What is considered a light breed?

[LoneCowboy]

What is the weight of a light breed? I see heavy breeds and bantams, but what is considered a light breed? I can't find where anybody has defined that.

 

[silkiechicken]

Of standards, there are heavies and lights. Generally, birds like leghorns or minoricas of the mederterian breeds would be considered light while heavier things like Cochins and rocks are considered heavy.

 

[sunnychooks]

I always assumed that the white egg layers of the standard breeds were lights, and the brown egg layers were heavies. Is that true???

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, there might be some truth to that, as the lighter breeds generally lay lighter colored eggs, but I don't think that's the definition. I think heavy vs light is over breeds and their standard weights.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I noticed in the Murry McMurray catalog, that none of the heavy breeds are under 6.5 lbs. Do you think that anything under 6.5 would be considered light?

 

[silkiechicken]

I'd actually lower the bar to 5.5 for girls and keep the 6.5 for the boys. I think that with the productoin strains of most though, these weights are often hard to follow for what was historically "heavy and light" breeds.