So, I got a White Leghorn...I think

[bloom_ss]

*edited to add pictures*

I bought what was labeled a white leghorn at the feed store back in April. She is almost 12 weeks old now and I just noticed something about her. She has VERY light feathering down both of her legs...just little itsy bitsy white dots of feathering on the outside of both legs. And I'm not sure if she has white earlobes either.

She does have a very lean skinny body and stands up pretty tall with her tail in the air. From all appearances, at first glance, she really does look like a white leghorn. Would she still be considered a white leghorn? And most importantly, will she still give me lots and lots of eggs when she starts laying?

I am trying to find my pictures of her, but if I can't find them I will take some new ones of her in the morning to post on here. =)

13 weeks old as of yesterday:


You can see a few dots of feathering on the side of her leg in this picture.



She is very hard to get a hold of...lol

 

[nurse_turtle]

Sounds like a hatchery quality white leghorn. I've seen the 'feathering' you're describing in my Dad's flock of WLs. You'll still get tons of large white eggs!

 

[ramirezframing]

as she gets older she'll get the white ear lobes, it's an age thing lol

 

[bloom_ss]

Thanks for your replies. Sorry it took so long to get the pictures. We had a stretch of rainy cold weather and I never got the chance to take my camera out to the coop with me until today. =)

 

[yorklady]

Looks just like my White Leghorns Harriet and Hermoine when they were young pullets.

 

[bloom_ss]

So, this little gal just started laying the other day. I'm pretty sure she is a bantam because she lays the tiniest white eggs I have ever seen.

Six days in a row now without stopping and her eggs are half the size of my EE's eggs. I picked her out of the White Leghorn bin at the feed store and she was supposed to be a large fowl, but since she is still almost the size she was in the picture I posted above (at 13 weeks) and lays very small eggs I can't think of any other explanation. She seems to be a great layer but we were wanting large eggs, not bantam eggs.

 

[Fred's Hens]

So, this little gal just started laying the other day. I'm pretty sure she is a bantam because she lays the tiniest white eggs I have ever seen.

Six days in a row now without stopping and her eggs are half the size of my EE's eggs. I picked her out of the White Leghorn bin at the feed store and she was supposed to be a large fowl, but since she is still almost the size she was in the picture I posted above (at 13 weeks) and lays very small eggs I can't think of any other explanation. She seems to be a great layer but we were wanting large eggs, not bantam eggs.

Perhaps, but it is also likely that her eggs will increase in size as she goes along.

 

[ramirezframing]

I aint had a leghorn, but them aint a big bird. bout the biggest thing is their comb

eggs do increase in size some after a while

 

[featherz]

Leghorns, even at full growth, are skinny and smaller than big fat 'regular' chickens. They start out with small eggs and then they get to about half their body size LOL. My leghorns laid eggs that left me wondering where the heck they could POSSIBLY fit that giant egg.

 

[bloom_ss]

Ok, so here are some pictures of her eggs in comparison to my EEs eggs. Are you sure these aren't bantam eggs? They are so small and she lays the same size every day so far...8 days and counting since she started laying. These eggs are even smaller than the very first egg I ever got from my EEs (I know because I saved the shell after I blew out the egg). She isn't just smaller in body size, I know leghorns are skinny birds, she is short and about half the size of my EEs. She is 18 weeks now and is even a little bit smaller size (height wise) than my 14 week old Golden Comet. All of my other birds are about twice her size and all but the EEs and the Golden Comet are the same age as her. (The EEs are a year old.) Also, her comb is big and red, but not nearly as big as I have seen leghorn combs to be in the pictures I have looked at...hers doesn't flop over at all and just sticks straight up from her head.

I have three EEs that are laying...there is one egg from each of my EEs in the carton and five of the little leghorn's eggs lined up in back:











An EE egg on the left and two of the leghorn's eggs on the right:



I'll try to get a good picture or two of the leghorn with the rest of the flock so you all can see her size difference. I'm wondering if they just mixed a bantam in with the large fowl birds by mistake or if this is truly a normal large fowl white leghorn that is just tiny and lays little eggs. And, if that is the case, will she grow up more eventually, or will she stay small like she is??