If you ’re a fan of definitive animated cartoon — or if you watch them on Saturday dawning growing up — then your first meeting with the Leghorn chicken stock might well have been an animate one . Foghorn J. Leghorn , the implike , blusterer rooster with a penchant for pranks , find the barnyard in Warner Bros. ’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons . In an era when modern appliance and the stinkpot backwash were all the fad , Foghorn may very well have enchant suburban America back into chicken keeping . Today , the Leghorn is themost common breedof chicken in the United States , key to the country ’s commercial eggs industry . The chicken breed ’s charm is n’t purely industrial , however . Read on to discover why inheritance breeders and little - flock owners likewise are falling back in sexual love with the Leghorn .
Egg Production
If you aim to plunge an egg - sell job or are simply warm of souffles , you ca n’t go unseasonable with the Leghorn . This prolific layer produces200 to 300 egg per year(about five per week ) . Just four Leghorn hens can net you six twelve medium to large eggs — or more — in a month . This amazing pace of lay places the Leghorn securely at the front of the poultry wrinkle as the well - laying breed . Backyard flock owners , take eminence : The Leghorn lays livid eggs , not the brown ordinarily link up with inheritance hens . Shutterstock
Food Conversion
crybaby feed sure costs more its name suggests these day , and provide for a small flock can be costly . Stretch your barnyard budget by making the Leghorn your razz of option . Anexcellent foragerwith a small appetite , the Leghorn can rake curtilage , athletic field and run for the majority of its nutritionary need . In addition — unlike its cartoon vis-a-vis — the Leghorn is a humble bird , averaging only six punt for an grownup rooster . While double - purpose breed such as the Orpington , Wyandotte and Speckled Sussex deplete large quantities of feed not only to produce eggs but also to establish body mountain , the more petite Leghorn directs the vast majority of its nutritional inspiration towardegg production . The Leghorn is nature ’s equivalent of the economy car : It gets great mileage on comparatively lilliputian fuel .
Activity Level
Many backyard deal consist of a battalion of plump , content hens slowly crease their mode around their running play . Not so the sprightly Leghorn hen . This petty dynamo scratches for bugs , kicks up clouds of malicious gossip dustbathing , dashes into your barn and fly up into the rafters , then hops down and omission - fly around the run — all in just five minutes . The Leghorn loves to fly and be up high , so do n’t expect her to respect the confines of her fenced - in run . ( After all , did Foghorn ever just stay put in his ? ) She love idealistic pole and happilyroosts up in tall branch , so be sure to check your tree if your head count is short at lockdown time . Leghorns are also quite lively when it comes to replication , with an extremely high-pitched natality rate . Do n’t expect your Leghorn hen to sic her own egg , however : She ’s toobusy to go broody .
The Leghorn ’s body process level is match only by her noisiness . She ’s a talker . She cackle and clucks all day long . The same holds true for Leghorn boys , so you might want to take your neighbors into account before proceeding with a self - sustaining Leghorn flock , as the cockerels and rooster cheerfully crow all day long , starting well before break of day . Shutterstock
Origin Story
Despite being one of the most popular chickens in America , the Leghorn is not an American - course of study stock . It is Mediterranean . The stock originate near the Italian port metropolis ofLivornoon the Ligurian Sea . Although Livorno is part of Tuscany , to the prompt NW lies the region of Genoa , which calls the cityLigorno . This is the source of the breed ’s name , which is pronouncedLiggern(not Leg - trump ) to reflect the name Ligorno . Of the crybaby stemma itself , not much is known other that the Leghorn progenitors left Italy forEnglandand arrived from there inAmericaaround 1870 .
Breed Details
Today , there are more than 16 colouring material varieties of Leghorn , although not all are accredit by theAmerican Poultry Association . These include the popular White , Light Brown , Dark Brown , Buff , Black , Blue , Golden , Silver , Red , Black - track Red , Columbian , Buff Columbian , Barred , Dominique , Exchequer ( pictured above ) , Mille Fleur , Cuckoo and Mottled . By size , there are two variety show : bombastic Fowl ( Standard ) and Bantam . The Leghorn is also one of the few breeds that boast twotypes of comb : Rose and Single . Federal Reserve note : The individual combs in Leghorn female flop to one side except for the very first of the comb ’s the five point . In males , the five item of the combing stand upright . The generous size of it of the Single coxcomb allows the breed to easily fritter away body heat , making the Leghorn the idealistic chicken to put up in the quick regions of the American South .
A right southerly man himself , our feathered friend Foghorn Leghorn would agree . See him take on a chickenhawk in this clip from Warner Bros.
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