Leghorn

If you have chickens that lay twice a day, it's no wonder they get sick...

Likely suffering serious calcium & magnesium deficiencies. Get a grip!!! lolol

Every owner has experiences that endear them to one breed or another. It is a matter of preference & depends largely on the breeder u get your birds from as to whether they are good tempered or bad, productive layers or not, people-friendly or aloof, etc. From childhood we raised Babcock Leghorns on the farm. Years later we rescued a White Leghorn as many don't want a plain white bird & I was familiar w/ them. This rescue was a pullet, gently tamed by pre-teens of the former owner, & came to us in a saddened moulting condition. She was housed w/ 2 Silkies & was amazingly calm & gentle around them. For 3 years she was the alpha leader. She was aloof but friendly, alert to noises & flying predators, chased stray cats out of the yard, ate from our hand, sat in our lap, respected a 2' rabbit fence barrier around the vegetable garden, never flew out of the yard, & treated all newcomers to the flock w/ kindness. She was challenged by a nasty Marans but put her in her place. For 3 years she was the love of our flock. Because White Legs are laying machines of LG-XL eggs they are prone to reproductive problems (45% seldom get past age 4) which is why cancer researchers use them for study. Because of this malady, I prefer other Leghorn varieties who are still prolific but lay much smaller eggs more in-line w/ the size/weight of the Leghorn. Some say if the body build is wide that XL eggs are ok. But I still say its inhumane for a Medium LF weighting only 4.5-lb to lay XL eggs. After we no longer had our White Leg, we got a 4.5-lb Buff Leg who was just as prolific but with medium rather than XL eggs. Having smaller eggs, her shell strengths are stronger, & we didn't feel she was stressing her body laying out-of-this-world huge eggs as a lightweight bird. Another plus we like about the Buff is her smaller less-floppy comb which doesn't obscure her vision therefore making her calmer than the White Leg. We loved our White rescue as she was not just a prolific layer, she was intelligent, gentle, recognized several simple hand/voice commands, active forager, was a wonderful alpha, & we miss her very much.

I have a white leghorn named Flossie and she is also a good, consistent layer. She is friendly but doesn't really like being picked up. She does stray and is so white I am afraid she is a target for hawks. We lost another WL to a predator. We keep them in a tractor most of the day but let them out to forage when we are home. She is our rooster's #1 wife and looks pretty bedraggled, but doesn't seem upset. I have put salve on her comb when it was pecked to bleeding and it healed well. She acts like the #1 wife and pecks other hens if the rooster is mounting them. Her eggs are the biggest of the 4 hens I have. (RIR, BR and 2 Araucanas).

I LOVE LEGHORNS!!!

I only have one White one I love her

I have one Brown Leghorn and she is so sweet & very pretty. I would love to get a few more.

How do your Naked Necks lay?

Yes! I agree! They are great layers! My Leghorn is really sweet though and loves us.

I love Leghorns! My Leghorn hen is very friendly too!

Just an FYI, these issues could be due to genetics and where you obtained the bird, not necessarily leghorns in general.

what a BEAUTIFUL breed of chicken i LOVE the roo i have a light brown leghorn and he is my profile picture ( on left ) and they are a beautiful good egg laying breed and the roos are so gorgeous but they can and will protect their hens generally they are peaceful good luck

I once recorded the individual egg production for an entire chicken house of caged White Leghorns. I remember one hen who produced 365 eggs in as many days. She went back to the hatchery to help make the next generation of layers.

Great to know!!!

i have to say they are chickens when it comes to other animals, i have a light brown leghorn roo and he is scared of anything that moves

calm??????????????? Ok...I guess we judge
birds based upon our own standards. I'm calm...for the most part and I've seen a few Leghorns that could be approached to within 10 paces but never have I seen one that would remain in the building, much less the lay box if a stranger just walked through.

Just talking quietly outside the building/coop with with the owners can cause mass hysteria among a flock of leghorns...Yep, they're calm.

Mine are calm, they won't let me hold them but will come right up to me and won't panic when I go into the coop. So yea they pretty calm.

Mine are fairly calm as well. None of my chickens are touchy-feely but they will come up and chat and beg for treats. Mine are real quiet, too.

I can pick mine up if they squat, but usually not. They run up to the fence when I come out, but, of course, I'm the "treat" person! The brown leg horns are really beautiful chickens with so many different colored feathers: grey, brown, black, light brown and gold. I wouldn't say they were calm, but I think chickens are very calming to me!

A nervous or flighty flock of leghorns just hasn't received the proper amount of human interaction.