White rock or leghorn?

[SeattleAeris]

I just found a chicken running around Seattle. After a week of awkward living in a house and a rabbit coop, she finally has a nice coop and a large 'chicken yard' to run in with proper supplies and care. I thought she was a leghorn because she is white with a red gizzard and comb (i think thats what its called), like in the cartoons, but I just saw that White Rocks look the same. I was robbed of my digital camera so I can't show you pictures, so how can I tell the difference?

 

[FrozenChicken]

Well for starters you can't see his gizzard from the outside that's part of it's inards. The wattles are what hangs from bottom of the beek.
Anyway to tell the difference between white leghorn and plymouth white rock is simple.
Body size: Leghorn are petite while White rock are dual purpose birds close to 5.5 - 6.0 lbs
Comb Size - Leghorn generally have large combs that hang down on one side while the white rock will have a short comb( That is if it is a hen ).
Roosters will both have large straight standing combs but White Rock are much heavier.
Hope this helps.

 

[SeattleAeris]

Ohh thanks! So she is pretty big but not 5 or 6 pounds. She also has a small comb. I think she is just rather fat as aposed to big. So I think she is Plymouth White rock! Do you know how I can tell the age?

 

[ChocoboRancher]

Portly but not large, huh? I had a hen that fit that description, and she was a cornish-cross. Her type is primarily used for meat, but she laid some nice eggs for us. I'm afraid my pictures of her don't do her justice, and she was quite the sweetie, but does your bird look anything like this:

As far as age, that will be harder to determine. From what you described she could be anywhere from 3 months to several years old. Some birds, like our meat bird, mature faster to be ready for harvesting more quickly. We let our hen die of natural causes, which, unfortunately, was merely a year later. Meat birds, I learned later, aren't meant to live very long because the muscles are overly large for their bodies and can cause all kinds of damage to their bone structure and add strain to their hearts and lungs.

Hopefully yours is not a cornish-cross and will live a very long and happy life with you.

 

[Sillystunt]

white leghorns will have white ears and lay white eggs.................rocks have red and lay brown