It’s come to that time again where one chicken takes center stage and becomes our chicken of the month. To celebrate this month’s chickens success, we’re going to take a look at some key details.
This month we see the Leghorn Chicken take the title. The key facts of a Leghorn included that they will rarely be in state of being unable to incubate eggs, they are early to mature as well as being a very hardy bird.
The Leghorn originates from Italy and arrived in the UK during 1869. White Leghorn chickens have been used as the main egg producers in North America. This is due to the demand the American marketplace has had for white eggs.
Commercially bred white Leghorn chickens can be very good egg layers. The eggs which they lay are white and weigh at least 55g each time. They also have a very good feed to lay ratio and can lay around 250 eggs a year, sometimes reaching 300 and over. Although, some may lay a lot less than this.
Back in the 1870s, this type of chicken started off as the same bird in both the US and UK. But overtime, they went in opposite directions.In Britain, the main aim was to breed bigger birds, with larger combs which had tight tails. Yet in America, the goal of this breed was the opposite! At the end of WW1, the shipments of these birds stopped as they were no longer to each other. In today’s age, the breeds still maintain these opposite features, while still having the same name. You can notice these differences from looking at photos of a Leghorn Chicken in America and Britain.
Look out for next month’s blog to see which chicken takes the first place rousette in our February competition!
