Why do people dislike leghorns?

[Flippacase]

Mines white!

 

[math ace]

I have 3 WHITE leghorns. They are hatchery stock. They are kept in a coop - not free ranged.

They started laying a month before everybody else.
They lay almost everyday.
They are the smallest of my birds and therefore consume the least feed.
Their eggs are bigger than my bigger birds.

Personality, They will spook quicker than anybody else.
They will line up right at my feet like everybody else to get treats.
They are so quick that they are harder to catch and do the hold thing. However, if you catch them - - - they will sit calmly while you get the loving
out of your system. One of my three leghorns is one of my favorites in the flock of 15 birds because she loves FRESH bugs. She will come over to the fence and take a bug out of my hand before anybody else has a chance to get it.

BIG BIG BIG downside is they all look alike. We had to put different colored legbands on them to tell who was who. One of them is bossy then the others and has been since birth - - - she got name CUSTARD because of it . CREAM is my bug lover. COCONUT doesn't do anything to stand out of the crowd. All three together make COCONUT CREAM CUSTARD. We figured if we couldn't tell them apart - - - we would just give them a name that could be shared by them . . . .

The other day, I sat in a chair in their pen with their treats and one of the leghorns jumped up in my lap to steal her treat and run. That was a first ! Not to bad for a flighty breed.

 

[HBuehler]

I completely agree with Sonoran Silkies I won't have a Buff Orp or a RIR but I have a leghorn collection

They are so full of life I don't think they are flighty...they have a strong desire to live and everything likes to eat chicken so they don't stick around long to find out.If they like you and they do they are so nosy and fun to be around and when my kids do catch them they will allow all the cuddles you will give them without being squirmy and loud like they are being killed.
Here is what we have found in our flock..did I mention we love our legs here

when it's 105 and so humid you can part the air and the ground is parched and cracking you will have white eggs in the nest box..Zero degrees snow and ice you will have white eggs in the nest box.
My white's are the Queens of the laying boxes they are awesome
Brown almost as good and well worth having in a flock...
Buff-lay a smaller egg usually a medium size so we sold them they don't lay as often either
Red-same as buff
Exechequer-they are very calm and docile kids can carry them anywhere they want lay great as well and did I mention beautiful
Mille Fleur-laid smaller than we want for our leghorns so sold them
Black-lay great nice big eggs
Silver-lay very well not as big as our white's

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I did not know all the individual color differences.
I have wanted to try the exechequer - - but did not want to loose out on the egg machine quality of the white leghorn.
Do they lay as much as the white leghorn and are the eggs the same size?

 

[math ace]

OMG - - - one of my leghorns laid a JUMBO egg yesterday. These girls were already laying the biggest eggs - - - now a JUMBO. I can't wait to see if she does it again. These girls have only been laying for about 2 - 3 weeks - - - I am so excited.


I have hens that are EE's, White leghorns, Marans, and Wyandottes.
I got some young chicks of Welsummers, speckled sussex, and partridge rocks. When those girls get to laying age,
I am going to choose my top two or three breeds and get rid of the rest.

My chicken count is at 17 girls - - - 11 hens and 6 pullets.
That is more than this family will need. However, I just couldn't decide which birds I wanted!

Flippacase - - you haven't made a mistake with the leghorn.
So far, my fav's are the Marans for personality and leghorns for taking care of business.

 

[tinychicky]

i love leghorns! my white leghorn girl, june is very sweet and she even got champion for best standard hen in a breed class in april this year!

 

[cherylcohen]

Just hatched yesterday 2 mille fleur leghorns, do they have the same personality as whites?

 

[rsf31tmp]

we have one girl, Lexi and she was bullied as a small chick, but she is quite striking now. She is a good girl and my daughter's favorite!

 

[flgardengirl]

Leghorns were the first chickens I had when I was little (around 5 or so). They were a little flighty but they came and sucked up for food lol. They let me pet them but didn't really want to be held and cuddled. I remember making them 'chicken salad' in the mornings. This consisted of grass, weeds, and bugs. I would throw it over the fence to them so they would get close enough for me to pet them through the fence. Now I only have one white leghorn girl. She is really sweet and does like to be held. She is in a mixed pullet bunch with barred rocks, RIRs, golden comet, a few OEGs, etc. so she acts like they do. So maybe that is why she isn't that flighty.

 

[WyandotteTX]

They are very good chickens, you just have to be patient around them. No sudden movements or being loud around them and over time they will grow to trust you more. We had 500 White Leghorns at one time on our farm, on average you would get 495 eggs a day out of them. Nice quality White Leghorns are gorgeous birds but I do think the Brown Leghorns are some of the most beautiful chickens around.