Do Colored Leghorns Lay As Well As Whites?

[farmgirlsomeday]

I love my white leghorn, and she lays eggs like a champ. I'm considering adding a colored leghorn or two to my flock. Do they generally lay as well as the whites? Thanks!

 

[Kelsie2290]

They don't lay as well as the commercial whites ime, and egg size is not as large either. They are still really good though compared to most breeds, and they don't tend to have the health problems later in life that a lot of the commercial whites seem to.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Non-commercial strains of leghorns, regardless of color, seem to be completely average layers.

 

[BGMatt]

Non-commercial strains of leghorns, regardless of color, seem to be completely average layers.

250-300 eggs in a year is average? If someone has a poor producing or average producing strain of Leghorns it is because they are lazy breeders, nothing to do with the breed itself.

There is no reason well bred, Standard bred, non-commercial Leghorns should not be good producers (matter of fact if properly selected and bred, they should outproduce them for the first 3 years, the commercial leghorns generally will outpace for the first 2 laying years, but then be worthless in their third year of laying while the standard bred keep on trucking.

Don't know why people think that just because a bird is well bred it is a poor producer. The gentleman I got my Buffs from gets 25+ eggs a day out of 30 females (mix of hens and pullets) that seems pretty darn good to me.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

250-300 eggs in a year is average? If someone has a poor producing or average producing strain of Leghorns it is because they are lazy breeders, nothing to do with the breed itself.

There is no reason well bred, Standard bred, non-commercial Leghorns should not be good producers (matter of fact if properly selected and bred, they should outproduce them for the first 3 years, the commercial leghorns generally will outpace for the first 2 laying years, but then be worthless in their third year of laying while the standard bred keep on trucking.

Don't know why people think that just because a bird is well bred it is a poor producer. The gentleman I got my Buffs from gets 25+ eggs a day out of 30 females (mix of hens and pullets) that seems pretty darn good to me.

Did say there was any reason it wasn't possible. Just not likely. Particularly since I suspect the OP was thinking about hatchery birds. IMO, hatchery brown leghorns I'm familiar with did not produce as well as hatchery Barred Rocks. Any strain of any breed should, theoretically, be able to produce as well as commercial production leghorns with enough selective breeding, effort and time put into them!

 

[nicalandia]

Non-commercial strains of leghorns, regardless of color, seem to be completely average layers.

Leghorns and Average Layers are just two words that dont mix, I would call Wyandottes, RIR, Barred Rocks, and most Dual P breeds Average because thats what they are breed for, right in the middle between exceptional layers and exceptional meat producers....

 

[enola]

My brown leghorns average 6 eggs a week. Pretty good I think since 1 is in her second laying season and the other 2 are in their third laying season.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

It was just my experience. Eggs were also significantly smaller than the other hatchery bred "dual purpose" breeds.