The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[KF0002]

The Leghorns I see at shows usually look pretty calm and dignified to me but what do I know?

As with any show bird, they are handled a lot to prepare them for exhibition and being handled by the judge. You can handle any bird a lot and make it calmer. Leghorns are not naturally a calmer breed by nature though for the most part. But I imagine breeders that show them select for a calmer disposition. A run of the mill Leghorn or birds that aren’t handled much will tend to be more flighty and skittish. That is merely my own experience. And mind you, my previous experience with Leghorns have been all hatchery birds. Until I purchased the Buff and Brown eggs from exhibition lines, I haven’t dealt with Leghorns bred to SOP, so the jury is out on how their disposition will be. Stay tuned.

 

[Amer]

I rarely handled the Anconas (show type) and they seemed calm so I assumed those Leghorns were the same. But maybe they are spastic beneath their demure exterior, I don't know how much is nature and how much is nurture.
I think they really bred to be calmer though because if they aren't calm they would just shred their tails on the cage bars.

 

[KF0002]

The real question is is it faster to breed a white leghorn male with a gold female and breed the F1s together thus getting pure silver males in the second generation albeit not many?
Or is it faster to breed white Leghorn and gold leghorn irrespective of gender and breed their sons to a brown Leghorn hen, producing males only heterozygous for gold but also guaranteeing that half the chicks will be duckwing?

I don’t have any GDW Leghorns, but I have GDW Games. I could get some GDW Leghorns from a friend but I’m pretty sure my husband doesn’t want me bringing in more chickens. I would rather use a Brown if I end up with a male from my eggs versus using a different breed.

Thoughts on using Game in a Leghorn project? Our Games are white earlobed, straight combed, and lay a medium off-white egg. Very similar to the eggs our Brown Leghorns lay.

 

[KF0002]

I rarely handled the Anconas (show type) and they seemed calm so I assumed those Leghorns were the same. But maybe they are spastic beneath their demure exterior, I don't know how much is nature and how much is nurture.
I think they really bred to be calmer though because if they aren't calm they would just shred their tails on the cage bars.

Exactly, their breeders have selected for a calmer disposition to make them more desirable show candidates. I would agree on that if your Anconas were from an exhibition line versus hatchery.

 

[Amer]

I don’t have any GDW Leghorns, but I have GDW Games. I could get some GDW Leghorns from a friend but I’m pretty sure my husband doesn’t want me bringing in more chickens. I would rather use a Brown if I end up with a male from my eggs versus using a different breed.

Thoughts on using Game in a Leghorn project? Our Games are white earlobed, straight combed, and lay a medium off-white egg. Very similar to the eggs our Brown Leghorns lay.

Light brown is just the hobby term for gold duckwing.

 

[KF0002]

Light brown is just the hobby term for gold duckwing.

Oh ok but your answer leads me to more questions. When you cross a silver duckwing with a light brown, the offspring are a silver duckwing with a reddish golden wing bow. I thought those were golden duckwing? What is the term for those birds?

 

[Amer]

Oh ok but your answer leads me to more questions. When you cross a silver duckwing with a light brown, the offspring are a silver duckwing with a reddish golden wing bow. I thought those were golden duckwing? What is the term for those birds?

That is a term for it, yes. Males that are heterozygous for gold and silver are called golden.
I wish I could just call it golden instead of goldxsilver but I know I could just confuse people and make them think I mean "gold" when I say golden.

 

[KF0002]

That is a term for it, yes. Males that are heterozygous for gold and silver are called golden.
I wish I could just call it golden instead of goldxsilver but I know I could just confuse people and make them think I mean "gold" when I say golden.

Thank you for clarifying, and for your extensive knowledge of chicken genetics!

 

[The Moonshiner]

@The Moonshiner have you set any eggs yet?

No. I won't start setting eggs until next month.

 

[Chookwagn]

@Chookwagn did you keep count on your chicks hatched this year?

2024 year.

214 chicks hatched