Breeding Buff Leghorns

[Sylvester017]

These are my two (not sure of weight)

If all your pullets looked like this sweet little girl you'd probably have interest if she was truly bantam sized.

The roo has pretty tail color but I'm not a fan of seeing Leghorns LF or bantams with droopy wings - obviously showing other than Leghorn characteristic to me but I think something that can be corrected by following Mr. Honour's breeding input.

Look through the previous posted photos in this thread on the bantam Buff Leghorns to get a feel for what the bantam Buff Leg breeders are striving for. There are a few bantam breeders with excellent input and they are very kind to help.

 

[Sylvester017]

so buff leghorn(bantam and LF) lay pinkish colored eggs? I wonder this because I would like for you to test the whole, pink egg shell gene theory, you see if you use a fine sand paper on brown egg shelled eggs they will turn white as the brown egg shell color is superficial, but this is not the case with Blue egg shells, and I was told that pink eggs also dont do this(sanding to show white shell) ? and that the inside of the egg is also pinkish instead of white..

My APA Ameraucana blue eggs are pale pale blue inside. My Buff Leghorn's pink eggs are solid white inside but I can't wash off the outside pink like you can Cuckoo Marans brown eggs (we had a Marans and her eggs were easily smeared especially immediately after laying). I get no smudges, smears, or streaks with newly layed pink Buff Leg eggs. Her eggs are not light like cream or tinted and not exactly as deep as the light brown - they are definitely pink and very pretty in a carton mixed with pastel blue Ameraucana eggs. When I ordered my Buff Legs I asked for PQ since I don't breed. I was told the eggs would be tinted but was pleasantly surprised to get the pretty pink eggs.

 

[nicalandia]

Interesting,might tell the difference between cream tinted,light brown and pink shells.I was told today that creambars lay a blue shell egg that is white in the inside,so I wonder if they sand off white.?

well the blue egg shell gene is not superficial as it affect both the inside and outside of the shell, well its on the entire shell so if you sand it down you should only see more blue,BUT on casese where the blue egg shell is on its heterozygous form you can have a lighter shade(even lighter than the outside) on the inside of the egg making it look like pure white..

 

[nicalandia]

My APA Ameraucana blue eggs are pale pale blue inside. My Buff Leghorn's pink eggs are solid white inside but I can't wash off the outside pink like you can Cuckoo Marans brown eggs (we had a Marans and her eggs were easily smeared especially immediately after laying). I get no smudges, smears, or streaks with newly layed pink Buff Leg eggs. Her eggs are not light like cream or tinted and not exactly as deep as the light brown - they are definitely pink and very pretty in a carton mixed with pastel blue Ameraucana eggs. When I ordered my Buff Legs I asked for PQ since I don't breed. I was told the eggs would be tinted but was pleasantly surprised to get the pretty pink eggs.

oh thanks for the info, would you mind sanding(with fine sand paper) one of these eggs, maybe you could see the white under it or more pink?

 

[Sylvester017]

oh thanks for the info, would you mind sanding(with fine sand paper) one of these eggs, maybe you could see the white under it or more pink?

Well, I sanded with a fine sanding fingernail paper. It took a long time sanding before I sanded to get to the cream and I don't know if it was the cream interior - all I know is that the outside pink did not want to let go. We looked at the inside of her shells and they really are not white-white but more of a pale pale cream pink that just looked solid white only because of being next to other colored broken egg shells (we save all our egg shells to crush later for the garden soil).

Like I previously posted our Buff Leghorn pink doesn't smear, wash off, or sand off (until it gets to the inner pastel part). And the pink has always been a nice even color all around the shell from her very first egg - no blotches, no lines, no large or mini-speckling, no marks but always perfectly even color all around. I wish I had a microscope to examine a broken shell to see how thick the outer pink is before the lighter interior begins. This has been a very educational experiment on our part to discover her interior shells were pastel and not bright white like we assumed at first glance. I mean, who really pays attention to an egg shell except finesse breeders LOL

Our girl is about 13 months old and laying a bit over 2 oz eggs now. Gosh I hope they don't get too terribly larger as I really don't like to see a prolific layer give eggs oversized because then the shells get thinner - at least that's what happened with our White Leg. The older the White got the bigger the eggs and thinner her shells became. One problem about thin shells we discovered is that in our drought the city water has become over-chlorinated and chlorine and/or fluoride can leach calcium. We switched to bottled water (5-gallon refills) and we aren't getting funky looking or thin shells now.

 

[nicalandia]

I mean, who really pays attention to an egg shell except finesse breeders LOL
.

thanks for the info, I have had light light cream eggs and as soon as I sand them down they turn white, I have yet to have in my hands a pinkish egg, seems like a separate gene and not a shade of brown

 

[Sylvester017]

thanks for the info, I have had light light cream eggs and as soon as I sand them down they turn white, I have yet to have in my hands a pinkish egg, seems like a separate gene and not a shade of brown

My Partridge Silkie and Black Silkie eggs are the same color inside and outside in a creamy pink. The Partridge eggs are matte outside and more on the creamy light pink side and the Black Silkie's eggs are glossy outside on the pink side yet both are creamy pale pink inside. (Say THAT fast 3x LOL) We figure the glossier exterior Black Silkie egg just looks pinker than the matte Partridge egg because the glossier egg catches the light and shows up the pink color better.

My APA Blue Wheaton Ameraucana matte blue eggs are light blue outside and very pale bluish inside. I wish they were glossy to show the color prettier but don't know what breed characteristic Ameraucanas have for matte or gloss eggs. The SOP just says distinctive blue eggshells and nothing about matte or glossy.

My Buff Leghorn (from Danne Honour strain offspring through a different breeder) are pink outside and very pastel pinkish inside.

Since none of our eggs have white interiors I only got paler shades of pink or blue when sanding but never a "white". Now the White Leg we once had we nick-named her eggs Snow Whites because they were the whitest white inside as well as outside. She layed gorgeous snowy eggs. We always noticed that the Silkie interior eggs were never white like the White Leg's eggs. We no longer have her to compare interior shells with our newer breeds.

We sanded more of our egg shells (Silkie, Ameraucana, Buff Leg) with fine fingernail sandpaper and all kept their color without going "white" but just paler shades of pink or blue. As the shell sanded thinner daylight made the color look lighter so if you aren't paying attention your eyes assume it is getting whiter - and none of the eggs have smears, speckles, or streaks but are all perfectly even colors all around. I never could say that about the Cuckoo Marans eggs that often were removed from the nest either speckled, smeared or streaked when wet and otherwise color removed easily - can't check the inside of the shells for you now as we no longer have the Marans. If we had to remove poop from her egg color would smear whereas we don't have that problem with Silkie, Ameraucana, or Buff Leg eggs.

Other than the Marans we have never had a "brown" egg layer so can't comment on "brown: for you other than the exterior Marans eggs - her eggs were definitely whitish inside but never really noticed beyond that except that we were disappointed in her as a chocolate layer - she barely made #4 on the egg color charts and her eggs came out golf-ball round instead of tapered. She was re-homed. Apparently breeders have inconsistent color depth with all dark layers like Marans, Welsummers, Penes, and Empordanesas so we stay away from dark layers now. Sometimes I think the photos of dark eggs on the internet can't be trusted as my camera makes my blue Ameraucana eggs look much bluer than they actually are yet my camera makes the pink eggs come out looking lighter. Can't trust photos which is why I rarely post them re: colors.

On one more note: we haven't noticed our pink or blue eggs get any lighter in color as the laying season progresses. I'm not sure how much you are familiar with Silkies or Ameraucanas (not EE) but they are prolific layers on a par with Leghorns like 5-6 eggs/week so these breeds keeping even color impresses us. The only deterrent being that Silkies can go broody after 3 or 4 months' laying so don't lay straight through a season like an Ameraucana or Leghorn.

Hope this wordy post helps and thanks for the education! Beware asking me questions as I'm a retired researcher by profession and tend to anticipate potential details LOL. I hoped as a breeder you'll appreciate the details - know that I appreciate your info as well.

 

[BGMatt]

Just wanted to share some images of my cockerel, finally rounding into shape, he's a late hatch from last year.

 

[Sylvester017]

Just wanted to share some images of my cockerel, finally rounding into shape, he's a late hatch from last year.

Wow - I'd love to see his full adult tail later!

 

[nicalandia]

Just wanted to share some images of my cockerel, finally rounding into shape, he's a late hatch from last year.

may its the shade or pic, but he looks very pale,