Exchequer LEGHORNS

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Quote:
Wasting your time buying from a hatchery? I've never bought Exchequer leghorns from a hatchery, but hatcheries know that when people hear Leghorn, they want a laying bird. Unfortunately, that's, like I said, usually with whites. I do suggest if you get Exchequers, that you get them from Performance Poultry, here in Ontario. Mainly, you'd not have to go through the trouble of importing anything from the states.
If you ever decide to breed exchequers, you can start with the worst stock, and if you do everything right as you breed them, you will eventually have good Leghorns. If you can find a reputable breeder that already has improved stock, that would save you years of breeding.

And, realistically, how far will you go to get them, just to be layers, when there are probably other laying breeds easily available?

 

[jessicadawn]

Thanks mama24 for sharing your thoughts. It helps!

And D&B, thank you so much. I completely gapped on Performance and have also heard mixed reviews around frustrations with them but I will try them. It makes more sense financially. Also, I hear you about getting really good lines at some point. I'm still learning so much. Appreciate your experience and insight.

I'll sign off on this thread now.

Cheers!
Dawn

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

From my own, personal experience I know that the white leghorns I had layed better than the browns and both of those layed more and bigger eggs than the red or silver leghorns.

I still love all the colors! Has anyone developed a rose comb Exchequer?

 

[cherokee2]

the exchequer leghorns are very good layers I HAVE ONE they lay alomost every day i know everything about this type of leghorn i have had good experience with the leghorns this type has a floped over comb with white my chickens name is DOT

edited by staff

 

[maralpz2006]

i ordered 2 i just love them these ones are gonna be my first ones

 

[qball53]

We have gotten three different sets of eggs from three different breeders of the Exchequer Leghorns. We have found them to be very unthrifty! Poor hatch rate on the first set and the next two sets of egges hatched satisfactorily but we have had very high mortality. We raise eight different breeds and several color strains of some. We do not have this issue with the other birds and are begining to wonder if Exchequers are just this way. Once we have some at point of lay if we continue to see this problem we will probably stop raising them. We have noticed that some of those breeding these when we started looking are not longer raising them. Is this a normal experience with this breed?

 

[danhonour]

The Leghorn breed in general is very hardy and vigorous,and lay well,but not every strain within each variety.Much depends on the breeder.If the breeder selects the strong and healthy birds each generation and raises them close to nature,there is no reason not to expect high fertility,strong chicks with good liveability..If the flock size is fair and a number of males and pens are bred from,there should be a very small amount of inbreeding.A good breeder know when and how to work in new blood,if needed.

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Anyone have more updates about their Exchequers, particularly in regards to laying volume? My two Exchequer pullets I bought at two months old, hatchery stock, are four months old now and I'm itching for eggs! One is larger with a more developed comb than the other, so we shall see!

As far as Leghorn personalities, these are our first two Leghorns, bringing our little flock up to five hens, and they are much smarter than our two Wyandotte hens! Our Welsummer hen is the flock leader and she has become very protective of the smaller Exchequer in particular, which seems to be causing a mild struggle for dominance between the two Exchequers. The smaller one was initially the leader of the two when we brought them home (she is super smart!), but eventually her size and relative lack of food-motivation put her at the bottom of the pecking order until our Wellie took a shine to her. At this point I'm pretty sure the Wellie likes her better than at least one of the two Wyandottes, and they were raised together from two weeks old! The two Wyandottes will occasionally harass the Exchequer pullets, particularly since we've been having this heat wave here in Seattle because it makes the Wyandottes cranky!

(Our Wellie and the Exchequers don't seem to mind the heat). But the Wellie always interferes and lays down the law before anything gets too serious.

At any rate, I prefer flighty birds to friendly ones. We have dogs, not kids, so I've learned the hard way that I need to be more concerned about a chicken's ability to get the heck away from a misbehaving dog than about cuddling my chickens.

So far our Exchequers have been fun to watch - very active, very curious, very wary of their surroundings, quick to integrate into the flock, and they are top-notch foragers. They are gorgeous, too! Though I doubt mine would win any show ribbons as they have too much black on the back and gray, speckled legs rather than yellow, but what do I care? I live in the city and can't even keep a rooster around. As far as I'm concerned I made the perfect breed choice for our needs in these two pullets, so long as they wind up churning out eggs the way Leghorn should!

 

[qball53]

We have two Exchequer roosters and three hens. One of the roosters was a terror to the hens & other rooster so he is now a bacholar. The subordinate rooster we left with the hens has blossomed quite nicely. When they were penned alone the Exchequers were pretty nervous and flighty. A couple weeks ago due to predator problems we put some blue laced red wyandottes in with the Exchequers because of space limitations. We kept the wyandotte rooster out and since we are not hatching we aren't concerned about any mixing at this point. The Exchequers have really calmed down tremendously. They meet me when I open the door to their space. They are right under my feet waiting for treats. They still seem a bit more active but not as scared and flightly as previously. Whether this is age related or becasue of the association with the wyandottes we don't know. We had a hard time getting Exchequers to survive, hatching and growing through the chick phase. We are quite pleased with them as they mature, very pretty birds. I like the proportionally large comb and wattles. Can't wait to get the numbers up so we can have some running the yard. We are hatching a few out now. The hens are still young and the eggs are not mature size yet .... I don't believe.

 

[chickencrazy989]

leghorns lay 260-280 eggs a year