The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[The Moonshiner]

What was the question?
I have a few...
What breeds did you get from Sandhill?
By nice to you mean behavior or looks as they should? Sorry. I'm on quest to find someone that actually got nice close to SOP birds.
On to yours...
What's the dilemma? Too many eggs and what to do? Toss her in a box and candle all eggs. Discard the ones not developing and see where that leaves ya.
Are these eggs all from different times? More added as she goes? That's a mess I don't have an answer for. If it's ongoing mark her eggs and continue throwing out new unmarked eggs.
Ya more eggs then she can cover usually causes issues with the whole batch. One exception here was with the muscovies I had when they hatched this time of the year when temps were in the mid 90s or so. They did well with huge clutches but muscovies are super hstchers anyways.
She seems dedicated but I get leghorns every year that are like that but only once or twice they've got past a week or so before coming to their senses. What breed is yours?

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

What was the question?
I have a few...
What breeds did you get from Sandhill?
By nice to you mean behavior or looks as they should? Sorry. I'm on quest to find someone that actually got nice close to SOP birds.
On to yours...
What's the dilemma? Too many eggs and what to do? Toss her in a box and candle all eggs. Discard the ones not developing and see where that leaves ya.
Are these eggs all from different times? More added as she goes? That's a mess I don't have an answer for. If it's ongoing mark her eggs and continue throwing out new unmarked eggs.
Ya more eggs then she can cover usually causes issues with the whole batch. One exception here was with the muscovies I had when they hatched this time of the year when temps were in the mid 90s or so. They did well with huge clutches but muscovies are super hstchers anyways.
She seems dedicated but I get leghorns every year that are like that but only once or twice they've got past a week or so before coming to their senses. What breed is yours?

They're barred Leghorns that I got from Sand Hill. By nicest I mean the closest to the SOP out of the birds that I got in that batch. They are not show quality by any means, but I have been comparing them to the SOP to try to get as close as possible. All I can do is my best with what I have.

I have 3 EE girls here, they were chosen because they don't lay white eggs so I won't accidentally incubate any. I had a singleton chick that needed friends last year.

She keeps adding to the batch. Any egg laid in that coop ends up with her. I do have a pair of animal handling gloves.

I let her do that because broody moods have happened to a few of my Leghorns before and I didn't expect it to last, and didn't think she would steal every egg within the coop. I don't know if she'll last all the way to hatching, but with all those eggs things are likely to turn into a mess.

I did a name change, needed a new image. I'm still the same person who would love to get some barred Leghorn hatching eggs from you next year.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I did a name change, needed a new image. I'm still the same person who would love to get some barred Leghorn hatching eggs from you next year.

ugh. I can't hardly keep people straight as it is.

What leghorns did you get from them? Just barred?

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

ugh. I can't hardly keep people straight as it is.

What leghorns did you get from them? Just barred?

Just barred.

 

[Chookwagn]

My fave cuckoo guy

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

My fave cuckoo guy
View attachment 4179667

Nice! He looks just like one of mine--the father of the 5 chicks and fertilizer of all those eggs the broody is hoarding. They could be twins, except mine does not have any brown.

 

[WallyG74]

Speaking of broody hens, after hatching, handling, breeding, selling, trading and any other chicken activity you might have think of… I have my very first broody Rhode Island Red. I think this is my 4th year to breed RIRs. She’s a beast! Reminds me of my Black Australorps. What a broody batch of gals they were! I know they have been bred for egg production and a lot of their breed traits disappear when that happens. As many of you may know I have been breeding for the auto-sexing trait and have been very successful with it. Is it possible that this selective breeding is bringing broodiness back to my RIR flock?

 

[KF0002]

Speaking of broody hens, after hatching, handling, breeding, selling, trading and any other chicken activity you might have think of… I have my very first broody Rhode Island Red. I think this is my 4th year to breed RIRs. She’s a beast! Reminds me of my Black Australorps. What a broody batch of gals they were! I know they have been bred for egg production and a lot of their breed traits disappear when that happens. As many of you may know I have been breeding for the auto-sexing trait and have been very successful with it. Is it possible that this selective breeding is bringing broodiness back to my RIR flock?

Without bringing in fresh blood from a line where the hens go broody, I would suspect the broody gene is there in the line, just not strong, and that hen just so happened to get a better dose of the gene responsible for broodiness than the others. Genetics is like the lottery, and you never know which genes will resurface from way back, generations ago. We have had a Production White Leghorn hen to go broody, and that is pretty rare. Sometimes the genes just so happen to resurface in production lines and you will end up with a broody hen.

If you are breeding more Heritage RIRs and not production RIRs, Heritage lines usually are more broody than the production versions. Production RIRs, like Production White Leghorns are selectively bred away from broodiness, because broodiness yields less eggs. Breeding a son from the broody RIR back to her and your other hens would reinforce broodiness in the line.

 

[BlueBaby]

I have a question about Leghorn's. What's the average age that pullet's start laying egg's?

 

[KF0002]

I have a question about Leghorn's. What's the average age that pullet's start laying egg's?

It depends on the line and whether they are a production vs heritage/exhibition line. Our production Leghorns start laying by 16-20 weeks, while I am told that the exhibition lines I purchased stock from may not lay until closer to 24-28 weeks.