The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[ChicKat]

guess what color legs they had?
I did catch that in the pic.

Guess #1: whichever color is dominant between the two breeds.
Guess #2: the same color as the picture from Privett.
Guess #3: IDK
Now you got us going you need to tell us.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I got to tell you every time I read these posts, everybody has this so much insight to give it's crazy.
I remember when I was breeding dogs it was always challenging breeding for one certain strength and getting it but also having to deal with traits you don't want popping up on an animal that otherwise showed your intended goals.
@moonshiner;
you mention that it was a big pain dealing with undesired leg color.. I'd love to hear from you how you worked around it and at what point of that project are you at?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Guess #1: whichever color is dominant between the two breeds.
Guess #2: the same color as the picture from Privett.
Guess #3: IDK
Now you got us going you need to tell us.

I suck with shank genetics. Mine haven't seemed to work like they should of.
Anyways mine had white shanks just like the pics.
Andalusian have dark shanks and white skin. The part that makes them dark is sex linked. White skin is dominate over yellow. So my first X pullets lost the dark but showed white.
In theory they have one copy of white and one copy of yellow so when bred back to a leghorn I should get about 50/50 white/yellow. I didn't hatch many but only got more whites. I then switched the variety of leghorn and then still only hatched a few and still got only white.
Just bad luck and not enough hatched but they still carry yellow so hoping this year I will have something interesting hatch.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Also you asked about type. I'll get into that later when I have more time.
But I believe this is the ideal leghorn rooster and what I'm breeding towards.....

 

[The Moonshiner]

I got to tell you every time I read these posts, everybody has this so much insight to give it's crazy.
I remember when I was breeding dogs it was always challenging breeding for one certain strength and getting it but also having to deal with traits you don't want popping up on an animal that otherwise showed your intended goals.
@moonshiner;
you mention that it was a big pain dealing with undesired leg color.. I'd love to hear from you how you worked around it and at what point of that project are you at?

Explained a bit above.
I first crossed to a black leghorn. Black leghorns because of the black are hard to get pure yellow legs so then I crossed back to a single factored barred.
Then I crossed to a silver leghorn with nive bright yellow shanks.
I only kept three solid blue pullets. They all have white shanks but carry yellow. They all also carry duckwing and are pure for silver. So with the odds I should get a 50/50 white/yellow shanks and a 50/50 soild color carrying duckwing/ duckwing.
Also 50/50 black/blue. When i cross back tona different silver duckwing this season.
I'm looking for blue silver duckwing with yellow shanks but will also keep any solid blue with yellow shanks.
Then next year I will mostly work towards blue silver duckwing and blue gold duckwing.
After that I'll go back towards solid blues and spin off to others. IDK blue barred? Mottled blue?
Then the future is unlimited to adding blue to anything. Blue mille fleur? Blue tailed buff? etc etc etc.
Don't get my mind racing.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Blue mille fleur?

Omg....

 

[RiverOtter]

I know hatchery Leghorns are not the best, but does anyone know which hatchery has the best mille fluers?
And buffs - both Sandhill and Ideal USED to carry buff Leghorns, and my friend got some really nice buffs from Sandhill, but, oh, like 18 years ago. I've loved them since I saw hers, and as soon as I could keep a separate breeding flock of them, no one carries them anymore.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ideals buffs were famous for laying tinted eggs. I had a rooster from theirs a few years back and still have hens pop up that lay a slight tinted egg.
Ive had 3 or 4 people contact me in last couple years saying none of theirs laid white eggs. Maybe thats why they discontinued selling them. IDK
I don't know of anyone that selks MF leghorns or even has them besides Sandhill.
Ive had blacks, exchequer and MF from sandhill and wouldn't have any more from them. They are all junk.
I know ChicKat talked about hatchery birds being a place to start and I agree but IMO sandhill birds aren't worth trying to work with and I have nothing good to say about them as a hatchery.

 

[RiverOtter]

IMO sandhill birds aren't worth trying to work with and I have nothing good to say about them as a hatchery.

Oh, I totally agree. Completely unprofessional. Like, either have a business or don't, guys. Obviously they could be a success if they'd commit even as far as hiring ONE employee. From all I've heard and seen, the quality of their birds has steadily gone down since those long-ago buffs.

Dave's Garden website seems to be getting more complaints about their sweet potatoes, too.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

but IMO sandhill birds aren't worth trying to work with and I have nothing good to say about them as a hatchery.

I had been trying to contact them for about a year-and-a-half but unfortunately I think there may be some health issues within the family or they must be so swamped that they don't answer calls or anything.
I have found a few other people online that have them at their Hatcheries but are small mom-and-pop operations and most of them have stopped dealing with them.. one even said to me "oh yeah that's right, we don't breed those birds anymore, I have to remove those pics from the site"...
There is a place called Chick a Boom Farm the advertise the Mille Fleurs heavily on Facebook. I will probably reach out to them and see what they're up to...pic from the page...