possibility of leghorn hens.

[bluefeather2697]

i've always wanted to have white leghorn hens, but what is only available are males (chicks)

because all their female sisters are sent to layer farms.

i've seen many posts that talks about mistaken hens, i mean there are hatcheries that pick roos instead of pullets mistakenly. my question is, is there a possibility that if i will buy 10 or 20 of them (male leghorn chicks), i will get 1 hen or what? i've been searching for this wonderful hen for about 1 year now, and i found nothing.

 

[gryeyes]

Well, right now is the wrong time of year to find any hatcheries with ANY chicks available. In the spring they will ALL have pullet chicks available.

 

[kari_dawn]

If you are wanting to order chicks anyway, why don't you order them as sexed pullets so you can have girls? Lots of hatcheries will sell sexed pullets, and in small numbers, that way you don't waste your money on a ton of egg producing (therefore not very good meat birds) roosters that you will have to feed and figure out what to do with. If you order them as girls, you only have to worry about the possibility of an accidental roo or two.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/White-Leghorn-p227.aspx

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/produ...ickens&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID = 'WTLS'

There are other hatcheries that also sell them, and right now, at least some hatcheries have them available.

 

[bluefeather2697]

Quote:
hi, it's totally different here than in the US. hatcheries have chicks all-year round (mostly game and meat types) but most hatcheries say that they only have leghorn cockerels because all hens are sent very early (day old) to layer farms because egg industry is one of the most dominant industry here.

 

[kari_dawn]

where are you located? if the males are day olds as well, you may very well get an accidental female or two, but then what would you do with all the roosters?

 

[kari_dawn]

...if you get lucky and get a couple, maybe YOU should start breeding them

sounds like a bit of an entrepenurial opportunity if there are others like you that want leghorn hens...

 

[bluefeather2697]

Quote:
philippines, i only want the leghorn hens, i have one leghorn roo, and yes, thats my plan, to breed them, IF i will get a hen. here, they sell the male leghorns, 10 heads for $1 dollar, very cheap, they do it instead of killing them.

 

[kari_dawn]

you may as well go for it

if sexing accuracy is 90% on average, that means that roughly 10% of the chicks they dub as roos may turn out to be girls...which means that if you buy 20 chicks, you MAY get a couple of girls...but what would you do with all those roosters?

 

[bluefeather2697]

Quote:
yeah, that's what im thinking right now. maybe i'll sell them? but who will buy? they are not good for meat and i dont like to kill them

maybe i'll just give them to hatcheries for breeding? idk. and if they will not accept it maybe neighbors will.

 

[kari_dawn]

well, I guess you could look at it this way...it will give you the opportunity to pick the best roo out of the bunch (including the one you already have) to continue breeding?