Keeping Cream Legbar Chickens in the UK: A Beginner's Guide

If you've ever seen a box of pastel-blue eggs and wondered which hen laid them, there's a good chance the answer is a Cream Legbar. This is the breed that put blue eggs on the British map, and it comes with a second trick that beginners quietly love. Here's what it's actually like to keep one.

What is a Cream Legbar, and where does it come from?

The Cream Legbar is a British breed, and a rather clever one. It was developed at Cambridge University's Genetical Institute in the 1930s by Reginald Punnett and Michael Pease, two geneticists who were interested in breeding a hen you could sex at a glance. The Legbar family came out of crossing the prolific brown Leghorn with the Barred Plymouth Rock. The cream variety turned up almost by accident while Pease was crossing gold Legbars with white Leghorn stock, and it was then crossed with cream-coloured Araucanas from Punnett's laboratory. That Araucana cross is the important bit: it brought in both the blue-egg gene and the small crest. The breed standard was set in 1958.

So when you keep a Cream Legbar, you're keeping a piece of British poultry history, not a trendy import. That matters, because plenty of pages online muddle its origins.

Why blue eggs, and are they any different inside?

The blue comes from a pigment laid down as the shell forms, and unlike brown pigment (which sits on the surface) blue goes all the way through the shell. Crack one open and the inside of the shell is blue too. It's a genuinely pretty thing to find in the nest box on a grey autumn morning.

Here's the honest part, though. A blue egg is nutritionally the same as a brown or white one. Shell colour tells you about the hen's genetics, not about what's inside. Anyone selling blue eggs as healthier is selling you a story. What's lovely about them is exactly that: they're lovely to look at, and they make a mixed egg basket look a treat.

What is autosexing, and why does it matter so much?

This is the Cream Legbar's best-kept secret, and for a beginner it's arguably more useful than the eggs.

Most chicks look much of a muchness when they hatch. You raise them for weeks, grow fond of them, and only later find out that half your "hens" are cockerels crowing at 5am and possibly breaking a local noise limit. With an autosexing breed you know on day one.

In Cream Legbars the difference is in the down. Female chicks have a clear, dark "chipmunk" stripe running down the back. Males are paler and more washed-out, with the stripe far less distinct and often a lighter patch or blotch on the head. It isn't a subtle gene trick you need a licence to use; you can see it with your own eyes as the chicks dry off.

What about the crest?

Cream Legbars carry a small crest, a modest tuft on the head, again courtesy of the Araucana side. It's nothing like the great pom-pom of a Poland; think of a neat little quiff. Both hens and cockerels have one. The only thing to watch is that it doesn't grow forward far enough to block the bird's vision, and, like any feathery head, it's worth a quick check for lice now and then.

How many eggs will I get?

A good Cream Legbar hen lays roughly 180 to 230 blue or blue-green eggs a year, so around four a week through the main season. They're medium-sized. Like all hens they lay best in their first couple of years, slow down over winter as the light drops, and taper off with age. That's a solid, dependable output for a garden flock, not record-breaking, but plenty for a family that likes eggs on toast.

A hen that tells you at hatch whether it's a cockerel, and pays you back in blue eggs. For a beginner, that's a lot of breed for your money.

What's their temperament like? Can they fly?

Cream Legbars are active, alert, curious and strong foragers. They're watchful and predator-savvy, always the first to notice a buzzard overhead or a cat on the fence. Many are friendly and can be tamed with a bit of patience and the odd handful of corn, especially if handled young. But be realistic: this is not a placid lap-hen like an Orpington. They have a bit of a wild side and don't love being confined.

That comes straight from the Leghorn in them. Leghorns are famously flighty and light on their feet, and the Cream Legbar inherited plenty of it. These birds can and will fly, hopping a low fence or roosting up a tree if it suits them. It's not a fault, it's just the breed being the breed. You simply plan for it.

How do I house and care for them?

The care is standard good chicken-keeping, with one tweak for the flying.

1. 1

   Keep at least three

   Chickens are social animals. The RSPCA recommends keeping at least three hens that get on, so they can forage, roost and dust-bathe together. A lone hen is an unhappy hen.

2. 2

   Give a dry, airy house

   A clean, dry, well-ventilated coop with perches and nest boxes, plus constant access to fresh water. Allow around a square metre per bird in the run as a sensible minimum, more if you can.

3. 3

   Fox-proof properly

   Foxes are the number one killer of garden hens. Use welded mesh, not flimsy chicken wire. The RSPCA suggests fencing about 6ft tall sloping outward, buried roughly a foot into the ground to stop digging, and always shut the birds in at dusk.

4. 4

   Plan for the flying

   Because Cream Legbars fly, a covered run is the tidiest answer. If your run is open, go for higher fencing, or clip one wing to unbalance them. A covered run also keeps wild birds (and bird-flu risk) out.

5. 5

   Let them forage

   This breed thrives with space to range and scratch. Wood shavings or straw underfoot gives them something to root through and a spot to dust-bathe, which keeps them fit and content.

On hardiness, they cope well with the British climate and are reasonably cold-hardy, so a normal frosty winter holds no fear for a healthy bird in a dry coop. As with any small-crested, single-combed hen, just keep the housing draught-free and dry, and watch combs in a hard frost.

Do I have to register my chickens?

Yes, and this one's not optional. It sounds official and slightly alarming, but it's free and takes about ten minutes, so let's take the worry out of it.

How do Cream Legbars compare to other breeds?

If you're weighing up breeds, it helps to place the Cream Legbar on a scale. At one end sit the calm, heavy breeds: birds like the Wyandotte or the Orpington, which are chunky, docile and happy to potter about a run without much thought of flying over the fence. They're brilliant for families with young children who want a hen that stands still to be cuddled.

At the other end is the Leghorn, the Cream Legbar's ancestor: lean, hardy, a phenomenal white-egg machine, and decidedly flighty. The Cream Legbar sits between the two but leans towards the Leghorn side on activity and flight, while adding the blue eggs and the autosexing that neither of the others gives you. Think of it as a Leghorn that lays blue eggs, tells you its chicks' sex at hatch, and is a touch friendlier.

For a wider look at what suits a UK garden, our roundup of the best chicken breeds for a UK back garden sets them side by side, and the main chickens hub covers the day-to-day of keeping a flock.

So, is a Cream Legbar right for you?

If you want blue eggs, a hardy and healthy bird, and the real convenience of knowing your chicks' sex at hatch, the Cream Legbar is a lovely beginner's breed. The single thing to get right is the fencing or a covered run, because these birds can fly and like their freedom. Sort that out, keep at least three, fox-proof the coop, and get them on the APHA register, and you'll have an alert, characterful little flock laying you a basket of blue eggs.

Related guides and tools

Still deciding? Compare the Cream Legbar with its lean, prolific ancestor in our Leghorn chickens guide, or look at a calmer, heavier alternative in the Wyandotte guide. For the bigger picture, our best chicken breeds for a UK back garden weighs up the popular choices.

Before you buy, two tools will save you a headache. Our chicken cost calculator gives you a realistic figure for setting up and feeding a small flock, and the can I keep chickens? checker helps you check whether your garden and tenancy or deeds allow it before you commit.