Leggorn - a breed of chickens with high egg production

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Leghorn breed is by far one of the most popular on the entire globe. It owes its name to the Italian city of Livorno, where it was first bred back in the 19th century. In English, the word "Livorno" sounds like "Leghorn", which was later used to refer to the breed.

Leggorn chickens are famous for their egg production. Although it must be said that at the time of its appearance, this breed did not differ in any outstanding qualities. Rather, on the contrary, their performance in terms of the number of eggs laid significantly lagged behind that of other varieties of chickens. An excellent way out of the situation was found by the Americans, who began to cross leggorns with other species, including fighting ones. The resulting "mestizos" were sent to Europe, where selection work continued in different directions in order to bring out the most successful variety.

In our country - then still the Soviet Union - these birds were brought at the beginning of the last century, namely in 1925. The White Leghorn is a breed of chickens that has become a kind of "progenitor" of the Russian white laying hen. At present, both this species and derivatives fromit is used for large-scale egg harvesting. This is understandable, because their egg production rates are really high. On average, one chicken can carry up to three hundred pieces per year, and a subspecies of the breed with a leaf comb - up to three hundred and fifty. Females begin to lay eggs as early as the twentieth week of life, and the first year, in terms of the number of eggs laid, is usually the most productive. Stimulants of various kinds are usually added to chicken feed to increase egg production, so after a year they most often experience depletion of the body. Individuals that can no longer lay at the level required of them are "married" (including those that start hatching).

Leggorn is a breed of chickens that is easy to recognize by some distinctive features. These birds do not have the most outstanding body sizes (the weight of hens barely exceeds two kilograms, the weight of roosters reaches a maximum of three), a small head and a thin long neck. The beak is small, yellow, with a curved tip. The legs are also the same length. In chicks, the color of the limbs is usually yellow, which turns white as the chicken grows and matures. The wings and tail are medium in size. The color of the plumage can be, in principle, different, but in our country the white leghorn is more common. The mass of one egg can reach sixty grams, the color of the shell is white.

Leggorn - a breed of chickens, which in our time is bred everywhere. Russia is no exception in this regard either. On the territory of our country, 20breeding plants, whose tasks include the development and improvement of the breed, as well as the breeding of other, even more productive derivatives.

Leggorn - a breed of chickens, characterized by the resistance of birds to temperature extremes. However, they also have some problems. In particular, with the close content of chickens in small cages, the rapid spread of various kinds of diseases is very likely. In addition, leggorns do not like noise - fear and anxiety can cause them to have problems laying eggs.