# Brown leghorn and white leghorn cross



## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

What do you get when you cross a brown leghorn rooster with a white leghorn hen?
I have just started breeding them and I'm getting something that looks like a California white but I believe that it's only roosters that I have that look that way, I just hatched what I believe are hens from the same rooster and hen and they are born yellow with a brownish spot on their heads vs the lil rooster being white with more distinct black spots down the back towards the tail.
Has anyone crossed these breeds, and if so, what was your outcome?
Thank you for any help/info.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It sounds like you might have created sexlinks. Do the boys have the same markings as littles? 

Yellow? Those two really look white, snowy white on the top pic.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, I meant to say that the pic makes them look really white for some reason, but they are very yellow, and the two to pics are the 4 1/2 week old crossbreeds and they're white with black dots and they had black dots at birth and all have acted like lil cocky roosters since birth, lol, but this new batch I ran at a lower temp (98.4 to get more hens, and hopefully it worked, lol) and they are mellow/calm with no black dots.
I figured maybe someone else had crossed these two eggcellent egg layers, lol, great foragers, and avoid human contact (so that means no attacks on my lil 3yr old son, lol).
I guess only time will tell but I plan on getting rid of a bunch of them and hand picking mine beforehand, but it would be nice to sex them before sale.






robin416 said:


> It sounds like you might have created sexlinks. Do the boys have the same markings as littles?
> 
> Yellow? Those two really look white, snowy white on the top pic.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Here's a pic of the father,
There was controversy over whether or not he was a Rhode island red or a brown leghorn.
From the research I've done I see that there's more traits from the brown leghorn than the RIR.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Does an RIR have black on the roosters? I thought they were all red. 

I've only had one white leghorn so I can't answer you question. People have said the browns are more laid back than the whites so I'm surprised they're getting all the white's flighty ways.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, the RIR rooster has black on the tail, but the hens are completely red.
I love my white leghorn hens, they've only missed 7 days between the 2 of them in the 7 months they've been laying and I've gotten 2 eggs that are over 3 ounces, but the average egg I get from them is 2.25 ounces.
The pic with the 3 eggs, the left one is the 3.30 ounce and the one on the right is the 2.10 ounce and the top one is the 2.35 ounce.
Eventually I'm gonna order a dozen of the white leghorn hens so I can get a dozen eggs a day with my 2 hens added in.
If you decide to order any Hoovers hatchery is a really great place, they have a good bloodline, it's the company that tractor supply uses for their chickens when they start to sell.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm out of the chicken raising business these days. Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted but after ten years I've remained strong.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

I feel you, lol.
I just broke down Sunday and picked up 12 white leghorn pullets from tractor supply for a dollar a piece, so I couldn't resist it, lol.
So now I've finally got my white leghorn flock that I've been wanting and now they'll be with me till the end, and hopefully there's a lil rooster in the midst of them so I'll have my complete flock.
I don't mind breeding crossbreeds but they're offspring just isn't any good.
So now I have 4 brown leghorn/buff laced polish mix, and 15 of the between leghorn/white leghorn mix to get rid of, I'm pretty much giving them away at 2.50 a piece of someone will take the whole flock, but I'm asking 10 for the lil polish rooster mix, he's more show than anything tho.
So if you know anyone in the east/southeast Texas area wanting some really great egg layers send them my way, lol.





robin416 said:


> I'm out of the chicken raising business these days. Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted but after ten years I've remained strong.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Too bad you're not keeping the white/brown crosses. I'd like to know if they're hardier than the purebreds from the hatcheries.

What are you finding you don't like about that cross?


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Well, I actually grabbed a couple out of the mix (well what I think is a hen from not having any butt feathers like most of the others, and one with lil butt feathers just incase, lol), and I'm gonna raise them with the white leghorns and see how they do, and I might go back and try to incubate a dozen of them for egg sales, so we'll see, but I do know they grow larger and way faster than a purebred chicken.
But I guess the ONLY thing I don't like about crossbreeding them myself has nothing to do with the chicken itself really, it's not knowing if I'm getting a hen or rooster because white leghorns are really hard to tell until 4 1/2 months when one crows and the other lays an egg, the waddles and the comb are exactly the same until they get older, and I know what my white leghorns are capable of that I bought from the same place a year ago, so hopefully it's still the same bloodline or better, and that place guarantees 90% sex accuracy.



robin416 said:


> Too bad you're not keeping the white/brown crosses. I'd like to know if they're hardier than the purebreds from the hatcheries.
> 
> What are you finding you don't like about that cross?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, now that makes sense. It wasn't the bird so much as not wanting to be overburdened by endless roosters.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Exactly, lol.
I have my been rooster I call red and it's his flock, but I bought a few sapphire gem/RIR mix that was supposed to be hens and only ONE turned out a hen, lol, but my sister took her in, obviously, and constantly puts the 2 roosters in check and they have to stay in the roost all day until I let them roam around the yard, but it's just to much commotion, I like a calm happy flock with just one rooster too about 10-15 hens, so I'm gonna cook one of the things roosters this weekend and then cook the larger things one for Easter in some chicken and dumplings for my family, and pretty soon EVERYTHING we eat here will be out of my garden and the chicken coop.




robin416 said:


> OK, now that makes sense. It wasn't the bird so much as not wanting to be overburdened by endless roosters.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's wonderful that you've been able to achieve that amount of self sufficiency. 

Yes, too many roos can upset things. I was able to free range three with their girls without any issues. But I think that was the secret was that they each had their own female or females.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, my neighbor has a large flock and in that there's one rooster that doesn't have any females to look after, and ironically he's the more aggressive one out of the bunch.
I used to free range 99% of the time but it started attracting chicken hawks and my neighbor threw a dead chicken in his woods in the back and it brought up a fox and the neighbors dogs got a lil curious so now they're sneaking up at nighttime, so I just put a top over their yard I added onto their coop and now I leave them in there until I can cull these predators coming up, them I'll return them to free range.
I just bought this land and I still have 3 sides to fence in on the parameter fence then that'll make things a lil easier to manage, but once I get that up I'm gonna start working on my herd of goats next, lol.




robin416 said:


> That's wonderful that you've been able to achieve that amount of self sufficiency.
> 
> Yes, too many roos can upset things. I was able to free range three with their girls without any issues. But I think that was the secret was that they each had their own female or females.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Spring is the worst time for hawks taking chickens. They've got young to raise and are more aggressive. 

I've got hotwire around the outside of my pens. It's been quite effective at driving four legged predators off.


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, we didn't have an issue until the neighboring ranch let the coyotes get his cattle and then it drew in the buzzards so the chicken hawks had to come in and get their share, we never had any anywhere that I could see and I guess when they came in they saw everything else around here and just stayed here, I've seen them mating a few weeks ago, so I'm guessing there will be 3 or 4 more around here pretty soon.





robin416 said:


> Spring is the worst time for hawks taking chickens. They've got young to raise and are more aggressive.
> 
> I've got hotwire around the outside of my pens. It's been quite effective at driving four legged predators off.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Once predators have figured out there are easy meals to be had they do tend to hang around. But you've got your birds secured. Has your neighbor also secured theirs?


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Oh yeah, mine are in a fenced in yard connected to the coop and it all as a deer fence mesh top over it, it's a nice lil setup, I also put the tin on the sides 2 feet into the ground to stop anything from digging in during the night.
As far as my neighbor, he's just now starting to put a top over his chicken yard, but he's already lost a lot of adult chickens plus lil biddies that he's hatched, since he's had them I think only 2 maybe 3 that have been born there, have survived.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

All it takes for someone to get serious is to begin to get high losses. And to see how simple it was for you to prevent the overhead attacks.


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## janamsingh (Mar 31, 2020)

I had a similar rooster but I don't know whether it was exactly an RIR but it had almost the similar colors. when it was a chick, I still remember that it was quite conservative, but when it grew up, it used to jump in the air and attack you  and yes of course it's neck was remarkable


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, he was the same way mentally, he was the most docile rooster in the bunch that we picked him out of to bring home with us, and he was cool and laid-back, he got along with our hens really great, we run a very calm and peaceful "farm", so yes he was awesome, but one day he just snapped and jumped at me, but that was his last time, then a few days later he jumped at my son and his mother, but I don't think they disciplined him the way I did so he continues to do it.
The reason I believe that he's a brown leghorn is because of the white spot in his tail feathers, and the colors in his neck.
Also, another reason I believe that he's a brown leghorn is because of his offspring not being "golden" which is a dominant trait from the RIR rooster when you need them with a white leghorn hen.
He keeps throwing off a chicken that looks exactly like the California white, it has the black spots on it.
I keep digging and digging but I've never gotten a definite answer from anywhere I've looked.





janamsingh said:


> I had a similar rooster but I don't know whether it was exactly an RIR but it had almost the similar colors. when it was a chick, I still remember that it was quite conservative, but when it grew up, it used to jump in the air and attack you  and yes of course it's neck was remarkable


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## janamsingh (Mar 31, 2020)

don't know that many details but that little chick looks pretty different. it will be interesting the see the color patterns on that chick when it grows up


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## jnde207 (Dec 1, 2021)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a hen, and supposedly the hens are the colorful ones in sex links, and the males are the dull plain ones, but I guess only time will tell....





janamsingh said:


> don't know that many details but that little chick looks pretty different. it will be interesting the see the color patterns on that chick when it grows up


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