Leghorn chickens are one of the most popular breeds. These birds were designed to produce a high volume of eggs at a minimal cost of feed. The Leghorn is a chicken breed that originated in Tuscany, Italy. Here if you are curious about what do leghorn chickens eat? We are here to cover your all questions about leghorn chickens’ feed?
Leghorn chickens do not have enough meat on them. They are not referred to as eating the most. Their flighty characteristics make them very vigilant foragers with a strong resistance to predators. They aren’t the friendliest birds on the market, but their flightiness makes chickens very alert foragers with a strong resistance to predators.
What Do Leghorn Chickens Eat?
Feeding your Leghorn is a simple process, especially if you utilize a feeding guide to ensure you’re giving them the right nutrients. If your Leghorns are primarily used for egg production, as many are, you should consider feeding them a laying hen feed.
These feeds are higher in protein and calcium to help the chickens stay healthy and produce healthy eggs. A calcium supplement may be required to keep the eggs healthy. You may buy a calcium supplement or crush up some eggshells and mix them in with your chicken feed.
Leghorn consume less than other chickens, so they don’t require nearly as much feed. They are highly efficient birds who will also try to forage for more food.
What’s The Best Benefit of Leghorn Chicken?
Despite the fact that there are various color varieties authorized into the American Standard of Perfection, Leghorns are most known for White Leghorns, the most common color variety. Barred, black, black-tailed red, buff, buff Columbian, Columbian, dark brown, light brown, red, silver, and white are among the colors recognized by the standard.
The breed originated in Tuscany, Italy, and was brought to America in the mid-nineteenth century. Leghorns were originally known as “Italians,” but by 1865, they were being referred to as Leghorns in Massachusetts.
You May Also Read: Can Chickens Eat Pomegranate Seeds?
Early to Begin, Late to Finish Eggs
Your chickens will not only provide you with plenty of eggs, but they will also provide them for a longer period of time. Leghorn chickens begin laying around the age of 4.5-5 months and continue until they are 3-4 years old. In one Leghorn lifetime, you may expect to receive 600-1,100 eggs.
Any other chicken breed that lays as many eggs does not have an extended laying season. A different laying breed might give you two years at most. As a result, having a Leghorn pays for itself. Soon enough, you’ll be immersed in delectable white eggs.
How to Care for Leghorn Chickens?
-
Dietary Needs and Feeding
From hatching to ten weeks of age, your Leghorn chicks will require an excellent quality chick starter. Transition your birds to a grower feed for around a month when they are around 10 weeks old.
Because Leghorn can begin producing at a young age, I recommend moving to laying feed at around 14 weeks of age. Provide a calcium supplement, such as oyster shells, in a separate dish for your hens to consume as needed after they begin laying eggs.
-
Requirements for Housing
Leghorn chickens grown commercially are kept in cramped battery cages and never see the sun. For your birds, I recommend slightly different living conditions. In the coop, three square feet per bird is sufficient, with 12 inches of roosting bar each bird. 8-10 square feet of room per bird in the run is ideal.
Leghorn chickens are highly vigilant birds that can forage while keeping an eye out for predators. Due to the way they’ve been developed for commercial production, these birds aren’t the best foragers, but they benefit from free ranging just like any other chicken.
-
Health Concerns and Treatment
If you have any color leghorns other than White Leghorn, you should not have many health problems with them. For several years, you will find them to be active and frugal birds.
In the field of commercial egg production, a chicken is considered “spent” when she reaches the age of two. As a result, White Leghorns are not bred for longevity, and chicken beyond the age of three or four can have health problems. If you give your bird a good start in life, she will most likely grow up to be a healthy bird.
Many individuals adopt ex-production chickens who were breed in deplorable conditions, and they are the birds who will face the most problems as they get older.
Caged layer weariness, rickets, egg peritonitis, and fatty liver syndrome are among the most prevalent ailments that an older hen may suffer from.
Interesting Facts About Leghorns Chickens
What Leghorn chickens eat ? The truth is that they’ll eat just about anything. Your Leghorns will get the majority of their food on their own because they prefer to forage. Slugs, insects, grains, and weeds are among their favorite foods. If you let your Leghorns to roam freely in the yard, they will consume relatively little feed.
However, depending on their age, you should feed them twice a day. You’ll also want to supply lots of calcium to these hens because they lay so many eggs. Crushed oyster shells will be devoured by your Leghorns, resulting in the highest quality eggs.
Read Also: When Do Pigeons Lay Eggs ?