What the chicks of a Legbar and a Speckled Sussex look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Legbar hen crossed with a Speckled Sussex rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. Every pullet should lay green eggs (some may be blue or olive): both sides pass the blue gene. Every chick gets a single comb. Barring is sex-linked in this direction: the cockerels hatch barred and the pullets do not, so the chicks can be sexed on hatch day. Expect a medium bird, a good layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
♂♀ Sex-linked cross: barring tells cockerels from pullets at hatch.
Preset to a Legbar hen and a Speckled Sussex rooster. Change either side to see how the blue gene and the brown coat move the shell colour.
He never lays, so his blue gene is read from his mother's eggs.
Probably Blue (possibly Green): 50–100% blue-based; otherwise White.
Brown shade shifts with a hen's age, diet and stress, so identical genes still lay a little differently. Speckling and bloom are cosmetic and not modelled.
| Trait | Legbar hen | Speckled Sussex rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Single | Single |
| Barring | Barred | Not barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%sex-linked: ♂ 100% barred, ♀ 0% barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | Yellow | White | White 50% · Yellow 50%yellow depends on a hidden carrier, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Leg color | Yellow | White | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
Barring and silver are carried on the Z chromosome, so which parent is which changes the chicks.
| Trait | Speckled Sussex hen | Legbar rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Single | Single |
| Barring | Not barred | Barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%assumes the sire carries not barred, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | White | Yellow | White 50% · Yellow 50%yellow depends on a hidden carrier, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Leg color | White | Yellow | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
A Speckled Sussex hen crossed with a Legbar rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. Every pullet should lay green eggs (some may be blue or olive): both sides pass the blue gene. Every chick gets a single comb. Most chicks (50%) are barred. Expect a medium bird, a good layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
| Trait | Legbar | Speckled Sussex | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | medium | medium | medium |
| Egg production | good layer | good layer | good layer |
| Broodiness | rarely broody | sometimes broody | sometimes broody |
| Docility | easygoing | hand-tame | calm |
| Bone density | medium | medium | medium |
| Foraging skill | good forager | good forager | good forager |
| Cold hardiness | fairly hardy | cold-hardy | cold-hardy |
Chicks land near the average of the two parents for these traits. Reaching one parent's extreme takes another generation of selection.
This is the breed-standard version. Add your flock, set a breeding goal, and the pairing engine ranks every hen and rooster you own against it. Free for up to 15 birds.
Checked September 2026. Hybrids and breeds no reference covers are marked approximate. Egg colour on these pages follows one rule: Brown is any shade a buyer would call brown; Cream/tinted is off-white.