Tell Me About.....LEGHORNS!

[sourland]

For me, leghorns are the most attractive of all breeds. I just love the look. Yes, they can be skittish, but this helps them to excell at predator evasion. Approached slowly, calmly in a consistent fashion they come to trust and know their keepers. Running them wth a mixed flock of more placid breeds does much to calm them down.

 

[gritsar]

Sorry to any leghorn lovers out there, but I wouldn't own a leghorn if they were the only chicken breed in the world.


My black sex links were a bit skittish as chicks (raised by a broody, not by hand) but are turning into little sweethearts now that they have reached the POL. Another one of my younger birds I'm falling hard for - a minorca. She is so pretty, so curious. I'm told they lay extra large white eggs.

 

[new2chickens2011]

Quote:
I agree, they're so pretty and old fashioned looking! Thank you for the advice

 

[WalkerH]

yes I should also add, as many people have said high or roofed. Roofed would probably be cheaper. I have watched as my leghorn flew a few feet, grabbed a hold of the wire fencing to the duck area and climbed/flapped the rest of the way over. I think it was mostly because she was lazy because I have seen her hop up on a six foot fence when she was a couple weeks old.

 

[ronniewayne]

I have a brown leghorn hen ...i raised 45 straight run i think the roosters are the most handsome of the chickens...however i have some wheaton ameracuanas and the leghorns picked on them ...so i sold all but the one hen...she is a nice hen but doesnt lay as many eggs as my comets nor as large...she can fly like a quail...but will come with the other hens for a bit of scratch...if you like the look of them go for some they are great hens...

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

My experience of leghorns (farm flocks varying from 50 to 200 birds, with and without roosters in the mix) . . .

I wouldn't call them "actively" unfriendly, just higher strung than many of the dual purpose breeds, so it's less common for them to be snuggle bunnies, even in backyard flocks. I've never found them to be particularly any more aggressive than the occasional heavier chicken. (In my 15-week-old layer flock, I have a red sex-link right now that doesn't attack, but still harbors the notion that she's somehow gonna knock me out of the top spot in the pecking order.

)

I grew up around leghorns and like their looks but, somewhere along the way, I somehow developed that totally irrational preference for brown eggs. Put that together with wanting/needing only a small flock, the combs of leghorns holding the potential for problems in our occasional extreme cold, and just generally enjoying the sight of birds of different feathers (buff, white, barred, red, black) going about the business of being chickens, leghorns just aren't a fit for me. If I were commercial, I'd consider havin' a mess of 'em.