Large Fowl

Red Mottled Leghorns

Italy was the original home of the Leghorn but the first specimens of the white variety reached this country from America around 1870 and of the brown two years or so later. These early specimens weighed not more than 1.6 kg (31 lb) each but our breeders started to increase the body weight of the whites by crossing the Minorca and Malay until the birds were produced well up to the weights of the heavy breeds. In the postwar years, the utility and commercial breeders established a type of their own and that is the one which is now favoured. In commercial circles the white Leghorn has figured prominently in the establishment of high egg-producing hybrids

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Uses: Utility – Eggs.
Origin: Italy. Eggs: 180 – 250 large white.
Weight: Cock: 3.4Kg.Hen: 2.5Kg.
Bantam Cock: 1.02Kg. Hen: 910g.

Useful to Know

Can be prolific egg layers that rarely go broody. Early to mature, hardy birds. Light weight, can fly well.

 

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Great back garden bird. They are hardy with a great resistance to all common poultry-related diseases. The breed is a great flier so wings have to be clipped or they need to be kept in a fully enclosed run.

History

• Originate from Arauca region of Chile

• There were several introductions of blue egg layers from South America to the UK but the most significant is from the foundering of a Chilean ship in the Hebrides that was carrying ancestors of the modern breed.