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 |
Breed clubs:
American
Brown Leghorn Club Dutch Leghorn Club The Leghorn Club |
The Scottish Leghorn Club The Leghorn Club of Australia |
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
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
or
Direct questions and comments to Barry at FeatherSite -- questions and comments