Breeding Buff Leghorns

[danhonour]

Joe,so good to hear from you.I sent you an email.let me know if you get it. Dan Honour

 

[Nomibear]

These are not the best looking birds after all the pics i've seen you guys post. I shared pics of some of these girls as Pullets with you all last spring/summer. They are now a year and a half. I had gotten these from Ideal Poultry. One of my questions is about those thin looking tail feathers. Is that a sign of bad breeding? My girls have free access to a 50X45 foot yard. They have access to it day and night. Although they have shade trees, i can see that their color has lightened a lot from their early days, i assumed from the sun...







I Love the look of all of yours!

 

[danhonour]

Hi Nomibear.It is good to see some of Ideal's stock.Yes the sun does lighten buff,but since one is darker than the other, I am thinking she must have been lighter to start with. Years ago some buff breeders would select the darker hens and cocks that molted in new feathers and kept there color,rather than those that got lighter.It was a slow process but over many generations they developed a "stay buff" line that faded very little. Thin feathers are narrow rough looking feathers,select wide feathers in the breeding pen.Also some birds have spread tails where the feathers are wide apart most of the time,another thing to select for if you are breeding Buff Leghorns..

 

[Nomibear]

Thank you for the Your input Dan. I am not breeding yet, but would like to invest some time with this breed in a couple more years

 

[Buffchickenbuff]

I have found that, generally, commercial hatcheries do not have birds worthy of the show breeders consideration. However, I have a friend who sold some young males that were quite nice. He said they were Buff Minorcas, but they did not look like Minorcas. They looked more like Buff Leghorns. I will try to get the name of the hatchery from him, and post it if anyone is interested.

 

[cookfamilyfarm]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1374566826110640/ Hi everyone. If you are on facebook checkout the new group page, Leghorns.

 

[math ace]

Dan,

I got the best photos I could this morning LOL...
It appears my boy is a camera hog, but limits me to profile shots. I tried really hard to get a photo from the front, but he would not cooperate....











His color is darker and more consistent than the pictures are showing . .. The sun is playing tricks with the photos...
I can try to take another picture this afternoon after the sun has moved to the other side of the coops!



FYI: This cockerel is 4 1/2 months old.....
(Edited to correct his age..)

 

[math ace]

This was the daddy of the previous cockerel..

 

[math ace]

Dan,

How did I do?

Did I do better with the son or did I lose something special that the daddy had?

I have many chicks in the grow out pen from daddy. What should I be keeping an eye out for....

Thanks,

Lisa (math ace)

 

[danhonour]

The son appears very even in color. In general the legs could be longer or thighs longer. The wings could be held up more level.Not a bad start.