Anti White Leghorn Bias?

[jlhowland]

I would say my leghorns, especially one, are really sociable. More so than my barred rocks really. We can pick one of our leghorns up and she's so calm about. I crossed an Ameraucana rooster with my white leghorns and they all ended up stark white but with pea combs. It will be fun to watch them grow. They're just about 6 or 7 weeks old now. I hope they have a colored egg!

 

[farmerChef]

I would say my leghorns, especially one, are really sociable. More so than my barred rocks really. We can pick one of our leghorns up and she's so calm about. I crossed an Ameraucana rooster with my white leghorns and they all ended up stark white but with pea combs. It will be fun to watch them grow. They're just about 6 or 7 weeks old now. I hope they have a colored egg!

I have a hen, she lays pale blue eggs, just as big a my leghorns

 

[jlhowland]

@farmerChef what do yours look like. My roo was beautiful (gave him away last week for being a punk). All 5 chicks are pure white with no markings at all. One has grayish feet. Their shape is more like an EE though. Not so skinny and they don't have those sailboat tails!

 

[farmerChef]

She is the white, I dont have a full body pic on my phone. She is white, with little black flecks. Mama was the white leghorn, daddy was a black/red EE. He was also the daddy of the other hen, she is half dark cornish and lays olive eggs

 

[jlhowland]

Very cool. I'm loving breeding my own. It's a very cool genetics experiment. Out of the brood of 5 only one was a cockerel, which worked out perfectly since I needed to get rid of jerky rooster. I'm planning on breeding the new boy to my barred rocks, bantam brahma, and maybe even a red sex link that lays monster eggs. Always fun to see what comes out!

 

[chickgirl1]

I have both white and brown leghorns. My white leghorns are just as sociable as my brown ones. I personally have not problems with white ones

 

[farmerChef]

Very cool. I'm loving breeding my own. It's a very cool genetics experiment. Out of the brood of 5 only one was a cockerel, which worked out perfectly since I needed to get rid of jerky rooster. I'm planning on breeding the new boy to my barred rocks, bantam brahma, and maybe even a red sex link that lays monster eggs. Always fun to see what comes out!

these are some more pictures of her when she was younger, the larger spots went away. Her toes are yellow with blue/black legs

 

[jlhowland]

Very nice looking birds!

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I was wondering whether any of you think there is a bias against White Leghorn chickens, and if so, why it exists?

Are they seen as too plain, too commercial, too boring, or anything like that? It seems like when I view pictures of peoples' flocks, I rarely see White Leghorns, and I'm wondering why that might be?

Thanks for your help,

Clare

I'm not fond of white Leghorns because they are high strung, human avoidant, fly over fences, and have a nasty tendency to cannibalism.
I like my chickens approachable so that I can evaluate them easily; I don't like going into a chicken run and having them bouncing off the sides.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Obviously, I just read the whole thread of 18-pages, thus all the comments and questions from posts pages ago.

No one has stated that White Leghorns have disease resistance. If I can locate a quote I found about genetics long ago I will come back and post a link. The gist of the story is that WL flock was more resistant to Marek's than RIR flock in a university study. It was one of those midnight googles from some months past.

Thanks everyone here for your WL information. I have an Ideal 236 which is a hybrid from white leghorn. (she has some black feathers). At present she is my best layer.

I wish there was more information on California Grays and California Whites....they sound interesting. And the exchequer leghorns--- awesome. Thanks for someone's post that they are good layers.


Edited: Not the earlier article I referenced, but one that describes resistance to Marek's in White Leghorns:
http://ps.fass.org/content/80/8/1064.full.pdf

California Grays were bred by Professor Dryden of Oregon Agricultural College after his retirement to a poultry farm at Modesto, CA.

While in Corvallis, Professor Dryden bred the first documented 300 egg/year hen, and a long distance layer who laid more than 1,000 eggs over a six year laying career.

Dryden crossed Barred Rocks with White Leghorns, and referred to the resulting strains as Oregons.

The California Grays were bred to be a white egg laying dual purpose bird that would not only have more meat than a Leghorn, but be more easily handled. They are not a hybrid; they breed true and are a non-APA recognized breed. They are more excitable than Dominiques, less so than Leghorns. Obviously, they are more excitable than Rocks.

California Whites are the result of crossing a California Gray rooster on a white Leghorn hen.