The Moonshiner's Leghorns

18/19 weeks is the earliest for me but most around 22/23 weeks.
okay, i was wondering. this is my first time with leghorns and my older chickens ( varying breeds ) — now 26 weeks — started laying around 18-22 weeks. i saw where apparently leghorns could lay as early as 16? i’d imagine that’s a rare occurrence
 
Been stalking this thread for a while... usually I don't like leghorns. They were too skittish for me and all of mine seemed to just kick the bucket....
But I'll say... I have been oohing and ahhing as much as the rest of them. (And feeling the itch for some pretty birds...) Too bad winter is coming or I might be tempted to try and get my hands on some of those Red Mille Fleurs... or maybe the Exchuers. (Ugh I can't spell.) Anyway. Back to lurking.
 
okay, i was wondering. this is my first time with leghorns and my older chickens ( varying breeds ) — now 26 weeks — started laying around 18-22 weeks. i saw where apparently leghorns could lay as early as 16? i’d imagine that’s a rare occurrence
My short lived experience has shown me if birds are hatched late in the year, they may take longer to start laying while those hatched early also tend to lay earlier. Day length does make a difference.
 
My short lived experience has shown me if birds are hatched late in the year, they may take longer to start laying while those hatched early also tend to lay earlier. Day length does make a difference.
my leghorns were hatched around the middle of the year ( june 18th ) but 3 of them have already gotten pretty red combs in the past few days
E138A027-BE08-4DAF-A6E8-73C7BA5C7314.jpeg
E9D5BCBC-92B9-4282-ADD7-550B36FCB651.jpeg


i checked their hackle feathers to make sure i didn’t get any cockerels ( im 90% sure they’re girls. there’s always that doubt haha ). the only one not pictured is pip, her comb is close to athena’s — the one with the red leg band.
 
All my chicks from Murray McMurray doing okay the Browns though took off big time. I had one Brown Leghorn that looked like a high schooler in elementary school. If I did'nt know any better,I would say that chick was hatched two weeks earlier but no they were all day-olds.
This is my first batch of chicks so I have nothing to compare them to but next year I will make sure I will definitely run a comparison and see.
 
Last edited:
My first batch of 5 young white leghorns were hatched May 27th and just started laying Sept. 10 and are still coming online. I have another batch of 7 hatched July 20 and should begin to lay about mid November if the weather stays mild. South Texas stays relatively warm till January but day length will probably delay laying.
 
Anyone ever have one of these? Seen one?
images (6).jpeg

I'll take you for a ride in the way back machine. All the back to when The Moonshiner got started raising birds. Go pee first its a long ride.
Way back in the day things were a bit different before the internet came along.
You couldn't just search, click, buy like now. And when you were a kid there really wasn't many options. One option was ads in comic books and magazines.
I'd grown up around birds but didn't have any of my own. During the summer break before my 5th grade year that was gonna change.
Of course there were ads for some amazing stuff. X ray glasses that you could see through clothing with. Hmmm interesting. Plans for how to build a hovercraft from a vacuum cleaner. Hmmm exciting. Then I came across an ad like this one....
a88ddc5f2da708fa1fa54b6b79ff97a3(1).jpg

Ok it may of not been the coolest thing out there but I was fascinated. I could start a quail empire and make some money.
My grandma was my go to source for never saying no and I would need someone with a checkbook and a stamp. I plead my case and she was quickly on board. As it worked back then I filled out an order form, enclosed a check and snail mailed it on its way. I happily, impatiently waited the 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.
Then one fine day it arrived.
s-l300.jpg
images (10).jpeg
images (7).jpeg
9100_grande.jpg

My first incubator and included were 5 quail eggs. 1 egg was broken but after reading half the instructions I was ready to go. 4 eggs went in and I marked the calender for hatch day.
Luckily quail don't take 3 weeks to hatch so I survived the wait and actually hatched 2. They were a pair so I was off and running.
To be continued later....
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom