Pure Breed
Leghorn
- Price
- Enquire
- Temperament
- Active, alert and flighty
- Eggs
- Large white eggs in good numbers, a very reliable layer
Choose Variety
The best-known form and the classic high-output layer
Select your preferred Leghorn variety.
The Leghorn is the classic Mediterranean light fowl and one of the most productive laying breeds in the world. Originating in Italy and later refined in Britain and America, it is a neat, alert and active bird with a close-feathered body, an ample tail and, in the most familiar form, a large single comb that flops elegantly to one side in the hen. Leghorns are slim and upright, built for foraging, and they remain hardy and economical birds that thrive where they have room to range.
Leghorns are renowned for laying a large number of good-sized white eggs and for keeping up production well, including through the lighter months when many heavier breeds slow down. They are not natural sitters, rarely going broody, so they are kept squarely for eggs rather than for raising their own chicks. By temperament they are flighty and energetic rather than cuddly, quick on their feet and capable fliers, so a covered or higher-fenced run suits them. For a keeper who wants a steady supply of white eggs from an active, thrifty bird, the Leghorn is hard to better.
Key characteristics
- Light, active Mediterranean breed and a prolific layer
- Lays large white eggs reliably, even in winter
- Rarely goes broody; kept for eggs rather than rearing
- Alert and flighty; a good flier needing secure fencing
- Hardy and thrifty, an excellent forager
- Single comb falls neatly to one side in the hen
