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White Leghorns as a dual purpose breed? The White Leghorn is considered a production layer.
Yep...but they've been around long enough to be quite hardy and productive, without the usual rate of burn out noticed in Black Stars or Red Stars production breeds I've had and consequently culled. I always keep around a few I consider a little lightweight on meat if they are super layers~and if you have good ones, the roos can get to quite respectable weights. RIR and WL both aren't the best at going broody when I need my laying flock replenished, so they can go on laying while a few of my gals are doing the mom thing.
They aren't the heaviest of birds, but their exemplary laying makes them my borderline favorite DPs, whereas I wouldn't have anything like a Buff Orpington just because they are meaty~ they simply do not lay well for extended periods of time nor are they thrifty on feed. I'd rather have a slightly smaller layer than a big and meaty that never lays consistently.
My grandmother and my mother both raised White Leghorns and found them to be good enough layers to justify keeping them as DP birds~our roos were pretty meaty for leghorns. The last one I had in my flock was still laying double yolkers at the age of 6 and finally had to be culled at age 7 for slowing down on production. All my birds must lay every day or every other day in peak season...she finally couldn't make the grade.
White Leghorns as a dual purpose breed? The White Leghorn is considered a production layer.
Yep...but they've been around long enough to be quite hardy and productive, without the usual rate of burn out noticed in Black Stars or Red Stars production breeds I've had and consequently culled. I always keep around a few I consider a little lightweight on meat if they are super layers~and if you have good ones, the roos can get to quite respectable weights. RIR and WL both aren't the best at going broody when I need my laying flock replenished, so they can go on laying while a few of my gals are doing the mom thing.
They aren't the heaviest of birds, but their exemplary laying makes them my borderline favorite DPs, whereas I wouldn't have anything like a Buff Orpington just because they are meaty~ they simply do not lay well for extended periods of time nor are they thrifty on feed. I'd rather have a slightly smaller layer than a big and meaty that never lays consistently.
My grandmother and my mother both raised White Leghorns and found them to be good enough layers to justify keeping them as DP birds~our roos were pretty meaty for leghorns. The last one I had in my flock was still laying double yolkers at the age of 6 and finally had to be culled at age 7 for slowing down on production. All my birds must lay every day or every other day in peak season...she finally couldn't make the grade.
