Brown Leghorns are known for laying large, beautiful, white eggs. Here is what you need to know about them.
Widely loved for their supreme egg production skills, brown leghorns are one of the most popular chicken breeds among chicken enthusiasts. The Leghorn chicken originated from Italy, specifically from the port city of Livorno in Tuscany. Livorno is also where the leghorn got his name.
While it is a common assumption that all leghorns are white leghorns, there are other colors of the leghorn like the brown leghorn chicken. Read on for everything about these cute little guys and see why these beautiful birds are so well-loved.
Personality and Appearance
Active, athletic, and spirited, brown leghorns are the athletes of the poultry world. These Mediterranean chickens are known for their hard-working attitude when it comes to egg laying — Yes, brown leghorns are extremely good layers of white eggs; In fact, brown leghorn hens lay large white eggs, and very often, even lay extra-large white eggs. They can lay an average of 280 to 320 eggs per year!
Listed in the 'American Standard of Perfection' (i.e. American Poultry Association's official breed standard), these white egg layers are really quite pretty. This breed of chicken has the perfect slim body build, along with a large wattle and combs to help them stay cool in the summer, and white earlobes. They can also have a rose comb. The brown leghorn hands down have the most colorful plumage out of the entire leghorn chicken family: these beauties come in both light brown and dark brown, with the hens sporting beautiful medium reddish-brown feathers and the gents donning orange hackle and saddle feathers. (Just take a look at the baby chicks of brown leghorns. They are seriously oh-SO-adorable!)
Care
The brown leghorn is an intelligent and resourceful bird, so this Mediterranean class bird is pretty low maintenance. They are active and always willing to work and hunt for themselves, so it's best to put them in a free-range environment, as well as a spacious chicken coop and roost, as these chickens can become more difficult to handle if given insufficient room. If free-range, these chickens will forage and find their own food. (Talk about independent!)
However, these little foragers can be noisy and a bit high-strung, so it's best to keep them away from nearby neighbors. Also keep them away from children as this is a type of bird that doesn't like to be toyed with and won't hesitate to let you know. However, they do get along with other chickens, like Welsummers, and do well in a flock.
Bottom line: if you want a chicken that deals with no BS and just want to be left alone to produce plenty of eggs with a large egg size, add a few brown leghorn chicks to your flock!
Do you live with brown leghorns? Please tell us in the comments!
