White leghorns?

[tashak]

Anyone have these?
Experience with them as semi-free range?
How much flying do they do? And how high?

[CruzAK]

I've heard that they can fly over even 6 ft fences regularly, they are lighter weight birds. So if you don't want them invading your garden I would put a fence over the top of your fence. They are good egg producers though, I wouldn't have them because the white color is easier for predators to see and pick them off. I do have predator issues and my cochins are free range so I have grey and brown birds. I know there are other color varieties of leghorns but don't know how good of producers theyare.

[Cliff Timmons]

I've had white Leghorns and they were fine. The predators do seem to like the lighter colored birds though.

I clip my chicken's wing, just one side, so they can't fly very well.

[dirtundernails]

We have white Leghorns, and they've flown as high as 10 or 15 feet, when they are spooked, which happens often, since they are neurotic egg machines. Our flock is a mixture, and in the future will not have Leghorns, as I'm not sure what to do with a skeleton covered with feathers when they are done laying eggs. Dual purpose breeds are so much better for the homestead environment. I've read about clipping just the back half of the wing feathers so the bird can fly a short burst to get away from predators. We don't clip wings at all for that very reason. I've noticed that the chickens like to land on the fence before flying over, and don't alight on wobbly fences. One possible deterrant from your garden.

dun

[bluelacedredhead]

I have to agree with Dun. Flighty, nervous types and not much good at end of lay. Also Tashak, you live in a colder part of NV if I remember correctly from some of your other posts.
I would suggest a breed that has a smaller comb, with less chance of frostbite if they would be spending much time outdoors in winter. And one that lays a respectable number of eggs in a year (although not as many as a Leghorn). And that will provide you with either some soup, stew or ground chicken at the end of the laying cycle if you were to replace your flock every year.
Wyandottes are my favourite breed. Calm, well suited to free range. Too large for a crow or raven to carry off. Beautiful brown eggs.
Or perhaps a Dominique? Both breeds were developed in N.England to withstand winter temperatures. But do fine in summer heat as well.

here's a link to Hendersons Chicken Chart. A great way to compare breeds. It gives egg colour, weight of the mature bird, disposition and an artists rendition of the breed. Hope it helps.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html#l

[dirtundernails]

HOD here.

Don't know how many eggs you need, but, dun and I decided that for us, it is the total package that matters.
We want chickens that are as low maintanence as possible, and they must be GREAT foragers. I would rather have 40 chickens that I don't have to feed at all, that are "poor layers" and only give me a dozen eggs a day with ZERO feed, than 12 chickens that I have to feed $30 a month for the same amount of eggs... See, that way we get the same amount of eggs per day, but our end result feed bill is much less than the poor(er) foraging egg machines. Good foragers are also great for keeping bugs and pests down, and, if you lose a few to preditors, you dont lose as large a percentage of your egg production.

Anyway, of all our chickens, I think the leghorns are my least favorate. High strung, no meat, not so great foragers.
Designed for the commercial laying market. We got our pullets from the distributor, and they came debeaked and started laying with a week or so. Ours average about an egg a day each, but only if you supplement them with feed.

I like the Marans. We have several, and the eggs are amazing. DARK chocolate brown. Our copper-black rooster is awsome to look at. These are french meat birds, cold and damp hardy.

Just my .02.
Hod..

[farmergirl]

I'd never raise White Leghorns. The Brown Leghorn is more rare and the genetics haven't been messed with like the ones for the White Leghorns have. That means the Browns are great at foraging for their own feed. They are flighty to be sure, though.

[dirtundernails]

You betcha, genetics are messed with. We've seen the breeder flock that produces Leghorns, and they are SO fragile. Brown Leghorns are gorgeous, too.

dun

[dandelion meadow]

For anyone not familiar with them yet: Sandhill Preservation Center has the most amazing selection of poultry breeds of all kinds. They are working their butts off to preserve genetic diversity and the older and rare breeds of chickens, geese, guineas, ducks, turkeys. Many of these appear to be multiple use and good foragers. They've rescued a number of breeds on the point of being lost.
www.sandhillpreservation.com

Just glancing through the catalog, they have "Cuckoo Marans", five different Leghorns (all colored, not white), and five different Wyandottes. For the adventuresome, they offer different assortments at greatly reduced prices over the individual breed price.
It's great to read about everyone's experiences with different breeds. Thanks for sharing.

[Cliff Timmons]

As far as the best egg producers we've had were the "White Egg Producers" That's what they called them in Stromburg's and also some "Comets" we bought from some Amish. Both breeds lay white eggs if that's a problem.

I can't tell a dime's worth of difference except the little old Church ladies seem happier when I give them the brown eggs.

[tashak]

Are the white leghorns with mauve/purple on their wings one of the colored leghorn varieties?

Re Sandhill: I like them. And I admire the heritage preservation work that they do.
But a few years ago when I ordered a duck special assortment, there were problems with the post office (seems to happen often out where I am), and I got a call c. 3:30+ PM from Reno post office (about 60-70 miles away from me on unfamiliar roads) to come pick them up there. I knew I couldn't get there before they closed, especially since I had never driven in Reno, didn't know the streets, and didn't know where the post office was, so I urged the Reno postal worker to have them sent to the Silver Springs post office (only about 13 miles from me, and I knew the road and where that post office was) for earliest possible pickup before that one officially opened. Got there about 7 AM next morning for the duckies, and both the postal worker and I were horrified at how many were dead. Postal system express mail had them in transit more than three days before they got to Reno, and I'm sure sorry about the loss.
Sandhill was more than fine in dealing with it, but...I've been afraid to trust the post office with live birds since then as the express mail paid by Sandhill wasn't what they or we expected in its results. (Could have driven from Sandhill's location to here in less time than it took the postal express mail.)
The few duckies that survived the postal system were okay, and still are good pets, and the one female Black Cayuga is a good little egg layer though she doesn't nest or set. And the white crested drake is really fun to watch, and very tame.
I'd like to get another heirloom assorted duck batch from them, but just don't trust the postal express mail any more.