The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[Amer]

Huh, explain? After all, like I said, I'm actually into it

That's why I like it more

Sorry, I meant that the judges training part wasn't the big reason for me liking the APA more, but it is a perk.

 

[BlackHackle]

Sorry, I meant that the judges training part wasn't the big reason for me liking the APA more, but it is a perk.

Okay, I understand now. What I was saying is the judging is higher quality in the APA cause of the amount of training they go through

 

[Amer]

Okay, I understand now. What I was saying is the judging is higher quality in the APA cause of the amount of training they go through

Oh yeah, glad to get that cleared up.

 

[The Moonshiner]

And just in case black tail on buff isn't unique enough how about.......
View attachment 1457022 View attachment 1457024

Love this color!

This pattern has really been growing on me.
I like the contrast of the two colors but it just seems a bit lopsided. I've been thinking about it and decided I need to continue with it.
I was planning on working a bit on the black tailed buffs so new plan is to use single gene dominate white tailed rooster over black tailed hen.
That should result in about 50/50 between a dominate white gene offspring and no dominate white gene offspring.
That will give me both patterns in one pen. After a while I'll split them and breed double dominate white gene offspring.
Sometime in the mix I'll cross the white tails with mille fleur. With any luck it won't take long to get the MF with all the black replaced with white.
I'm thinking with the added white throughout the body it will look a little more balanced between the colors.
Just brainstorming out loud.

 

[The Moonshiner]

 

[The Moonshiner]

 

[Finnie]

@The Moonshiner , Do you have any photos of Mille Fleur Leghorns? I have some from Sandhill that are 7 weeks old. (7 cockerels and only 2 pullets, unfortunately.) I would like to see some photos of what I should be looking for when I choose my keepers.

 

[The Moonshiner]

@The Moonshiner , Do you have any photos of Mille Fleur Leghorns? I have some from Sandhill that are 7 weeks old. (7 cockerels and only 2 pullets, unfortunately.) I would like to see some photos of what I should be looking for when I choose my keepers.

I'd have to look out in the yard to see if I have any left. Honestly don't think I have any here at this time. I started to create my own so what I have are all carrying one mottled gene so they don't look like MF with this generation.
MF are the biggest mess. I've had some from a few sources and they were all junk. I did have some from sandhill and they were the worst. I tried to be selective and use the best to get somewhere better but honestly they had so many issues that even after a couple generations they were still sorry excuses of leghorns hince why I started over from scratch.
Issues I had with the sandhill MF ...
First they were different E locus. Some where wheaton based, some where wild type based and others where mixes of both.
After that I found the majority didn't have yellow legs and very few had white earlobes. Some where partial white others had little to no white.
When mature they had terrible type. Too short and squat. The best cockerel ended up looking like the build of a dorking.
If all that wasn't bad enough to try to work with all but one I believe laid cream colored eggs.
Hope you have better look with yours then I did.
Honestly I had MF, black and exchequer from sandhill and none ended up worth having if you wanted birds that actually resemble leghorns.

 

[Finnie]

I'd have to look out in the yard to see if I have any left. Honestly don't think I have any here at this time. I started to create my own so what I have are all carrying one mottled gene so they don't look like MF with this generation.
MF are the biggest mess. I've had some from a few sources and they were all junk. I did have some from sandhill and they were the worst. I tried to be selective and use the best to get somewhere better but honestly they had so many issues that even after a couple generations they were still sorry excuses of leghorns hince why I started over from scratch.
Issues I had with the sandhill MF ...
First they were different E locus. Some where wheaton based, some where wild type based and others where mixes of both.
After that I found the majority didn't have yellow legs and very few had white earlobes. Some where partial white others had little to no white.
When mature they had terrible type. Too short and squat. The best cockerel ended up looking like the build of a dorking.
If all that wasn't bad enough to try to work with all but one I believe laid cream colored eggs.
Hope you have better look with yours then I did.
Honestly I had MF, black and exchequer from sandhill and none ended up worth having if you wanted birds that actually resemble leghorns.

Oh, thank you for letting me know all this. I wonder if there are any good MFL anywhere. I bought a trio from a local breeder a few years ago, and they were just junk too. He said he had been working with them for 3 years, and he named a couple of sources he had gotten his stock from. (All breeders, not hatcheries.) They were sort of pretty, but puny. Almost bantam size. One died right away, and I could never get any eggs to hatch from the remaining two. I crossed the male with a green egg layer, and still only got one chick to hatch. Then one by one my remaining two died as well.

That's when I decided to try making my own, using Light Brown Leghorns and Speckled Sussex. I haven't made that cross yet, though. I got the chicks from Sandhill thinking it would jump start my project to have some actual MFL in the mix. But I have to admit, they are all over the board, just like you describe. Time will tell what color eggs my two pullets lay.

I'm thinking I should skim back through all the photos you have posted in this thread and get a good idea of what kind of silhouette I need to select for, and then watch to see if any of my cockerels develop like that.

At least I've been happy so far with the apparent health and vigor of my Sandhill chicks, including the Redcaps I also got.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Well summers over and winter is coming soon. Been below freezing overnight a few times already.
Been busy making winter breeding plans. Switching some things up and looking to the future.
Speaking of that I got some new birds to show and they're not even leghorns. Ok so not technically but they do have leghorn blood in them.
Recieved these from a breeder a few days ago. A rooster, a hen, a cockerel and a pullet. They're a project that were.....
Never mind for now....
Less talk, more pics....