The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[ChicKat]

Nice construction - from recycled stuff too. The earth thanks you.

@The Moonshiner , as promised, pictures of the new Leghorns....well, at least the Buffs. The blacks absolutely did not cooperate. Apparently they are convinced the camera will steal their souls.

View attachment 2134840

What nice looking birds. I agree with both of you, buff looks really good on a leghorn.

Was thinking this morning how lucky we all are to have our own egg layers.

 

[The Moonshiner]

My refrigerator is full and incubators almost empty.
I was just thinking how sad that was.

My aunt is jumping on the bird bandwagon. She wants me to clear out an old hen house run and do some repairs. Spent some time yesterday just trying to clear enough weeds and brush to find tbe d@mn thing.
She's ordering some chicks from MPC even after I explained they are super high prices and especially on shipping for a small number of birds.
She called me last night saying since I wouldn't take any money for the work that she needed to add a few more chicks to her order because if she gets to 15 or something the shipping drops dramatically.
Long story short she's gonna add a few of their exchequer leghorns and give them to me for helping her out.

 

[Tbird84]

Yep. At least we picked a breed that pumps out eggs. I have way more than we can eat, sell, or preserve. I've been giving them back to the birds and putting them in the dog's food but still have buckets of eggs. The tomatoes are going to love me this year.

 

[Tbird84]

My refrigerator is full and incubators almost empty.
I was just thinking how sad that was.

My aunt is jumping on the bird bandwagon. She wants me to clear out an old hen house run and do some repairs. Spent some time yesterday just trying to clear enough weeds and brush to find tbe d@mn thing.
She's ordering some chicks from MPC even after I explained they are super high prices and especially on shipping for a small number of birds.
She called me last night saying since I wouldn't take any money for the work that she needed to add a few more chicks to her order because if she gets to 15 or something the shipping drops dramatically.
Long story short she's gonna add a few of their exchequer leghorns and give them to me for helping her out.

I Have a friend in SC that raises exchequers. She got Isabels from me. At some point I'll get some of those from her as well. Goodness, talk about a rabbit hole.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I've always loved the exchequer but man they aren't up to standard in the least. Or at least none that I've found and I've picked up a few here and there over the years from many sources.
They never seem to sturdy, always smaller, lay really small eggs, etc.
I know MPC sells Meyer's and I looked at their reviews and they're pretty poor. Same issues I've found.
I'm still excited to get them though. I just hope I get enough to adulthood to make progress with.
Ive got a couple hens still but no roosters at the moment. Like I said they don't seem very hardy.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Long story short she's gonna add a few of their exchequer leghorns and give them to me for helping her out.

I hope the ones you end up with are better than the one I got from them. Took my pullet 6 months to lay and her eggs are smaller than my Gamefowl hen’s eggs. At least her coloring and personality are nice.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ha.
Ya that egg looks about par for an exchequer. On a good day they come close to a pullet egg from my others.
Your bird is really pretty. I could work with something like her. I'm expecting to have to work on increasing their size, comb size, egg size and amount.
They've always frustrated me but I can't get past loving the pattern.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Ha.
Ya that egg looks about par for an exchequer. On a good day they come close to a pullet egg from my others.
Your bird is really pretty. I could work with something like her. I'm expecting to have to work on increasing their size, comb size, egg size and amount.
They've always frustrated me but I can't get past loving the pattern.

Yes her comb is not a Leghorn comb. I’ll get a decent picture of her today.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I've always loved the exchequer but man they aren't up to standard in the least. Or at least none that I've found and I've picked up a few here and there over the years from many sources.
They never seem to sturdy, always smaller, lay really small eggs, etc.
I know MPC sells Meyer's and I looked at their reviews and they're pretty poor. Same issues I've found.
I'm still excited to get them though. I just hope I get enough to adulthood to make progress with.
Ive got a couple hens still but no roosters at the moment. Like I said they don't seem very hardy.

Someone in another thread mentioned that Ancona's were basically Exchequer Leghorns with another name...is that accurate/correct? Can Anconas be introduced into a Leghorn project with minimal complications?

 

[The Moonshiner]

I don't know much about anconas and I'm way more about seeing what I can do with just leghorns then mixing in other breeds.
I'd have to look into them more but I know the big difference is the pattern or at least to me it is. Ancona are simple mottled on black.
Exchequer are a bit of a mystery. I've had tons of people tell me they're the same. Just black with the mottled gene and then breed to extreme amount of white.
Someone else said they expect it is a slightly different mottled gene and their research said there was actually 3 or 4 different mottled genes.
I tried crossing exchequer to different patterns before to improve them but I couldn't get the right look back after they were crossed.
To me they bred like they were mottled but then had something else that modified the mottling to the patchy look.
My crosses went from exchequer to more of a regular mottled look and I never got the patchy look or the extreme amount of white back.
Others that seem to feather out with a closer look then got more white with every molt to an extreme.
By 2 1/2 to 3 years they were almost completely white. My exchequer never whited out like that.
Thats my challenge with them. Its not so simple as crossing them to another color then to each other or back to exchequer to improve type.
Thats my real fascination with them. Everyone that says theyre an expert on them don't seem to say what matches what I've experienced.
And I myself still don't understand them completely.
They seem really simple but have kept me scratching my head. That doesn't happen all the time for me so I'm intrigued beyond belief.