LEGHORN QUESTIONS

[EggWalrus]

It is a Golden Laced Polish pullet (I am absolutely in love with the breed). Usually, Polish 'feather-doos' are 'rounded'. This one came from a local feed store though and is not standard... by a long shot. She is defiantly an interesting character though!
(You can read more about polishes here if you'd like ---> http://thewayofthechicken.com/index.php/2017/06/18/polishes/)

Wow... the chickens in your avatar are tall! Are Swamp chickens really chickens? I have never heard of them before.

Little chicken girl, yes they are really chickens. From talking to the neighbors, the old guy that had this place from the 50s till the 90s used to raise Game Fighting Birds. He raised others also, Shamos, Red and Green Jungle Fowl, and some kind of giant asian chickens. In 1990, a huge winter storm and flood hit here. After my house burned last year, I spoke with the Fire Chief and he said when the property started flooding in 90, even though the storm had destroyed most the pen, he let the rest of the birds go free so they wouldn't drown. For nearly 30 years the birds that survived have been living back there in the swamp and interbreeding. I've managed to catch some of the wild hens but have yet to capture any of those big roosters that travel in packs. I was lucky to get a few pics .I just call them Swamp Fowl because that's where they live, plus they have 2 kinds of jungle fowl in them. I've watched the hens wading down in the creek eating minnows, frogs, and crawfish which I believe is a green jungle fowl trait. Seems like I took that pic late summer and they had already lost all their bright spring breeding color feathers. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd love to have some DNA tests done to see just what all is in those big birds.

 

[love4mychickens]

I have had good experience with leghorns. Eggcellent layers! Although my little leghorn liked to venture out a lot. I don't know if thats true about all leghorns though.

 

[rebrascora]

Mine would lay in the official nest boxes some of the time but they loved to scout out new options, particularly liking places higher up, like in the eves of my old farm buildings.... more like normal birds rather than ground birds really. Mine were exchequer leghorns, so not a production strain with probably a lot more natural instinct than the production whites. They also went broody very occasionally which may have been part of the whole secret nest thing. I used to play games with them where I would make a nest somewhere odd in an old building or up in the eves of the stable and then see how long it would take for them to find it and use it. Just an old bucket with some straw in it, wedged in a gap somewhere. It was quite fun to watch them scouting it and trying it for size and comfort and eventually laying or discarding the site and I had to be discrete about watching them or they wouldn't use it...... imagine playing "Pink Panther" with a chicken!! Once they started laying in it, that would usually become a habit for a few weeks and then they would get bored of me stealing their eggs and find somewhere else. I guess this would be like wild birds laying a clutch and finding that the site was being raided and having to find a safer site and start again. They were really great characters even if I didn't get a huge number of eggs.

 

[Little Chicken Girl]

Little chicken girl, yes they are really chickens. From talking to the neighbors, the old guy that had this place from the 50s till the 90s used to raise Game Fighting Birds. He raised others also, Shamos, Red and Green Jungle Fowl, and some kind of giant asian chickens. In 1990, a huge winter storm and flood hit here. After my house burned last year, I spoke with the Fire Chief and he said when the property started flooding in 90, even though the storm had destroyed most the pen, he let the rest of the birds go free so they wouldn't drown. For nearly 30 years the birds that survived have been living back there in the swamp and interbreeding. I've managed to catch some of the wild hens but have yet to capture any of those big roosters that travel in packs. I was lucky to get a few pics .I just call them Swamp Fowl because that's where they live, plus they have 2 kinds of jungle fowl in them. I've watched the hens wading down in the creek eating minnows, frogs, and crawfish which I believe is a green jungle fowl trait. Seems like I took that pic late summer and they had already lost all their bright spring breeding color feathers. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd love to have some DNA tests done to see just what all is in those big birds.

Wow! That is really interesting! Thanks for sharing that info.
The history behind your wild swamp chickens reminds me of wild Egyptian Fayoumi chickens (known in Egypt and Africa as Bigawi Fowls. You can read more about them here, if you'd like) ----->
http://thewayofthechicken.com/index.php/2017/05/10/fayoumis/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/fayoumis.10887/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egyptian-fayoumi.48691/

 

[EggWalrus]

Wow! That is really interesting! Thanks for sharing that info.
The history behind your wild swamp chickens reminds me of wild Egyptian Fayoumi chickens (known in Egypt and Africa as Bigawi Fowls. You can read more about them here, if you'd like) ----->
http://thewayofthechicken.com/index.php/2017/05/10/fayoumis/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/fayoumis.10887/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egyptian-fayoumi.48691/

That is so cool, I never knew. fayoumis/bigawis I'll have to do more research.

 

[NorthGeogia]

OK. Another stupid question...
I have had problems with mice coming around at night and eating the free ranged chicken poop. I already have a cat that's gone into retirement and doesn't hunt mice anymore. So, I really din't want another cat now.
Would brown leghorns hunt mice in the field/woods?

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

My White Leghorns and ISA Browns like to chase/eat any small critter that moves. I've watched them chase down and eat a mouse, snakes, frogs, and even a small ground vole. I'm not sure specifically about a brown leghorn because I've never had one, but my white ones are great forragers and hunters.

 

[EggWalrus]

Most chickens I've ever seen will eat just about any small critter that get their attention. They absolutely LOVE Frogs and Toads. Small snakes are a favorite too. Since chickens sleep at night and most mice seem to be nocturnal, there ain't no dang telling!
But I'm pretty sure if a chicken saw a mouse in the day, they would try to catch and eat it.
Sounds like is time to upgrade to a newer model of Cat.