Chicken Breed Focus - Leghorn

[Run Wild]

Ok...answered.

Thank you!

 

[Run Wild]

Today I went to my local feed store where I bought both of my past two flock of chicks from to look for Leghorns, they didn't yet have any Leghorns though. They will order Leghorns within the next few months, and I was added to the waiting list so they can call me when the chicks come in!!!! I can't wait to own Leghorns chicks for the first time, only problem is, I haven't yet convinced my dad I need more chickens The chicks are coming from Ideal Poultry, and will most likely be white; whether White, or White Only I'm not sure, but there is a small chance they might get Danish Brown Leghorns too. I hope so, because I would like two chicks of each variation.

 

[Alaskan]

Variety is always fun.


Good luck!

 

[Run Wild]

Thanks!

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

Curious...what color would this one be called?

Exchequer

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

When you try to breed the white variety, don't use the terminal crosses of big companies. They are so small, they have big needs in vitamin D and in calcium. And the commercial brown layers are even worse. Breeding them will pass genetic faults to the young chicks. Choose the old italianer lines, the authentic ones with a bigger size and bigger earlobes.

The res shouldered pile variety is the best by far!!!
The most balanced, the most prolific layer in the world, excellent in low-density cheap feed, excellent in harsh conditions.

I am also impressed with the following strains:

http://dominant-cz.cz/products/white-eggs-shell/?lang=en

http://www.handpecked.co.uk/hybrid-chickens-for-sale.html

http://thepurebreedpoultry.co.uk/index.php?id_category=4&controller=category

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/linking-black-cuckoo-leghorns.1270538/

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

My breeding purpose for 2019 is to build a good parental stock of the leghorn breeds.

I will not take care of the "color perfection" the Associations want.

I will mix and cross different colors of the blessed leghorn breed in order to achieve wonderful unique colorations and hybrid vigor.

The paternal stock will not have:

a) whites, because they are dominant whites and the whole flock will be white or off-white and because the hybridized lines we have in Greece are bred primarily for the criteria of an excellent feed to egg conversion rate and not for balance

b) roosters who own the barring gene, because I don't like them.

The maternal stock will have:

a) whites of two big companies, the hy-line and the dominant-cz

b) all the recognized and not recognized colors from heritage breeders.

I will emphasize on:

a) hatching my chicks under broody hens, giving them the chance to live naturally and vaccinating them for bronchitis and Newcastle

b) selecting eggs with a weight of at least 71g

c) collecting eggs from the easiest to catch hens because they are less stressed

d) hatching eggs laid from the non-white varieties in an amount of 50%.

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-which-are-the-ancestor-of-the-breed.1272035/

On the link above I started a discussion about the light columbian leghorns and their ancestors.

 

[Mitsos Lamprogiorgos]

Feeding experiment on baby leghorn chicks:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-on-baby-chicks.1283493/page-6#post-20811327