Brown Leghorn laying brown eggs?

[jchavez009]

Is it at all possible for a brown leghorn to lay brown eggs. I have a young brown leghorn that should be laying by now but I have yet to find a white egg! There are some days I will get 5 eggs and not a one of them is white (I have 5 hens). If she isn't laying brown eggs, why isn't she laying by now? She is 7 months old. I see her go into the nesting area and nest for a good while but when I come back, no white egg! There are brown eggs but I've always just figured she didn't end up laying anything and another hen got in there before I was able to get back out to the coop. What is going on here??

 

[donrae]

Post a pic of her but my guess is she's not really a leghorn. Welsummers are colored identical, and some mixed breeds are quite similar. Does she have big ol' white earlobes and a larger comb than your others?

 

[jchavez009]

Yeah, her comb is ridiculously big and her lobes are very white... I have a Welsummer and their colorings look a lot alike but pretty sure there is nothing else this little hen could be. I don't have a pic tonight, but can get one tomorrow. My husband is set that she just isn't laying yet... but I don't know.

 

[jchavez009]

Foghorn Honeydew the Brown Leghorn. Pretty sure she is a Brown Leghorn, right???

 

[donrae]

Yeah, that's about as classic a leghorn look as you can get! Sure looks like she should be laying, by that comb.

You could try isolating her for a few days and see what she lays. I know a brown layer mixed with a white layer will give you brown eggs, so maybe she has some mixed heritage. Maybe she's just "passing" as a brown leghorn, IDK.

 

[Justicedog]

I just started a thread with the same question. Should have searched first.

Here's a picture of my brown leg horn.

 

[debid]

It looks like the photo was taken while she was ranging? If she's getting regular time out and about, there may well be a hidden nest.

BTW, I've had two chickens so far in my limited chicken raising experience that reddened in the comb LONG before they started laying. And they weren't out ranging last fall with all of the hawk nonsense so I know there weren't hidden nests. I'm finding that behavioral changes are more meaningful (squatting, getting extra chatty, etc.)

 

[elliechooks]

I know this thread is way old but did anyone work out if the leghorns were laying brown eggs? I have a young one (I think 21 weeks). I can't get near her to find out if she squats but someone has recently started laying light brown eggs, and in that run it could only really be the leghorn or a 10 week old marans cross. I am going to move the others out tomorrow so there is only the leghorn and a blue/green egg layer in that pen for a few days to be sure.