Breeding Buff Leghorns

[Buff Leghorn]

If anyone has pictures of Buff Leghorns please post them here... Pictures can say a thousand words....

If anyone knows how to contact Dan Honour or anyone else that breeds this colour leghorn could they let me know......

cheers shane

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Shane,

I sent Dan a note with the link to this thread on it. Hopefully he will tune in!

 

[Buff Leghorn]

Thanks birch run farms

I found him on the leghorn site and sent him a P.M so i hope he doesn't mind and drops in for a look....

Once again i think those birds you bought are great looking birds i hope you post pic's of your chicks when you get some ....


cheers shane

 

[chicken master]

In your breeding stock some of your pullets should have black ticking in thier back to keep the buff color rich in the offspring. Just don't breed two birds with ticking. You don't want to show the birds with the ticking because they are breeding qualty not SQ.
Hunter

 

[Buff Leghorn]

Thanks chicken master

My birds are free of any black in the body but some do have a little peppering ( ticking ) through tail....

So any bird showing white tail or wing feathers should be culled or not ?


cheers shane

 

[cochinman2005]

Shane,
Dan is a friend of mine. I'll get his email address to you later tonight. I've been working a couple projects with him, and he's helped me out with my Buff Minorcas as well. You've identified a couple items relative to color that are the real gotchas in the Buff color. I raise Buff birds in several breeds, Plymouth Rocks (Large and Bantam), Cochins (Large and Bantam), Large Fowl Minorcas and Leghorns, and Buff Wyandotte Bantams.

I try to never use a bird with white anywhere in the surface of the feather. Specifically in the Leghorns, I've had pullets with white in the tails as well as males showing white in their main sickles. I try not to use a pullet showing any white whatsoever, but will forgive a male that fault (main sickle) if the type is acceptable. Ultimately you wouldn't want to use a bird with white. Focus on the undercolor and the primary quills. If you can get good buff undercolor and nice buff quills all the way to the base of the feather (or at least fairly far down the shaft of the feather), you have a good chance of having a good colored Buff bird. I breed my Buffs to be a bit richer in color than some tend to like, and again, this avoids white. I will also use a female with some smut in her tail as this lends to good undercolor and seems to keep an even shade. Try not to use a male that is darker in the shoulders and across the back compared to the hackle and saddle, but if you have to use one match him to a female as even in color as you can. A good rule of thumb is to match the color of the female to the breast color of the male to maintain evenness of color. You can use birds that differ in shades but again, don't go too drastic on the first cross.

My question for you is how is the type on your foundation stock? Are they good in size and station? If not you may need to cross to another variety that carries better type in Australia.

I'll try to take some pics over the weekend and post.

Tom

 

[Buff Leghorn]

Thanks tom

You have pointed me in the right direction ive been thinking all those things but knowing if it is right or not without wasting a year or two to get it right .....I'm pretty happy with type so far and size is ok i can hatch early and give them more chance to grow out.

My cockerals are the other problem they are showing a lot of red through the shoulders some of them pretty much all over with dark brown / black through the tail. then i have some nice even coloured birds as well...

I'll try and get some pictures to show you what i'm talking about it's very wet here at the moment so i'll see how i go ....


thanks shane

 

[ghulst]

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/indexUK.html
There is a good articale about buff leghorns in the arkives of this website. You will like this Dutch Online Mag. I love buff Leghorns.

 

[poultch]

Hi Shane

I wouldn't touch a Cockeral with red on his shoulders and stay away from peppering in tail in Roo!!

I used a roo with peppering this year with the hope of getting something good thinking that the Hens should carry it, he brought in the depth of colour but out of the 30-40 young cockerals hatched this season i am down to about 3-4 that are even coloured and no peppering

only have pics of my eldest surplus/culls, the ones below are from my breeders, and my keepers for next season are much like the couple in the centre of the photo but without so much peppering, not ideal to show the world my worst but gives an idea of the variation
http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/poultch/th_Buffpulletsmine.jpg

the pic below is from eggs bought in from a flock that didn't have any peppering & and both Roo & hens were even coloured
so from these it shows that the colour is quickly washed out and does anyone know if this lack of colour is linked to the green tinge to their legs?
http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/poultch/th_Buffpulletsnorth2.jpg

only have photos of the ones i sold for that very reason but will post some pics of the keepers when i have made final selection probably in a couple of months

look forward to seeing other peoples Buffs aswell

 

[cochinman2005]

All birds below are 2009 hatch. Cockerel on the grass is around 5 months old. Not sure if he wound up staying here or if he was culled. I wing band everything, but didn't check his band number when I was snapping photos. Group photo is more recent, and there are several Buff Minorca pullets (still very much a work in progress) in with the Leghorns. That will change this weekend. I'll have them separated into breeding pens by Sunday.