Leghorn Thread

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Alaskan, nice RCBL.  How old is she?  Laying yet?  Yours is much darker than mine which came from MMc.  Mine are typical partridge coloring with gold/black lacing at the head and hackles, brown partridge overall, and a rose tinted breast.  I think they're pretty stunning.  

Here's the ? for all you leghorn peeps:  How do you find that they do in a mixed flock?  I have RIR, BSL, Dominique, EE, and the RCBL.  My one RIR is the Alpha.  The Doms, RCBL and 4 BSL (EE x PBR) are this year's chicks, with the Doms and the RCBL being at the bottom of the pecking order.  Am keeping a full EE from this year's hatch for my roo, unless he turns into a total jerk.

I can't keep leghorns with my other breeds because most of them hog the feed and don't let the leghorns get any and then they get underweight. I used to keep tem all together until that started happening.

 

[Alaskan]

Alaskan, nice RCBL.  How old is she?  Laying yet?  Yours is much darker than mine which came from MMc.  Mine are typical partridge coloring with gold/black lacing at the head and hackles, brown partridge overall, and a rose tinted breast.  I think they're pretty stunning.  

Here's the ? for all you leghorn peeps:  How do you find that they do in a mixed flock?  I have RIR, BSL, Dominique, EE, and the RCBL.  My one RIR is the Alpha.  The Doms, RCBL and 4 BSL (EE x PBR) are this year's chicks, with the Doms and the RCBL being at the bottom of the pecking order.  Am keeping a full EE from this year's hatch for my roo, unless he turns into a total jerk.

My RCBL are only two months. I think someone said that most hatchery BL are light browns, and mine are dark browns, so that might be the difference.

As to mixed flock.....I haven't had too much trouble...but I rarely keep old hens. I usually kill off the old ones by two years of age.

 

[lazy gardener]

My Rose Comb Brown Leghorns are now 17 weeks old and at least one is nearing laying age. They will now approach me, but not allow touch. I have not put any effort into "taming" this year's chicks. My cockrel has just started "tid-bitting" and feeding some of the girls, the mature leghorn being one of them. So, eggs can't be far off.

 

[dominique man]

Hey anyone out there breeding exchequer leghorns

 

[Alaskan]

The leghorn facebook page has a number of breeders, as well as some exchequer.

 

[CountryLife4Me]

Hello everyone! I have a mystery chicken on my hands. She was sold to me as an Australorp, but yesterday she laid her first egg and it was white. After doing some research, I think I've narrowed it down to a Black Leghorn or a Minorca. I've had several people suggest that she is indeed a Leghorn but I'm confused over her dark grey legs. I thought Leghorns have yellow legs??? Can someone please help me figure out what I have here? Thanks a bunch!

This is her at 5 months old:



And this is her now at 7.5 months old:

 

[Alaskan]

Hello everyone! I have a mystery chicken on my hands. She was sold to me as an Australorp, but yesterday she laid her first egg and it was white. After doing some research, I think I've narrowed it down to a Black Leghorn or a Minorca. I've had several people suggest that she is indeed a Leghorn but I'm confused over her dark grey legs. I thought Leghorns have yellow legs??? Can someone please help me figure out what I have here? Thanks a bunch! This is her at 5 months old: And this is her now at 7.5 months old:

First, you brilliant chicken person you! You are correct, she can't be a leghorn with such dark legs, nope. So, then what is she? I looked on a chicken chart, and the only possibles were 1. Minorca (which you guessed, and probably most likely) Or 2. Andalusian, and yes, we usually think of them as blue, but they do come in black I guess you could also put in 3. White faced black Spanish, but those usually have legs that are a bit lighter, as well as very large white earlobes. Anyway, all three of those are very leghorn like in temperament, and lay very well. So, you have a great chicken, no matter what it is that she is. I am not familiar enough with the above breeds to make a good guess. Maybe just google pictures of those breeds, or look through the photos on BYC or on Feathersite.com (feathersite has LOVELY photos, if you haven't ever looked at that site).

 

[CountryLife4Me]

Alaskan: Thanks for the reply. Although, 'brilliant chicken person' I am not! I wouldn't have bought an Australorp who lays white eggs if I was!

I am quite new to chickens, but have been doing some research since learning that I didn't buy the bird I thought I was buying. I've found some web sites that say some Black Leghorn hens can have 'dark' legs, but I have no idea what that means? Dark yellow or dark as in black/grey??? So I'm about as confused as a soup sandwich right now. I don't know that I will ever know what she is. I've looked at so many pictures and she's not an exact fit to most of them. Her wattles and ear lobes are MUCH smaller than all the pics I've seen of Minorcas, but maybe that's because she isn't fully mature??? I don't know. If she's a good egg layer, I guess it doesn't matter that much. I'm not going to breed her anyway. I just like knowing what birds I have so I can read up on those particular breeds. Right now I am a wealth of knowledge about Australorps... but I don't own one!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

She is identical to the black minorcas I have

 

[CountryLife4Me]

She is identical to the black minorcas I have

Interesting! How old are your minorca hens?