Leghorns? White? Non-White? Brown?

[Zahboo]

I am getting Leghorns when I am done with my coop. Since this will be late fall/early winter, I may not get them until this time next year, but still, irregardless, I am getting Leghorns. The reason for this breed is their 1 egg a day repuation. I've red a lot on breeds and it said they almost always give an egg a day and this is what I want. I will have 7 of them. I am wondering what variety is best. Are white the only ones that lay an egg a day. Everyother day is fine, don't get me wrong, but I'd prefer 5 eggs a day from them. Ideal has their own varieties but it doesn't sa how much they lay. Any help or advise is wanted.

 

[Mahonri]

At present I have 3 mature leghorn hens.

White, CA White and Light Brown.

All three give about 5 eggs a week.... each usually skip two days/week.

With 7 hens that's about 3 dozen a week!

 

[Zahboo]

Lol. That's the plan! I used to have 12 rhode island reds. Everyone we know loves eggs. Our house alone can go through 2 dozen a week. Everyone has them for breakfast, with the economy stinking, we enjoy (seriously I love it) breakfast for dinner, grits and eggs, maybe sausage. We need the eggs, plus family friends buy them from me.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Don't know if it will influence your decision at all, but I was planning light brown leghorns and changed my order to Pearl Whites when I found out that the light browns may lay a medium egg. I wanted large eggs if at all possible.

Of course, I leave soon to pick up these chickies, so I'm only going by what was printed in the Meyer catalog.

 

[CovenantCreek]

The whites, and all variations on white (Ideal 236, Cal White, Cal Grey, etc), have been bred specifically to produce the most eggs for the least feed -- what commercial farms want. The "Pearl Whites" and "White Only Whites", in theory, are the best, but the others are hybrids and may have that touch of hybrid vigor. You can also expect their eggs to be at least large size.

If you're only after production numbers, and egg color doesn't concern you, the sex-links are equally productive brown egg layers (most of the brown eggs in stores are from sex-links).

 

[chickiebaby]

I just got a few Danish Brown Leghorn chicks; they are mindblowingly cute and I think they're going to lay just great. I don't care too much, though, about the diff btw 5-7 wk. I got them partly for the beautiful rosy breast they have. Most of my girls do about five. Except Hamburg - they are insane small egg laying machines!

 

[amazondoc]

The bird that still holds the egg laying record was actually a black Australorp, not a leghorn.

So you might want to expand your search!

I have both exchequer leghorns and mille fleur leghorns on order. But my personal focus is the feather pattern, not the egg laying capability. For egg laying, you should also look at sex links. I have never owned one myself, but many people say that they have good temperaments in addition to great egg laying. Folks complain about the insanity of many leghorns, so that's something else to take into account!

 

[CovenantCreek]

Quote:
That's a good point, too. My sex-links have always been calm and friendly. On the other hand, I'm having to spend a considerable mount of time in the stall with my Leghorn pullets trying to get some of them to calm down enough to be even remotely friendly. So far, out 23, I've only got 4 that have consistently allowed their curiosity to get them in close personal contact with me. Even the one that I handled every day for a couple of weeks while she was in the house has no desire to return to her shoulder perch now that she's back with the others. They're only 8 weeks old, so there's lots of room for improvement but it'll take a lot more work to get to the point they don't run away when I approach with food.

 

[PlumTuckered]

I have Single Comb Brown Leghorns, one of them lays super large white eggs and the rest lay what I'd call med to large eggs. The large egg layer give us about 5 eggs a week, the others vary between 5 and 7 a week.

Michelle

 

[chickiebaby]

Are single comb brown the same as Danish brown, d'ya think? Will mine lay as brilliantly as yours? I know not. These new lil chicks of mine are Danish brown. So flipping CUTE! They ust can't stop hopping about !