Coffee anyone ?

[CLSranch]

Good day all. I got another rick of wood home yesterday with the help of the oldest boy. Well he was there until it came time to load, then he went to play with my buddy's kids. I may have a new welding job to look at today. I pass out cards but I have no idea how this guy got my #.
Time to finish up the garden.

 

[Mini Horses]

Good morning all....nice upper 60s for today, breezy. Open windows day.

So at morning chores, as I went to open coops, here's my broody, with at least 14 fluffy butts tucked in! She hightails it to her nest, not before I notice that many more eggs in there. So, cranking up incubator to grab some half cooked chick eggs... Maybe. Some may hatch...some not. Maybe I'll try, she's still on nest. Some of chicks are really fresh, some maybe 24 hrs...who knows.Gotta love em! Broody hens. Other chickens in coop ran out, she to nest....chicks followed to her calls....I tried to count. Nothing seen last Eve as I closed up. Made sure food & water there, shut door.

Glad I only LOOKED at the couple week old chicks at TSC yesterday. Nope, nothing to buy this year.

My day started with coffee, toast and cuteness. It's why we do it.

 

[Mini Horses]

Just put 13 eggs in bator. 3 have pipped, One of them chirping and working at entering the world! No wonder I haven't been getting usual eggs in the nests! Knew it was a happening when I discovered her ... We'll see how it goes.

First time I've only had "started" eggs. Glad to have the humidity/temp thing. After the 3 get out, I'll candle other ten. If they hurry, I can slide them under her tonight...with others.

 

[Alaskan]

I LOVE when the broody does the brooding!

So much easier.

When breed is your broody @Mini Horses ?

 

[Mini Horses]

She's a barnyard mix! I have several pure Marans, RIR, BO, some EEs. Eggs hatched are from several donators.....ya know how they love to share a nest! Chicks are multi colors. All BYM chicks. New layers, some dinner delights. When I want pures, I pen them ahead of time and wait for sperm to clear, etc. I add some new blood about every other year. Will get a few BR and BO before Fall. I like the heavy breeds....and broody. Leghorns, nope. Have a few sexlinks, they lay well but, nothing there for butcher! My flock is down to about 30, plus these now. Several older hens will be supplemented with these and the new I buy for Fall. I don't use lights in winter and mine have a long life generally and lay a long time. All free range days.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

@Mini Horses do you think crossing a steady, bigger breed with leghorns would help the egg production? Or not worth it? I have some white leghorns I am thinking about crossing with an easter egger, and then maybe an orpington as secondary cross or just switch roosters to the orpington. The leghorns are super flighty but I haven't worked with them at all.

I have a bantam polish I messed with a lot as a chick and she is pretty darn tame, course it might be because she can't see anything beyond her hairdo.

 

[Alaskan]

I enjoy my Leghorns, and often one or 2 of the Leghorns will go broody, and they have always been truly excellent mothers.

I like crossing the Leghorns with the Ameraucanas to get more meat and then high production of blue eggs.

The flightiness of my Leghorns is very different from one line and color to the next.

I find my breeder RC dark brown x with white to be relatively calm.

 

[Mini Horses]

The flighty personality is my concern plus the roos tend to be extremely aggressive. The heavy breeds are good for meat...we always get too many roos in a hatch, right?....they tend to be less likely to fly over fences, in general more docile, easy to contain and more likely to lay in winter, winter hardy, in general good foragers. My roos are good at alerting. I had two old Marans roos raising he// last evening, so went to check. Two cats screaming at each other....shooed them away and those boys stopped the alerts.

Yes, leghorns are great layers. I've felt a heavy breed roo with leghorn hens gave better crosses. Egg shell color, the leghorn roo will often clear the brown from green egg layers, for next generation hens, they say. I have some blue egg layers with leghorn in the mix, huge eggs, excellent layers. I have a blue egg roo whom I plan to pen with 4 of the hens...for hatching eggs. Hoping for more blue egg layers. The hens sell well, as do the mint green egg layers.

I don't worry about crosses, they do their job, I don't show.

I can see how the leghorn on Americaunas would work well. Hard to find those hens around here. Many have EEs trying to pass.

 

[Bruce]

do you think crossing a steady, bigger breed with leghorns would help the egg production? Or not worth it?

I have two 23 month old Austra Whites from Meyer. Black Australorp crossed with a White Leghorn. Much more Leghorn shaped/sized than BA.

Those girls are LAYING MACHINES of nothing smaller than Large, very often XL and Jumbo eggs. I have no idea how a hen that small lays an egg that big. Aurora didn't bother to moult her first adult fall so she's been laying consistently since November 2019. Personally I think she should give herself a rest. Gretel did moult and occasionally goes broody but lays very well the rest of the time.

 

[farmerjan]

My S.C. Light Brown Leghorns were good layers for purebred show birds, and of course were not as flighty as some due to being handled. The hens would often set too and were pretty good mothers. The best mothers I have ever dealt with were the Standard size Old English Games that my ex and my DS raise.... Fierce mothers, very good at setting... There are strains of many breeds that are good broodies and some strains that are not. Granted leghorns are not known for being the best of setters, as most all that are in the Mediterranean class of chickens.
Never had any of the Austra Whites, always had the sex-link types for just plain layers and any cull hens from my show birds got a chance to just be "chickens."