Breeding Buff Leghorns

[danhonour]

Mine generally lay at 5 months,some 6,but other factors play a part here.The time of the year hatched and the amount of light. My late hatched pullets lay a small egg and gradually it gets bigger.Having artifical lights helps with laying and is a big factor,also feeding a good laying ration that is not diluted too much with grains,like to keep layers on 80% layer and grains,leafy greens,table scraps,and treats the rest of diet..Sometimes the birds get the egg eating habit,if the nests are not dark enough,not enough nests,frozen/cracked eggs,or eggs not picked up often enough-so you think they are not laying but they are only eating them.Use fake eggs in nests.

 

[Piet1]

What is the best colour to cross buff to?
When breeding to duckwing e+ would it be better to use a red enhanced?
What about splash duckwing?
I also have a few millefleur/columbian crosses with not a lot of black I assume these will be fine to make the cross to buff?
What about silver wheathen?
At the moment I have a buff bantam male in with my buff hens.
How long does it take to get the size back? What bantamising genes are involved in american leghorn bantams?
I am doing these outcrosses to get fertility and vigour back...
I did the cross to white leghorn but this wasn't even close to buff. the roos are white with a little buff leakage and the pullet is grey?????
Has anybody seen that?

 

[Piet1]

This is a pic from buff bantam male x white production leghorn hen.
Why is it grey?
Her brothers are white leaking buff...

 

[kathyinmo]

This is a pic from buff bantam male x white production leghorn hen.
Why is it grey?
Her brothers are white leaking buff...

 

[danhonour]

The best cross is the all Red Leghorn,then BLack Tailed Red,then Black,if you are staying within the Leghorn breed.Then again you want quality in these other colors to start with.White can work but takes longer,as with any of these cross projects,you need to backcross to good colored Buff males for 4 or 5 generations.It is a long term project.For some reason the melanine (dark pigmentation) of plumage can affect leg color,often in the f1 and f2 you see green legs,but they can be used if females to eventually get back to yellow. White Leghorns are dominant white and it often shows up as smoke gray,but it is still dominant white,the White Leghorn cross is slow to yield back to buff, and may take an extra generation or 2.

You might be better off locating a couple of Buff lines and maybe create a new one from them,rather than starting over using other colors.

 

[ArieBLB]

Hi Piet,
Were do you live?
We (Buff Leghorn breeders all over the World) have bin started with making a breeders list so we know from each others were we are when we need new blood for get going our strains.
Every breeder who is on the list may become an copy of the list so he ore she knows ore there are other breeders in his or her area.

If you are breeder ore owner of Buff Leghorns / Buff Leghorn bantams, then you can register yourselve by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

Put your name, address, zipcode, city, state/country, Phonenumber, e-mailaddress, wich type of Buff Leghorn you have and ore they are with single ore rose comb.

PLease let me know.

Greetings Arie

 

[Gresh]

Hey, everyone!

I'm interested in Leghorns and am wanting to find info on the various color varieties. I am really interested in Brown Leghorns, but I can't help but be drawn to the Buff variation. Could any of you tell me if there's any breeders near or in NC who have good quality Buffs?

Also, how do Buff Leghorns do in free-ranging? Does the lighter color draw predators to them like white does?

Thanks for your help!
~Gresh~

 

[gallorojo]

First, Gresh-
Personally, I think the whole white breeds get eaten first thing is nonsense. SLOW, STUPID, FAT, LAZY, CRESTED, SHORT LEGGED, FEATHER FOOTED breeds get eaten first. Leghorns are none of those things. I have had lots of white birds, actually lose less white than colored, neighbors and great grandparents had white leghorn flocks, seldom if ever are any taken. Stop and think-a bird of prey can see a mouse from something like thousands of feet up, and all birds can see into the ultraviolet spectrum to them black is not black, and white is not white, so, when dealing with birds of prey, I really can't see how color matters. I think this is a hold over from way back when white animals generally were considered weaklings and frail. At least, color matters way less than the other things I listed, plus, wariness, speed, flight ability, etc. A white leghorn will get eaten less quickly in my opinion than say a partridge rock, because of the other factors. So, if you want Buff or white Leghorns don't let anyone talk you out of them because of the color.

Second-On buffs free ranging-mine do well, they actually go out the farthest from the barn of all the breeds I have. I was just at a sustainable ag conference this weekend, and I met some people near me who raise, and free range through an orchard, a flock of Buffs, specifically for egg sales, and secondarily for orchard insect control. I was very excited to see their pictures, they live really close, so, I will go visit and report back on their flock. I think it's great somebody is actually using them for their intended purpose and having success with them.

As for my late laying pullet-I fed her the same as all my other pullets from 2011, she was the first group hatched, in april, some of the late group from august actually laid before she did, and they all were fed the same. Although the others birds were not buff leghorns. Actually, the crazy thing keeps trying to go broody on me!! She is an extremely beautiful well sized pullet, but she does display some "un-leghorn-ish" type behaviors....

 

[danhonour]

A very interesting reply on free range .Thanks for sharing it .Another thing I find,is with our NY cold ,long winters,the Buff blend very nice with tree trunks,oak leaves,dry grasses and such,so most of the year (fall,winter and spring) they are not to easily spoted by other predators while ranging.The important thing is to lock them up at night. If your female is nice use her for breeding. I get a few that go broody but not a high percent,I do think they vary as egg producers,but considering the fact that Buff Leghorns have not been bred for high production,trapnested,etc, for 60 years or more,they are still respectable layers.I think if someone wanted a high production flock of Buff Leghorns they could do it by selection (and or ) outcrosses to commercial White Leghorns and maybe production reds.Especially breeding hundreds of Buff Leghorns.It was done at one time,Utility breeding is not for everyone,but in breeding we do have to pay some attention to the health,egg production and egg size and quality..

 

[DaveK]

A very interesting reply on free range .Thanks for sharing it .Another thing I find,is with our NY cold ,long winters,the Buff blend very nice with tree trunks,oak leaves,dry grasses and such,so most of the year (fall,winter and spring) they are not to easily spoted by other predators while ranging.The important thing is to lock them up at night. If your female is nice use her for breeding. I get a few that go broody but not a high percent,I do think they vary as egg producers,but considering the fact that Buff Leghorns have not been bred for high production,trapnested,etc, for 60 years or more,they are still respectable layers.I think if someone wanted a high production flock of Buff Leghorns they could do it by selection (and or ) outcrosses to commercial White Leghorns and maybe production reds.Especially breeding hundreds of Buff Leghorns.It was done at one time,Utility breeding is not for everyone,but in breeding we do have to pay some attention to the health,egg production and egg size and quality..

That WAS a good post about the free range birds and I agree completely. Egg size and quality have been easier for me, with limited stock at least, to attend to than numbers laid. What I am wondering about the broody buff Leghorns is this; there are at least three of you in this post that have mentioned broodiness. Am wondering if all these birds have a nice streak of Fred Zillich's efforts running through them. I know they more recently came from Dan but there's also the line of descent within the overall family thing that I am wondering about. Just curious. My wife has had broody Andalusians in the past and they were a handy thing to have around as well as kind of unusual.