Anti White Leghorn Bias?

[ClareScifi]

The woman who asked me to bring my 2d rooster over to her house this morning wasn't home, and she didn't bother to call and let me know she was not going to be there! I drove all the way over there with my sweet Creamy, Dreamy boy for nothing.

We waited and waited, and finally the husband showed. He said he couldn't make a decision, since his wife wasn't home. He said he guessed she had forgotten to let me know she wouldn't be there.

I asked whether he thought she would like the rooster. He admitted that she is really wanting a rooster with colored feathers, not a white one! Well, why couldn't she have let me know that on Thursday, instead of wasting my time and gas money with a 2d trip with another white rooster. I am steamed by this feather color prejudice and inconsideration! Oh, well. It is quite interesting to me to learn from first-hand experience like this that my boys' white feathers are not good enough for some. :>)

I guess white chickens are a lot like black cats. So common looking that many people don't want them.

 

[Cowgirl71]

I'm actually not all that fond of white chickens myself, but it's not because they're "common" or anything like that. It's because they're more susceptible to predators since they stand out while free-ranging, white feathers show every speck of dirt, and the white gene is very dominant, causing all of a white rooster's chicks to be white or predominantly white. But I'm going to be hatching some RIR x WL chicks anyway because I've heard so many great things about White Leghorns and I already know that I like Rhode Island Reds. And I really like hybrids and mutts.

I agree though, she should of called you to let you know she wasn't going to be home. She might have a bad memory. There's someone I know who nearly always forgets to come when he says he will. He even once told me that he'd leave his house in about five minutes, so he'd be getting to my house in about 25 minutes. Two days later he called to apologize. His memory is just really not that good...

 

[IowaHeritage]

Oddly enough, on the two HAWK attacks I had this year, both victims were black, they left the young leghorns alone because they are super fast !

 

[ginasmarans]

I had several leghorns in my mixed flock because my hubby preferred white eggs. They were a little more skittish, but too much. The eggs were huge! Mine free ranged with the others and did fine. I even had two that went broody every year. They were devoted,fierce mothers and would have raised their chicks until the chicks grew into adults, if I let them.

 

[ClareScifi]

Predators would not be a problem for this woman. She has a huge fence, big dogs, and a small yard. They wouldn't free-range, other than roaming her small yard, and she's home almost all the time to watch them. I think she's just a trendy backyard chicken person who wants the newest fad in chickens. Told me she'd gone through 2,500 chicks to find the Welsummer. She's entitled to her opinions, but when I told her they were mostly white, she should have let me know she was wanting a colored rooster, rather than leading me on. My friend says I should send her a bill for two housecalls. HAHA. Maybe then she wouldn't waste other people's time in a similar way, in the future. Maybe she was afraid of hurting my feelings by telling me the truth, but I would have much preferred knowing this up front, rather than spending gas and time.

If she has a bad memory, as you suggest, she might forget to take care of my rooster, so I'm glad she doesn't like white feathers.

 

[ChicKat]

Brown eggs are more expensive 1) They are not as efficient with feed as leghorns 2) don't lay as well as leghorns 3) Don't lay as big as the Leghorns.

Now I have not seen any of that in my little leghorn flock, but they just started laying... then stopped

well 2 stopped anyway. They eat like pigs... I think... we will see about that. Now that I will have the same feeders in the other pens I can see who eats more... Leghorns or Marans

A lot of people don't want white birds because of predators.... Most people want brown eggs from the farm and if you have white eggs they feel like they are not farm fresh.

Hi DMRippy,

some of this may be regional. Our stores have brown eggs. Super sized ones are $1.85/doz. Now-a-days many commercial producers use the brown-egg-laying hybrids. ISA Brown, all the sex-links. Not only do these chickens lay as well as leghorns, with the same excellent feed conversion ratios, but at hatching the sex can be determined easily.

 

[ChicKat]

I have a couple of exchequer leghorns. They were flighty (almost did not keep them) until they started laying and now they are mellow

.
The leghorns and silkies are also the only hens laying, and neither stopped over winter.

WOW---those are really showy birds. Beautiful!

 

[ChicKat]

The OP asked about bias. I have a bias against white chickens based solely on the fact that they get dirty and anyone looking at them know that they are dirty! With that said, I have accidently gotten two white chickens and love them both. As for the white egg bias, there is a lot more to that. Years ago, depression era and before, people raised chickens to provide their eggs and meat because they couldn't afford to buy them in stores. Most of these chickens layed brown eggs. Once a family earned enough to be able to buy eggs, they associated the white colored eggs available in the store with their newly aquired wealth. Affluent people never ate brown eggs and associated the brown eggs with a lower class of citizen. Anyone raised eating white eggs from the grocery store could see the brown eggs as less clean. These biases are alive and well today. The resurgance of the brown eggs popularity is due to the healthy eating trend and again, the white eggs are associated with the stores and the brown eggs are associated with "home grown" and "organic." We all know that there is no difference in the store bought white and brown eggs, and no difference in pasture raised white and brown eggs, but there are strong biases all over the place for many reasons. I always ask someone how they feel about home raised eggs before I offer to give them eggs. I don't mind if they don't want them (for whatever reason) but don't want them to go to people who don't relish them like we do. You would be surprised at the number of people who will not eat them, or who will but can't fully enjoy them. I am the same way about yellow or purple tomatoes..........

Good historic insight. Added to that pre-WWII, white eggs brought a premium to the egg seller. Hence my dh's grandmother sent two daughters to college on her egg money from white Leghorns. Times change, now brown eggs often bring a premium. :O)

 

[ChicKat]

I LOVE MY 2 WHT LEGHORN HENS! Seriously, I do.

I had watched Food Inc. or some such, had already been thinking of getting some chickens since I had been placed at a church with a parsonage on 3 acres of land. All I was thinking about were those fresh clean eggs I remembered getting from my paw paw when I was a boy.

Did a little research and decided to build my own incubator for about $15 and order hatching eggs. As I was only interested in eggs and am frugal I went with some wht leghorns from a feed store in NJ advertising on ebay. They threw in 1 bonus brown 'mystery' egg on top of the 11 white leghorn eggs I received. When it was all said and done I had 2 white leghorn hens and a RIR roo.

They're now 2.25 years old and laying as good as ever. To boot the eggs I'm getting are HUGE Jumbo classification ranging from 2.5-3.5 oz. routinely right through winter. As they were our first chickens me and the kids spent a lot of time with them and they are among my most calm chickens with one in particular, Spongebob, who is the friendliest chicken I've ever been around.

That is SUCH good information about the longevity and the size of the eggs. It sounds like it rules out the flightyness too. (although I think the reputation for flighty is well earned). 3.5 ounce egg is off the charts.

 

[ChicKat]

There is no such thing as a "California Rock."

The California Gray (aka Production Black) was bred from Barred Rocks and White Leghorns and they lay white eggs. They are a very different breed from Barred Rocks. Info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gray

The California White is a hybrid of California Grey and White Leghorn.

The White Plymouth Rocks often do carry a barred gene, but you never see it because it's hidden by another color gene (I *think* it's the "dominant white" gene).

Hi Cowgirl,
does BPR +Leghorn to get California Gray break the rule of brown gene + white gene will produce brown eggs?