A Light Brown Leghorn male

Leghorns

pronounced "leggerns" in the US

 

Leghorns are one of the best known breeds of chicken. They produce the majority of the world's crop of white eggs. The breed originated in Italy, but most of the color varieties were developed in Great Britain, America and Denmark. The birds are found in both single comb and rose comb forms and in many colors, including White, Buff, Silver, Red, Cuckoo, Mottled and Brown among others. The Brown Leghorns are further divided into Dark and Light. When you see a rooster in a painting or an advertisement it is usually a slim-bodied bird with long sickle (tail) feathers and a large single comb: the typical male Leghorn.

Leghorns, especially the White ones, are prodigious egg-layers and broodiness (the desire to hatch eggs) has almost completely been bred out of them. Leghorns are usually hatched out in incubators. A good hen will lay in the vicinity of 300 eggs a year. The light weight of this Mediterranean breed (males reach 6 pounds and females 4 1/2) makes it a poor choice if you are seeking a bird to provide meat for the table, although excess males can be used as fryers.

Leghorn bantams now have their own page.

 

 


Breed clubs:

American Brown Leghorn Club
Bud Blankenship
5205 Pundt Rd.
Lewisburg, OH 45338
937-962-4226
budablc@hotmail.com

Dutch Leghorn Club
H. Averdijk
Lijsterstraat 5
7491 ZM Delden
The Netherlands
tel.: 074-3763473
e-mail: sikahert@home.nl

The Leghorn Club
R. Grice
26 Front St.
Staindrop, Nr.Darlington, Co. Durham
UK
phone: 01833 660260
richard.grice7@btinternet.com

The Scottish Leghorn Club
C. McCrone
Blairston Mains,
Alloway, Ayr.
Scotland
phone: 01292-42265

The Leghorn Club of Australia
Ken Bergin, Sect'y
PO Box 5
Summer Hill NSW 2130
Australia

The Leghorn Club of Australia, Queensland Branch

De Nederlandse Leghorn Club

 


Leghorn Links:

Palm Beach County Poultry Fanciers Association's Leghorn page

Kintaline Poultry Centre has both Black and White Leghorns

Here's an article on Leghorns from the SPPA Bulletin

Fertile Leghorn hatching eggs, in the UK

Leghorn Breeders of Australia

Mille Fleur Leghorns at Skyline Poultry

You can find Black Leghorns at Jack the Goose's farm

Exchequer Leghorns are available at Durham Hens.


My very first rooster, "Desmond," was a White Leghorn
That's an Araucana cockerel and two Light Brahma bantam pullets in the background

Desmond's sisters "Lefty," (A Study in Chicken Wire), and "BadAss"

A "picture-perfect" rooster, in this case a Brown Leghorn from Australia
Photo courtesy of Andy Vardy

A very nice White Leghorn pullet
Champion Mediterranean at Cobleskill, NY, '98, owned by Twin Cedars of Delaware
Photo courtesy of Beth Adams

An Exchequer Leghorn rooster
Photo courtesy of Bonnie Meikle

"Ashley," an Exchequer Leghorn pullet, showing comb development; on the left she is around 4 months old, and on the right around 9 months
Photos courtesy of Ket

Here's a new color, a Blue Red Leghorn from the UK 07 Nationals
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

My Buff Leghorn cock "Mark I" and 2 of his hens

A Cuckoo Leghorn pullet
Photo courtesy of Pete Akers

Mille Fleur Leghorns
Photos courtesy of Cheryl Cohen

"Leo," a White Leghorn cockerel

A top winning White Leghorn in Australia
Photo courtesy of Andy Vardy, Melbourne National 1995

Black Leghorn roosters
Photos courtesy of Tony Ferrarese

A flock of Brown leghorns
Photo courtesy of Quintin Schenk

A White Leghorn cockerel, UK type
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

A debeaked Leghorn hen
Dunno why, she doesn't look like a utility bird to me
Photo courtesy of anonymous friends

A light Brown leghorn female

A Rosecomb Dark Brown Leghorn roo
Photo courtesy of Taryn Koerker

A Brown Mottled Leghorn cockerel from the UK 07 Nationals
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

A pair of Dark Brown Leghorns

White and Light Brown Rosecomb Leghorns

Silver Leghorns, 2 cockerels

Black Rosecomb Leghorns: a cockerel, his head and a pullet
Photos courtesy of Niki Colechia

Buff Leghorn roosters
Photos courtesy of Danne J. Honour

A Red Mottled Leghorn rooster
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

And here he is with his hens
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

A White Leghorn pair from Oz
Photo courtesy of Jessica Williams

Gold Duckwing Leghorn cockerel

A Mottled Leghorn cock from the UK
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

A Brown Leghorn cock bird

A flock of Exchequer hens
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

Buff Leghorn hens
Photos courtesy of Danne J. Honour

A Brown Leghorn female

A 5-year-old Buff Leghorn hen and a Rosecomb Buff Leghorn male
Photos courtesy of Danne J. Honour

A Mottled Silver Duckwing Leghorn rooster
Photo courtesy of Rupert Stephenson

A White Leghorn male
Photo courtesy of Andy Vardy, Melbourne National 1995

Here's a Rosecomb Brown Leghorn male

A pair of Pile leghorns
Photos courtesy of Robert Stephenson

A White Leghorn female
Photo courtesy of Andy Vardy, Melbourne National 1995

Another Exchequer pair
Photos courtesy of Robert Stephenson

A Mottled pair (left) and cockerel
Photos courtesy of Robert Stephenson

10-week-old Mottled leghorns
Photo courtesy of Robert Stephenson

A Brown Leghorn rooster
Photo courtesy of Grant Brereton

A Utility Brown Leghorn cockerel
Photo courtesy of Pam Marshall

A pair of Buff Leghorns from Australia
Photo courtesy of Scott Powell

A juvenile Mille Fleur Leghorn
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Cohen

Grant's flock of Brown Leghorns
Photo courtesy of Grant Brereton

"Karma," a Brown Leghorn hen--her story


White Leghorn chick
Photo courtesy of Gordon D. Rapp

Brown and White Leghorn chicks
Photo courtesy of Shiraz Iskenderian

An Exchequer Leghorn chick
Photo © Sheane & Bonnie Meikle

Red Leghorn chicks
Left photo courtesy of Reed Baize; right photo courtesy of Katie Gray

Buff Leghorn chicks
Photo courtesy of Danne J. Honour

A 3-week-old Silver Leghorn
Photo courtesy of Joyce M. Wallace


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