Leghorn (White)

We did not raise our White Leghorn from a chick. She was laying when we introduced her into a cage of 2 Silkies. She was shy and spooky at first but then we were impressed how tame she was with small birds. We rehomed a Silkie roo and were left with one Silkie hen and the White Leghorn who to this day are best buds regardless of how many more hens we add. The Leghorn is very easy to train. When we lifted her gently from the coop roof she never flew up again. She respects a low 2-foot fence barrier, she comes when called by name, she understands simple hand and voice commands, and she is a gentle flock leader. She is tame eating out of our hand, minds her own business, becomes assertive only when challenged or chasing away stray cats. We invested in a new Buff Leghorn who similarly has a great temperament and is a prolific layer also - only lays a slightly smaller egg in pink! My parents raised White Leghorns on the farm because of their big eggs but I am impressed with how intelligent this breed is if given the respect, gentle handling, and recognition she deserves.
Added 01-08-2015: Adored my two Legs but had to rehome them. They became too aggressive eventually toward our gentle breeds. Our White Leg was amazingly gentle for 3 years but came out of a severe molt with new feathers and a new aggressive attitude. The Buff Leg came out of her first year molt even more aggressive than the White Leg. I\'ll have to remember not to mix classic Mediterranean Class hens (like Legs) or classic Dual-Purpose heritage breeds (like RIRs and BRs) with smaller gentler non-combative breeds. Classic breeds are great birds but I don\'t recommend mixing them with docile, gentle, smaller, non-combative chicken breeds like Silkies, Breda, Polish, Cochin, Faverolles, Houdan, Crevecoeur, Ameraucana, Easter Eggers, or Araucanas. Because we have more gentle breeds than Legs we decided to rehome the two Legs - they were easy to rehome because of being such fabulous egg layers. They are such intelligent and human friendly birds. It was unfortunate that we had mistakenly mixed them with non-assertive breeds. We will miss them but know they have a better home now.

Leghorns are very flighty and not very fun to own. the only people i would recommend White leghorns to is someone looking for a great layer. but if you want a docile hen this isprobablynot the best choise.

Have two hens and they started laying eggs at just 14 weeks of age. 5-6 eggs a week. Beautiful white birds but very skittish and flighty. They jump out of my 4' fence as if it wasn't there.
Heat tolerant.

Very good chasers of grasshoppers. Can easily scale a tomato fence in seconds. They love to be up high so it become a little annoying when free ranging them to keep them off patio furniture (poop isn't always easy to clean up).

Not a broody breed. Mine barely stay on the nest long enough to lay the egg. The egg is still drying as they hit the door.