Leghorn Thread

[Alaskan]

Some of the hatcheries aren't too bad.

One nice thing is the hatchery Leghorns are usually excellent layers.

I have seen...was it Cackle?.... dark brown leghorns somewhere... and I think light brown rose comb.

 

[ejcrist]

Just curious but has anyone looked at the Silver Leghorns on Murray McMurray's website? Silvers are extremely hard to find, like Light Browns, and MM's website says they selectively breed them for type and color. They also offer a pullurom certificate in case you plan to show. I've never heard of a hatchery that selected for type so I was just wondering if these might possibly be bred to something close to the standard, unlike most hatchery breeds. I know Silvers are extremely rare, and I believe were admitted to the APA in 1981. I ordered 20 SR for April delivery. Worse case scenario I'll work with what I have until I can find a breeder, like with the Light Browns. I did find a breeder of Light Browns and they're due in around late April so hopefully I'll get a few keepers out of those chicks. Surprisingly one or two of the Light Browns from MM turned out pretty good. They'll need a lot of selective breeding to get something decent but it could be done. My theory is the really popular production birds like White Leghorns and Barred Rocks are churned out by the gazillians, and so the hatcheries focus on production only where color is similar, but with the rarer types like Brown Leghorns and hopefully Silvers, they're a bit more careful in breeding them since they don't make as much selling very high quantities. That's just a theory of mine and it'd be nice if it were accurate. I really love Leghorns though - they're my favorite bird by far. They're all nice but the Leghorns are really special IMO.

 

[Alaskan]

It will be interesting to see what you get, definitely keep us updated.

My leghorn breeding set are in a small coop with zero light...so are NOT laying much at all (very close to zero) There isn't enough window in the coop part, and the snow is so deep that they don't go out of the coop much.....

My point, it might be another month before I get a good set of Leghorn eggs for the incubator. SUPER frustrating!

(I am in Alaska and though the light is increasing quickly... we don't yet have much light)

 

[ejcrist]

It will be interesting to see what you get, definitely keep us updated.

My leghorn breeding set are in a small coop with zero light...so are NOT laying much at all (very close to zero)

There isn't enough window in the coop part, and the snow is so deep that they don't go out of the coop much.....

My point, it might be another month before I get a good set of Leghorn eggs for the incubator. SUPER frustrating!

(I am in Alaska and though the light is increasing quickly... we don't yet have much light)

Yeah that would be frustrating. Heck, I've been breeding my Barred Rocks and RIR's, and a pair of SC Light Brown Leghorns I got from a breeder in FL but I'm trying to get everything wrapped up before April because it gets way too hot here - I've got the opposite problem. It's been in the 90's the last couple of days but it's supposed to drop down to the 70's next week. I didn't get my pens built until February so this first year of breeding has been busy. I'm planning to start back up again in late October this year and wrap up at the end of March next year.

Yeah I'll definitely check back in and let you know how they turned out. Like I said, I was really surprised at how good the Brown Leghorns turned out. I expected them to be much poorer type and all but they really surprised me. Here's a couple of them in with my NN's:



They definitely need some work but weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they'd be coming from a hatchery. I really do think the worst hatchery birds are the most common breeds since their business model is all about volume. I think the rarer breeds get a little more time spent with them if demand isn't as high. Take for example the Cream Legbars - they're expensive and rare so it's in the hatcheries best interest to produce something the customers will be happy with. If they don't deliver they'd get a bad rap which can put a dent in things. I think most people buying very common breeds aren't as discerning so satisfaction is generally higher as long as they look similar and produce eggs. If they sold someone a Cream Legbar for $30/chick and it was substandard you can bet they'd hear about it. That's all just speculation on my part but it seems reasonable. I know Cream Legbars aren't in the SOP yet but customers still want one that meets the generally accepted characteristics and most of all lays blue eggs. Anyway, yeah I'll report back and let you know.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Just curious but has anyone looked at the Silver Leghorns on Murray McMurray's website? Silvers are extremely hard to find, like Light Browns, and MM's website says they selectively breed them for type and color. They also offer a pullurom certificate in case you plan to show. I've never heard of a hatchery that selected for type so I was just wondering if these might possibly be bred to something close to the standard, unlike most hatchery breeds. I know Silvers are extremely rare, and I believe were admitted to the APA in 1981. I ordered 20 SR for April delivery. Worse case scenario I'll work with what I have until I can find a breeder, like with the Light Browns. I did find a breeder of Light Browns and they're due in around late April so hopefully I'll get a few keepers out of those chicks. Surprisingly one or two of the Light Browns from MM turned out pretty good. They'll need a lot of selective breeding to get something decent but it could be done. My theory is the really popular production birds like White Leghorns and Barred Rocks are churned out by the gazillians, and so the hatcheries focus on production only where color is similar, but with the rarer types like Brown Leghorns and hopefully Silvers, they're a bit more careful in breeding them since they don't make as much selling very high quantities. That's just a theory of mine and it'd be nice if it were accurate. I really love Leghorns though - they're my favorite bird by far. They're all nice but the Leghorns are really special IMO.

Years ago i got silver leghorns from a couple hatcheries. Dont recall which ones but do not believe ive ever bought any birds from MM.
Was thinking at the time if i could just get the color i could improve on the type. Probably be stretching the truth some to say they were average type. I did some selective breeding that first year and their offspring matured to average out worse then the parents. Not being to thrill with where they were at i ended up selling them all.
A side note i had also got a couple other rare color leghorns and they ended up pure junk. Not even worth breeding.

Im gonna have a really hard time to believe any mainstream hatchery does any type of selective breeding. I get your theory on the rare breeds but imo since they are rare they are gonna breed every bird they can. Anything else is kinda counter productive for them. They are in the business of selling chicks and getting those chicks to market as cheaply as possible.

Since it sounds like yours are on the way and you want to work with them. What you can do is pick the best couple of roosters and breed them to your best light brown hens. You will get pure silver pullets. The cockerels will carry both silver and gold.
Pick the best cockerels from them and bred them back to your best silver pullets. You can use some of your original silver hens too. If any are good enough. Those will produce both pure silver and pure light brown pullets. 1/2 the cockerels will be pure silver and 1/2 that are silver and gold like their fathers.
Now pick your best silver cockerels from them and all your best silver pullets and hens and youre in buisness.
Silvers do seem to be rare but out of all the colors besides whites and all browns i know on average they seem to be closer to the SOP. And with being able to use browns to improve them its a shorter journey.

Just an opinion from another die hard leghorn fan.

 

[cmom]

I found another breeder of the Rose Comb Brown Leghorns. He is shipping me some chicks next week. I think I'm his final shipment for this year and he only hatches out a limited number of chicks. After the last chicks I got from someone else who told me only that they were Brown Leghorns and they turned out to be Partridge Rocks. looking forward to getting these chicks. They are a bit pricey compared to hatchery chicks but I do plan on showing them in the fall hopefully. Just getting my hatchery set up now. I'm a bit late this year. I got a new nice White Leghorn male for my females. I have to secure their new coop and pen better. I put all of the females in with the new male and three of them have escaped to their old coop and pen.

 

[summerb123]

 

[cmom]

 

[gimmie birdies]

Grabbed a couple of leghorns from N40, the white eggs make all the other colors pop!

 

[ejcrist]

Years ago i got silver leghorns from a couple hatcheries. Dont recall which ones but do not believe ive ever bought any birds from MM.
Was thinking at the time if i could just get the color i could improve on the type. Probably be stretching the truth some to say they were average type. I did some selective breeding that first year and their offspring matured to average out worse then the parents. Not being to thrill with where they were at i ended up selling them all.
A side note i had also got a couple other rare color leghorns and they ended up pure junk. Not even worth breeding.

Im gonna have a really hard time to believe any mainstream hatchery does any type of selective breeding. I get your theory on the rare breeds but imo since they are rare they are gonna breed every bird they can. Anything else is kinda counter productive for them. They are in the business of selling chicks and getting those chicks to market as cheaply as possible.

Since it sounds like yours are on the way and you want to work with them. What you can do is pick the best couple of roosters and breed them to your best light brown hens. You will get pure silver pullets. The cockerels will carry both silver and gold.
Pick the best cockerels from them and bred them back to your best silver pullets. You can use some of your original silver hens too. If any are good enough. Those will produce both pure silver and pure light brown pullets. 1/2 the cockerels will be pure silver and 1/2 that are silver and gold like their fathers.
Now pick your best silver cockerels from them and all your best silver pullets and hens and youre in buisness.
Silvers do seem to be rare but out of all the colors besides whites and all browns i know on average they seem to be closer to the SOP. And with being able to use browns to improve them its a shorter journey.

Just an opinion from another die hard leghorn fan.

Thanks for the info Moonshiner - appreciate it. Yeah I'm extremely skeptical that I'll get anything good but worse case scenario we'll have plenty for chicken soup. Like I did with the light browns, I'll pursue acquiring good stock from a breeder while these are in the hopper, and if I don't find a breeder I can at least play with these till I do. I was surprised they had that statement about showing them though - never seen any hatchery peddling birds for the shows. I figured that was a stretch and wondered why they'd state that on their website. About the only references I've ever seen regarding showing in a hatchery catalogue was where they say, "not for 4H use," meaning their stock is complete crap that you wouldn't even want to take to a 4H fair.

Thanks for the info on crossing them with the browns - didn't think about that. I'm a rookie breeder so info like that is important. Also glad to hear others like Leghorns too - they are the coolest bird around. I always hear so much talk about silkies, cochins, polishes, etc., but IMO if a bird doesn't have any utility purpose to speak of it's not much different than a parrot. Nothing against parrots but they ain't in the same league as a bird that looks nice, is robust and lively, and produces eggs for the table too. Count me in as a life-long, die-hard Leghorn fan too. Look forward to talking to you more about them in the future.