Then the Cream Legbar went to David Applegarth

[K3]

Apparently, the Cambridge U discontinued their Poultry Breeding Operations in 1957 - the year before CL is accepted by PCGB.  

The flock went into the hands of private breeders....among them David Applegarth.  Applegarth developed a commercial hybrid to produce lots of blue eggs for the market, this bird was called the Skyline:

http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/15/01/2009/113812/poultry-breeder-to-produce-applegarth-skyline-layer.htm

[Kestlyn Penley]

We definitely have Mr Applegarth to thank for being one of the few who continued breeding the Cream Legbar even when it lost his popularity!

 I wonder why the article didn't mention the Cotswold Legbars (another hybrid)? Phillip has been selling commercial blue eggs for decades in the UK. Or maybe he was one of the un-named breeders.

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[Curtis Hale]

After almost a year of asking the old timers in the UK if anyone could get me in contact with David Applegarth or David Francis, I was able to get a personal letter back from Mr. Applegarth regarding the origin and breeding of his Cream Legbars.  He got some hatching eggs from John Coombs in 1987.  He accepted them assuming that nothing would hatch, but he ended up with two pullets.  He got a Gold Legbar cock from John Coombs to breed to the pullets the following season, but the breeding was unsuccessful. He was forced to out breed the Cream Legbars with an Auracana.  He then spend a lot of time to establish cresting, blue eggs, auto-sexing, and cream plumage.  When he had locked those four things in place he deems his line as pure breed.

 

Note:  David Applegarth has what I think is Parkinson disease.  He can not longer walk or talk but in his letter he said that he can still think (and obviously write).  We were very fortunate to get his account in writing.

 

Curtis

 

P.S.  If any one has contact information for David Francis, or Shaun & Sue Hammond, they are other people that I am interested in hearing back from.   I know Francis got his birds from Applegarth.  The Hammons probably did too but were people that had them in the UK back in the early days of the revival of the breed.     

 

P.P.S.  The name John Coombs was one I already knew before getting the letter back from Applegarth.  Mr. Coombs was a lab assistant during the Cambar project.  He later was active in the Auto-sexing Poultry Association of Great Britain.  

[K3]

Because this AppleGarth link got lost once Here is a copy of the article in the event the original website archives or deletes it

Poultry breeder to produce Applegarth Skyline layer

Richard Allison

Thursday 15 January 2009 15:57

Specialist poultry breeder David Applegarth has launched a new company with sole responsibility for the breeding and production of the recently introduced Applegarth Skyline layer breed.

Northumberland firm Applegarth21 takes on production of the first British-bred blue egg-laying hybrid. Developed over the past few years, the bird is increasingly used in the specialist egg market, gaining a reputation for producing a premium egg, he said.

The breeder behind the initiative Mr Applegarth explained: "Co-operation between local poultry farmers, a poultry breeder and retailers has resulted in eggs from rare breeds of poultry being brought back to the British public."

He maintained a group of rare utility poultry breeds for 21 years and has spent the past few years working to bring them back to commercial viability.

"They have many of the special attributes that were at one time deemed to be non-commercial. But with the revival of free-range and organic production, they are once again in demand," he said.

"The Skyline has ancestry going back in a direct line to birds bred byProfessor Punnett almost 100 years ago at the University of Cambridge."

rivate breeders then maintained the pure lines after the university gave up its poultry breeding station in 1957, he added. 

new link as of 1/22/2014

http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/15/01/2009/113812/poultry-breeder-to-produce-applegarth-skyline-layer.htm

[Curtis Hale]

Note:  It was John Croome (not Coombs).  -Curtis-

 

Here is the personal letter from Applegarth.  Please do not repost this with out permissions.

 

Cream Legbar 1987-20

 

I first had the Cream Legbar in 1987. I bought hatching eggs from John Croome. He had kept the breed from 1957 to his death in 1988 (jan)  He had been an undergraduate at Cambridge at the time of the development of the autosexing breeds. I had the cream legbar eggs on the understanding that they would not hatch!

 

I only managed to hatch 2 pullets. They were supplemented with a Cream Legbar male and a Cream x Gold male which John  had bred in1987.

 

I tried to breed the Cream Legbar pure. I had no success! I later obtained ,on loan ,a female which had come from an Aracana breeder.

 

I bred the pure male to the Araucana hen. The crossbred (creamxgold)  male to the pure Cream hens. The chicks from these matings were then crossed with each other to refom the Cream Legbar line.

 

The araucana hen had a straight comb and only produced cream offspring (had cream neck hackels) 

She laid blue eggs.

 

The off spring from these crosses  were  then carefully progeny tested for purity  of the Cream Legbar special features ( ie were homozygus for cream , blue egg and crest) The birds which tested  pure for all three features were deemed to be “pure” Cream legbars . This process took many years.

 

The next thing I did was to cross the creams with the other breeds I had.  This was to produce a commercial bird that laid a blue egg. The basis I worked on was that if the cream was “pure” for the blue egg it would pass on the Blue egg to its chicks.  This is true but is altered by the egg colour of the mother. If the mother lays a white egg the resultant egg will be pale blue. If the mother lays a  dark brown egg the resultant egg will be green.  None of the birds will be cream and will have  a half crest. The challenge was to produce the right mother for this project. The mother would not lay a blue egg but would lay an egg which was off white. (David Applegarth, 2013)

 

I also am including information from Philip Lee-Woolf who was the man you created the Cotswold Legbar for and who obtained this personal letter from Applegarth for the Cream Legbar Club.  Again please don't repost this with out permissions.

 

 

 I had some of that 1987 stock via a woman in Winchcombe (Gloucestershire), who sourced hers from David around 1990 and decided to give up. I had a farm in Winchcomb at the time and was breeding 40,000 quails a year to supply Tesco with their quails eggs. I learned a lot about breeding then because quails have such a rapid turn-around. It was a couple of years later that I made contact with David (Applegarth) who supplied me with more hatching eggs to boost my stock.  At that stage, there was absolutely no interest in Blue eggs but I could see a massive gap in the market waiting to be filled. All very exciting at the time but unfortunately all fame but no fortune!

 

 ....I do have a few small famers with Cream Legbar flocks selling their eggs at the farmers markets here, which is encouraging.  My birds (Cotswold Legbars? Cream Legbars?) lay around 400 eggs over two years, which are selling at over £4 per dozen, so it can be viable, but the birds need plenty of space and freedom. However, I don’t want to do anything which would conflict with Clarence Court.

  

Philip (Philip Lee-Woolf, 10/5/2013)

 

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[Curtis Hale]

Note: Philip Lee-Woolf mentioned that he only uses Cream colored Cream Legbar cockerels to create his Cotswold Legbars.  I guess he figures that if the cock birds are cream that he know they are pure bred and an accidental crossing from a sneaky rooster, etc., and therefore won't produce white egg laying pullets.  He keeps a flock of 200 pure Cream Legbars to create his Cotswold hybirds and is a big supporter of standard breed Cream Legbars.

[Curtis Hale]

I found this a while back.  It was post on The Coop Forums in 2003.  I found it again today and decided I better snag it for preservations.  -Curtis-

Autosexing Breeds Association

D. Caveny   Ruler of the Roost  Registered: 07/16/02  Posts: 1102  Loc: Arizona

I received the following from David Applegath in England today:AUTOSEXING BREEDS ASSOCIATIONYou will no doubt be aware that the Autosexing Breeds Association was set up to further the interests of the group of poultry breds introduced by the Cambridge University scientists. The association had a considerable membership, many were commercial breeders, but by 1960's had very few left. The association was wound up and the interests of the breeds were then looked after by the Rare Poultry Society.My personal interest started in 1986 when I started breeding stock acquired from the late John Croome. Since John's death I have acted as the registrar for the breeds.The status of the breeds has moved on but they are still rare and have a very limited genetic base.I have a very hazy idea of where the stocks now are but I am writing to you as someone who has an interest in the breeds. Please pass this letter to other people you may know who may be interested or let me have their name and address (or E-Mail) and I will send a copy.I have been approached by a number of breeders with a view to reform the Autosexing Breeds Association. This would be a massive step to take. It would require a great deal of commitment from members and from the officers of such an association. I have agreed to send out this letter but feel, personally, that we will need to exercise caution before any action is taken. I would ask that you give thought to what will be involved and let me have your views one way or another. Negative views will be as important as positive.To reform as a separate association it would be necessary to go through a formal procedure to "disconnect" from the Rare Poultry Society. Before doing this we would need to show that the interest of the breds could be best served by the new organization.I will welcome your views,/s/ DAVID APPLEGARTHBrookside Farm, Broomley, Stocksfield, Northumberland, NE43 7HXTel: +01661 844 961 E-Mail: david apple...@ukonline.co.ukMy personal input is that I am 60 years old and not interested in a major undertaking at this point in my life. I also believe that the commercial companies are NOT interested in folks being able to easily sex birds since that would interfere with their business. I think that most fanciers are not into any specific breed in adequate numbers to breed a population nor for long-term times so that they would be a dynamic membership. I also think that like most organizations the vast majority would be "joiners" not workers. And that lastly, only 2 or 3 individuals would end up doing all the work.If you are interested..David would be interested in your frank opinions on the topic.David D. Caveny breeder of 55-Flowery Leghorns and Gold Legbars.

Autosexing Breeds Association

D. Caveny   Ruler of the Roost  Registered: 07/16/02  Posts: 1102  Loc: Arizona

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