As we said; the Cream Legbar chicken originates from a lab. In fact, it was created at one of the greatest universities in the world; Cambridge University, in England.
The two scientists that created it had created several breeds of chicken before, one of which was an autosexing chicken. The purpose of the Cream Legbar Chicken was to create another autosexing chicken and, of course, they succeeded. Unlike sex-linked chicken hybrids, the Legbar is an autosexing breed.
The whole breeding program started with a Barred Plymouth Rock and a Leghorn chicken. The Cream Legbar chicken was created by breeding a Gold Legbar, White Leghorn, and an Aracauna chicken.
Fun Fact: The name Legbar comes from combining the names Leghorn and Barred Plymouth.
This all happened between the 1930s and the 1970s. While two of the Legbar Chicken breeds thrived, there wasn’t that much demand for the Cream Legbar chicken.
However, luckily for the breed, a team of breeders set out to save the bird, and, ultimately, the breed was brought back from the edge of extinction. However, it is still a fairly rare breed.
It is worth noting that in the United States, this is not officially recognized breed.
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The Look of the Crested Cream Legbar Chicken
Due to the origins of the bird, the Cream Legbar Chicken doesn’t look that different from the Barred Leghorn chicken. This particular variant of the Cream Legbar boasts a small crest on their feathering. That is why many people are calling it Crested Cream Legbar chicken.
This is a fairly weighty bird, weighing in at around the 7.5 lb mark. They will have a single chicken comb type, with up to 7 points on it, although it often lingers around the 5 point mark.
A lot of people describe the Cream Legbar Chicken as a ‘muscular’ looking chicken, in part because of the large breasts that they boast.
There is also a bantam version available of this breed, although it is going to be exceedingly rare to find a bantam Cream Legbar chicken, with most offerings being one of the other two varieties of this bird.
As a Show Chicken
This is a utility breed. It isn’t a breed that is ever taken to chicken shows. Yes, there is a British breed standard, and we are positive that there must be at least one or two chicken shows out there where the Cream Legbar Chicken is accepted.
We can’t imagine that they are going to be a regular occurrence. If it is a show chicken that you are looking for, then there are plenty of other breeds on the market that may be a bit more ideal for you.
That being said, this bird does have a rather stunning look. So, while it is unlikely that you will be taking it to a chicken show any time soon, it is going to look fantastic if you use it as a backyard chicken, particularly if you have a decent flock of them available.
The Cream Legbar Chicken Eggs and as an Egg Laying Breed
The Cream Legbar chicken is one of only a few breeds of chicken that produces blue or green eggs. This was a chicken breed that was specifically developed for its egg-laying capabilities. This hen is able to produce up to 230 eggs per year.
It was the eggs that this chicken produced that almost caused its downfall. Sadly, in the commercial market, there has never been that much call for blue eggs with most people preferring one of the more ‘standard’ colors.
This means that it is unlikely that you will ever find the Cream Legbar chicken used in major commercial operations. It is pretty much a breed designed for backyard chicken owners.
There is a good chance that your hens will be a broody chicken. However, there have been reports that there are a variety of different strains of the breed, and some of them are not quite as broody.
If you do purchase this bird in order to start your own flock, then you will want to see if you can find out a little bit about that bird’s ‘family history’ to ensure that you are getting something that is on the broody side of things.
Read our articles about the other two breeds that lay blue eggs, Ameraucana and Araucana.
The Cream Legbar Chicken Meat
This bird was mostly designed as an egg-laying chicken. As a result, it has never been extensively farmed for its meat. That being said, we have no reason to believe that this would not be a good meat chicken breed. While there is less meat on this bird than other breeds out there, the meat is said to be of a fairly decent quality.
The only issue is that these birds can be a little bit slow to grow, which means that if you are looking for a pure meat chicken, then this breed may not be for you.
You should check our article that we wrote recently about what are the best meat chicken breeds.
Care and Temperament of This Chicken Breed
Some will tell you that the chicken can be friendly, while others will tell you that it can err a little bit on the side of aggressive. This is, once again, due to the strain of the chicken.
This is why it is so important that you do your research before you pick up a chicken. You want to know that you are getting a good fit.
This is a bird that does not like to be confined at all. Again, this is another reason why it did not thrive in commercial environments. The Cream Legbar Chicken loves to forage, and it will need to have a lot of space to roam about in to do this.
This chicken breed makes great free range chicken, but other than this, there are no special care requirements. Just as any other chicken breed, it requires food, chicken grit, fresh water and a safe environment to live.
