Tell Me About.....LEGHORNS!

[new2chickens2011]

Helloooo y'all....
So, my current flock consists of Australorp, New Hampshire Red, Barred Rock, and Buff Orpington hens. However, in the future I want to have a flock of leghorns, for the obvious reason that they lay so well. However, I always read that they aren't friendly, and are noisy and skittish.
WHat are your experiences with Leghorns?

 

[WalkerH]

From the two girls I have they are quite flighty and really they only 'squawk' when they are startled or they see someone coming around them. I would define 'not friendly' as being aggressive which my two girls aren't. Once caught they calm right down, but they may just be terrified enough to be quiet. I do think they are pretty though, I have brown leghorns, and was told they were EE but turned out to be leghorns. But I read their laying is good so I wasn't upset, and it is only two anyway. They just started laying and I got one egg with blood on it, which was different since the other ones did not had blood on them. And then one about the size of a quail egg, which my dad just laughed at, but it was funny. But considering those are the first two eggs and they are a couple weeks younger then my others who just started laying I would say they are going to be good layers.

 

[HollyKMS]

I was told leghorns can be very aggressive and brutish. They were genetically engineered for commercial egg-laying, so it stands to reason that only the most aggressive birds would survive that kind of environment. However, our family got 3 leghorn chicks as TINY CHICKS and hand-raised them. We fed them vienna sausages by hand (chickens LOVE THOSE!) and gently held them every day, several times a day. They grew into 3 of the best pet chickens we ever had!! (Though, to be fair, every breed of chicken we've raised from chicks has turned out very nicely because of the time and effort we put into making them comfortable with us; time committed in the beginning makes for a wonderful flock later on!). Our leghorns were very smart, had personalities, and were very tough. None of the 3 leghorns picked on the other 4 birds we had at the time, even though two of them (Australorp & Welsummer) were little banties. They were team players and great birds. They laid AT LEAST one large white egg a day; some days, we'd get a surprise second one! They were wonderful <3 We had to foster them out for a year when my ex left and got a court order to make us re-home the birds until we moved out of "his" house. My eldest cried for days. (What a jerk! Making us get rid of his kids' pets! UGH!) At the foster home, large barn owl picked off all three of our leghorn girls over this summer.

She said it was because they were white, very obvious. I don't know. Seems weird that a barn owl might take of with a 5-6# leghorn but it's done. Anyway, it was all very sad. My 9YO daughter, who helped raise them, cried and cried (again). I highly recommend leghorns but I think you need to get them as chicks and hand-raise them. Otherwise, they may be too skiddish and/or aggressive. Just my 2cents. Good luck!

 

[nurse_turtle]

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Exactly what you said. Great layers! Flighty and spastic.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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That pretty much covers it. If you are used to heavier birds that can't scale a six foot fence, you may be in for a surprise. They are fairly light and can fly a little better than the dual-purpose breeds.

 

[Erica]

I really like them, and I like the challenge of dealing with their flightiness. They settle down if handled properly, with slow movements (especially at first) and treats offered through the wire.

Anyhow, friendliness can be a pain sometimes. Leghorns don't have that annoying habit of getting actually under your foot as you're trying to enter the pen. Or under the shovel when you're trying to dig.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

If you are looking for high production why not red sex-links or production reds? Are you looking for white eggs?

 

[krissteff]

I have two leghorns that I've had since right after hatch and they are adorable. When I let them out to free range, I get nervous because they are FAST. I worry about them finding things to perch on and then ultimately hopping over the fence. Swift little buggers. I wouldn't trade them though. They were raised with a few different breeds and one is a regular double yolker with a gorgeous comb. I think I put a picture in my BYC page. Mine are friendly, jump in my lap, get along well with others, have only skipped one day since they started to lay, and that was following a double yolker in the first week of laying.

 

[jengro65]

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My entire flock just consists of 10 white leghorns hens and 1 mutt rooster. Just like Holly, I hand raised and cuddled/spoiled them to death. Probably because they are my first first chickens ever. They talk a lot when I'm out there with them too but I actually like it When I get home and head out to see them, one hen will sound the alarm...sounds like a pterodactyl squuuaaack as if to say "Mom's home!!!!" and they all come running from all directions when I sit outside with them its not uncommon for me it have 1 or 2 jump in my lap for baby talk and petting. ALSO....they say it's very unusual for the breed, but one my girls are broody right now. She's sitting on 7 eggs and today is day 20.... I'm so excited!!!

 

[MuckyPuppy]

When I was a kid, our White Leghorns use to roost in the trees. It was quite a long while ago - back in the day when a word processor was the thing to have

- but I don't remember them being excessively noisy or very aggressive.

Edited spelling.