My white leghorn is laying brown eggs????

If you really want to give here some long life with good quality, you HAVE to restrict severely here diet! No snacks, 110-130 grams of feed and some green life and vegetables! And let here free range, if you can. she need to exercise! If you will not restrict here, you will find her laying on here chest without any possibility to move her legs!
With hurt and kidney problems!

Akrnaf2 said:

If you really want to give here some long life with good quality, you HAVE to restrict severely here diet! No snacks, 110-130 grams of feed and some green life and vegetables! And let here free range, if you can. she need to exercise! If you will not restrict here, you will find her laying on here chest without any possibility to move her legs!
With hurt and kidney problems!

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X2 on the above.

Michael OShay said:

X2 on the above.

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I leave food in the coop for all of them but they mostly free range...she spends all day out wandering around with my duck! I give them corn tortillas or cut up pieces of tomatoes as snacks & occasionally over the summer they got watermelon! She runs too and travels all over the yard! In fact, shes found a spot in my flower bed to lay her eggs everyday around noon! They get up early and start their travel and then around 2 they go into the coop for a nap for about an hr and then bk out until dark! I figured the "snacks" i give them would give em extra vitamins! Should I still cut them out!?

season1223 said:

I leave food in the coop for all of them but they mostly free range...she spends all day out wandering around with my duck! I give them corn tortillas or cut up pieces of tomatoes as snacks & occasionally over the summer they got watermelon! She runs too and travels all over the yard! In fact, shes found a spot in my flower bed to lay her eggs everyday around noon! They get up early and start their travel and then around 2 they go into the coop for a nap for about an hr and then bk out until dark! I figured the "snacks" i give them would give em extra vitamins! Should I still cut them out!?

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Where Cornish crosses are concerned, I would completely eliminate any snacks.

season1223 said:

Thanks for all the info everyone! She does free range and gets a great deal of exercise but shes greedy with snacks too and sometimes seems to be too heavy for her legs! She is laying eggs everyday now tho! Shes my favorite chicken cuz she runs to me everytime she sees me outside and she will peck at the front door if i don't come out soon enuf for her! She eats out of my hand and lets me hold her! Her BFF is a female duck who watches over her as if she is her baby! I hope she exceeds the usual life span! Is her weight the reason she doesn't fly? She sleeps on the ground!

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Yep...she's too bulky to manage flying up to a roost. You might fix her up a roost she can manage like a hay bale or similar soft spot that is broad and not too high. Sleeping on a hard surface can start putting pressure areas on her breast and cause damage there. If your nest boxes are high it could be why she's laying on the ground also. A nest box on the floor with some copious amounts of hay in it might entice her to lay in a nest.

Like the others have posted, she'll last longer if she has restricted feed and has to exercise more, but she will not live as long as your other hens and you'll need to watch for signs of lameness, breathing issues that indicate ascites or cardiac insufficiency and that would be a good time to kill her, then utilize her for her intended purpose...meat. No need to let her suffer before she finally dies by hoping she'll recover, as she simply won't.

Beekissed said:

Yep...she's too bulky to manage flying up to a roost.  You might fix her up a roost she can manage like a hay bale or similar soft spot that is broad and not too high.  Sleeping on a hard surface can start putting pressure areas on her breast and cause damage there.   If your nest boxes are high it could be why she's laying on the ground also.  A nest box on the floor with some copious amounts of hay in it might entice her to lay in a nest. 

Like the others have posted, she'll last longer if she has restricted feed and has to exercise more, but she will not live as long as your other hens and you'll need to watch for signs of lameness, breathing issues that indicate ascites or cardiac insufficiency and that would be a good time to kill her, then utilize her for her intended purpose...meat.  No need to let her suffer before she finally dies by hoping she'll recover, as she simply won't. 

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Thanks! I did put a pet carrier with no door in the coop for her...filled it with wood chips and i filled her "dirt bathing hole" with wood chips too but she still insists on laying down on the ground! I just got some more wood to make some boxes on the ground for her and my duck too because the duck sleeps with her! They cuddle! The 2 of them r inseparable! Both females too! It's funny! Chick Pea was inside for almost a month when she got eaten up by flies/maggots! The whole time her and the duck would talk to each other thru the walls! Shes completely healed up from that incident (which i hope nobody ever has to go thru)! I love that bird sooo much! I would fall in love with the "meat bird" of my flock! Lol! Shes a tough one tho and at least she will be loved her whole life...no matter how short it is!

I thought i would give an update in this thread too since i was talking to different ppl in this one! I did build chick pea (my CX) & Quackers (my lady duck) a box on the ground for sleeping/laying! They started going in it the first night & yesterday i put an egg shaped white rock in it & today chick pea laid an egg in it! It is a little bit off the ground with a ramp! I think quackers tried to lay her egg in it last night but it landed on the ramp and rolled down because i found it this morning at the bottom of the ramp (still intact)! I could tell they spent most of the night in it tho because it had a lot of poop in there this morning! I have it filled with poplar chips tho so it was easy clean-up! Ill have to post a pic on this thread of it! Chick pea is laying eggs everyday now and almost half of them r gigantic eggs...they dwarf the duck eggs! Shes still getting plenty of exercise too and doing well! I have limited her snacks to 2 small pieces of tomato a day and she gets the leftover seeds when the others r done eating the tomatoes! I also make her run to get her 2 pieces! I also kinda separated the eating area and sleeping area in the coop so shes distracted from eating the whole time shes in the coop! Plus she spends 90% of daylight hrs out of the coop free ranging! So far so good!

Here's a pic of the new box i made them! They r both laying their eggs in it now! Had a duck in there this morning and chick pea laid hers in there a little bit ago! Even the banties like to go in there! Lol!

JocelynMc25 said:

Ok...I got a shot of a DeeDum...would the "earlobes" be those cute feathery bits? (which are white)? In which case, she is a Leghorn, and then who knows what the story is with the egg!

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I hatched five leghorn hens in February 17 they are now laying daily and three are laying brown eggs they also have the white lobes, but the daddy is a gray farm rooster (Cochin/Marian mix) so I am guessing that's where the brown comes from. They look just like a leghorn hen. I to was surprised. Two lay beautiful white eggs.

geina said:

I hatched five leghorn hens in February 17 they are now laying daily and three are laying brown eggs they also have the white lobes, but the daddy is a gray farm rooster (Cochin/Marian mix) so I am guessing that's where the brown comes from. They look just like a leghorn hen. I to was surprised. Two lay beautiful white eggs.

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1 Did you see the date of the post?
2. If they lay BROWN eggs the ARE NOT Leghorns.