Are Leghorns good layers?

[lightchick]

OK. I've always heard that they are really good layers, but then I heard from two different people that they got one and all it did was sit around and eat until it couldn't walk!
It never laid an egg.
I think maybe they got a Cornish X?

Also are California Whites better? I really want a white egg layer that will lay a ton of eggs.
Thanks for any info you have to offer!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

OK.  I've always heard that they are really good layers, but then I heard from two different people that they got one and all it did was sit around and eat until it couldn't walk!
 It never laid an egg.  
I think maybe they got a Cornish X?      Also are California Whites better?   I really want a white egg layer that will lay a ton of eggs.   
Thanks for any info you have to offer! 

Production white leghorns are great layers! Probably the best white egg layers. Mine lays everyday

 

[donrae]

the bird you're talking about must have been a cornish cross. They get mixed up at places like tsc all the time. but for a high volume white egg layer who eats hardly anything, you simply can't beat a Leghorn. Thousands of commercial egg factories are built on them.

 

[enola]

And leghorns come in all different colors now. So you can have a flock of all different colors AND lots and lots of eggs. There is at least one thread on this site about people who breed 'colored' leghorns. They come in black, red, white, exchequer, mottled, barred, light & dutch brown, buff, mille-fleur.......and I probably forgot a color or two. Some of the 'colored' varieties don't lay quite as well as the white and brown do, but, are still considered very good layers. Some of the colors come in bantam size also.

I love my leghorns! The only thing you need to be careful of - DO NOT crowd these hens!!!!

 

[lightchick]

OK. I was just thinking of getting one along with 2 EE's. I was going to get one from Runnings, but now I'm worried I might accidentally get a Cornish X....

 

[enola]

If they have both breeds on the same day, it is easy to tell them apart. The leghorns will be dainty little peepies compared to the chunky cornish x . If you are still worried get a brown leghorn chick.

 

[Michael OShay]

Leghorns, along with sex links, are the best layers in the chicken world. The White Leghorns in particular are the hens used by laying houses for white eggs as they are egg laying machines, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year. California Whites are excellent layers as well, but eat somewhat more than Leghorns and can't quite match the lay rate of the White Leghorns. As enola said though, definitely do not crowd Leghorns. Unlike sex links which are typically docile, Leghorns are high strung and flighty.

 

[lightchick]

OK. I think I'll get one....but one more question! I live in MN where it gets really cold so I'm wondering if a Leghorn would get frostbitten easily?

 

[Peep-Chicken]

OK.  I think I'll get one....but one more question!  I live in MN where it gets really cold so I'm wondering if a Leghorn would get frostbitten easily?

Yes probably, since they have large combs and wattles. Put Vaseline on them to prevent it.

 

[Michael OShay]

OK. I think I'll get one....but one more question! I live in MN where it gets really cold so I'm wondering if a Leghorn would get frostbitten easily?

The answer is "yes." Putting Vaseline on their combs will help some, but I think as low as Minnesota's winter temperatures drop, your Leghorns combs are still going to have serious problems with frostbite. Given the winter temperatures your Leghorns will have to endure, I'd go with with either Black or Red Sex Links instead, which are also laying machines, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year. In fact, in really cold winter temperatures, they will outlay the Leghorns. My Black Sex Links (Black Stars) have been particularly persistant layers in very cold winter weather, and while their combs can get frost bitten, they are much smaller and less subject to it (particularly to serious frost bite) than Leghorns' combs.