White vs. Brown leghorns

[alwaystj9]

I have had white leghorns off and on for years. Very active, incredibly productive and usually non-broody. I kind of quit buying them on purpose because they seem to be the #1 target for predators, especially night predators (It's no joke: white birds go first). Last year I bought a dozen brown leghorns thinking they would be brown mirror images of the white leghorns. Until this month they have been awesome. They are a little heavier bird than the whites I had but incredibly regular layers of large white eggs. Since late April, they ALL have gone broody. I gave the first 2 brown leghorns 6 random eggs each to raise, one hatched 5 and the other hatched 4 and smushed one. Both are nasty-mean protective moms. I am trying to break the others from broody: separate pen, no place to lay, no forage or close cover. We are on day 6, they pace the fence nearest the main coop all day and perch on cinder blocks at night. They are not eating a whole lot. I haven't seen any of them trying to set or lay.
So did I fail to do enough research? Are brown and white leghorns really different breeds? I need layers, not setters!
Any advice? I really haven't had this many hens go broody at the same time (35 years of chickens).

 

[BoundlessLove]

Just curious, where did you purchase your BL chicks/hatching eggs?

Three years ago, I ordered ten BL chicks from Valley and boy these hens will go broody, but are terrible broodies and,YES, get very aggressive when they are allowed to sit on eggs.
The BL hens are definitely not the producers my WL hens were.
I have to gather the eggs daily and sometimes it’s still a “fight” to get them. lol

I think these BLs must be a heritage strain. Sounds like yours are, as well.

 

[alwaystj9]

Either Ideal or Mt.Healthy, not sure which, they were hatchlings.

 

[saysfaa]

All the info I found before I got my browns said they are very different as far as reproduction goes. Most of the info was about rate of lay but I think a few places talked about more likely to go broody but I have the impression it is not as much difference as yours are showing. Like, more than the nearly never of the whites but still not very often. My brown did not go broody but its a very small sample size.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have had white leghorns off and on for years. Very active, incredibly productive and usually non-broody. I kind of quit buying them on purpose because they seem to be the #1 target for predators, especially night predators (It's no joke: white birds go first). Last year I bought a dozen brown leghorns thinking they would be brown mirror images of the white leghorns. Until this month they have been awesome. They are a little heavier bird than the whites I had but incredibly regular layers of large white eggs. Since late April, they ALL have gone broody. I gave the first 2 brown leghorns 6 random eggs each to raise, one hatched 5 and the other hatched 4 and smushed one. Both are nasty-mean protective moms. I am trying to break the others from broody: separate pen, no place to lay, no forage or close cover. We are on day 6, they pace the fence nearest the main coop all day and perch on cinder blocks at night. They are not eating a whole lot. I haven't seen any of them trying to set or lay.
So did I fail to do enough research? Are brown and white leghorns really different breeds? I need layers, not setters!
Any advice? I really haven't had this many hens go broody at the same time (35 years of chickens).

Leghorns before becoming Leghorns were Italian Game chickens at some point mainly the Brown variety, so this makes sense. Was actually looking to get some at some point this year, but can't right now.

 

[KF0002]

My Brown Leghorns from Murray McMurray have never went broody and they are egg laying machines. The White Leghorns from MM are definitely superior in egg production, but the Brown Leghorns are not too far behind. It all boils down to the line the birds come from as far as broodiness, egg production, etc. We have had one White Leghorn hen from MM that went broody, so deep down the broody genes are still there in some Leghorns despite the selective breeding that has been done to breed it out, so it may crop up occasionally in any line. I have heard some exhibition Leghorn breeders say their Leghorn hens tend to go broody more often than production-bred birds also, especially in colors like Buff that took outcrossing to other breeds to create.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I had 5 BL several years ago that laid prolifically and never went broody. I'm sorry I don't recall where I got them but I'm going to guess MM. I swore off them because of their flightiness from Day One that never got any better. They constantly acted like humans were the scariest things in the universe. I also purchased 6 EE that same order and the difference was like night and day.