Article extracted from this web site:
http://www.the-coop.org/leghorn/history.html
Background On The Brown Leghorn Chicken
The leghorn is a lightweight, long tailed breed of
chicken originating in Italy and highly refined in this
country. It is known for its production of large white eggs. The
poultry breeders of the last century created many varieties of leghorns.
The American Brown Leghorn Club, incorporated in 1901, promotes the
breeding and showing of light and dark brown leghorns in both the
standard and bantam (miniature) types.
In the brown leghorn we find a rare balance between beauty and
productivity. The small farmer, the hobbyist and the fancier agree that
this breed of chicken exceeds their expectations in the laying pen, in
the showroom or just strutting around the yard. Over 140 years of
careful selection have ensured an overall high level of quality in
today's birds.
Production: The egg industry today relies
primarily on white leghorns for the eggs sold in grocery stores and used
in restaurants. High productivity is a quality shared by brown and
white leghorns alike, and while the brown's different colors make her
undesirable to the factory farmer, for the smallholder they are an
asset.
Brown leghorn breeders report consistently receiving large numbers of
eggs from their pullets. The hens have been known to lay well into old
age. Num-bers are not the whole story, however. A flock of hardy brown
leghorns will maintain a high yield, even on forage alone. This is
one of the premier free range breeds. They are lightly built, but
sturdy: capable of moving swiftly and flying well to elude predators,
but with a rugged frame that withstands the rigors of year round laying
and supports a considerable quantity of meat for its size. On pasture
particolored plumage particularly pleases passers by as well as
providing protection for the pullet. The subtle earth tones help
conceal the bird from predators. In fact, the light brown leghorn
coloration is similar to the red jungle fowl, which is presumed to be
the domestic chicken's wild ancestor. Given a suitable structure in
which to roost and lay their eggs, leghorns will roam far and wide to
procure their food during the day and return in the early evening. They
also do well in a fenced enclosure, although if the birds' wings are
not clipped the yard must be roofed or quite high to prevent them from
flying out.
History of the Breed: The ancestors of the
American brown leghorn appear to have arrived in Connecticut from Italy
in 1853 and were known as "Italians." Widely bred in New England from
that time onward, they were first called "leghorns" at Worcester,
Massachusetts in 1865. This was a time when Americans were exploring
the potentials of breeds from around the world to improve the domestic
stock. Lightweight, active Mediterranean breeds, such as the leghorn,
the minorca and the ancona were highly sought after for the year round
production of white eggs. In those days the farm flock produced meat
for the table as well. The leghorn breed, although not extremely
fleshy, provided high quality, fast growing fryers for Sunday dinner.
In fact, through 1938 the Pullman Coach Company bought only brown
leghorn cockerels for fried chicken served in their dining cars.
To ensure the purity of each valuable type of chicken, breeders elected
in 1871 to agree upon breed standards and to organize poultry shows at
which the individual birds could be judged against each other according
to these accepted standards. By the turn of the century competition at
these shows was intense. Equally intense were the laying contests held
to determine the most productive breeds and strains. Some brown leghorn
flocks were able to hold their own in both.
In 1920 one brown leghorn breeder was able to advertise that his famous
strain won the Great American Egg Laying Contest with offspring from
show birds that had won Best Display three years in a row at the
nation's biggest poultry show at Madison Square Garden. These great
lines are the foundation of today's birds.
As the brown leghorn was coming into its own, around the turn of the
century, breeders prized darker, wine colored male birds while
preferring a light olive brown female. This eventually gave rise to two
separate varieties. The Dark Brown Leghorns, male and female, are a
deep shade of mahogany, accented with fiery dark red and lustrous
greenish black. The Light Brown female is a warm olive brown color over
the back with a breast of rich salmon.
The light brown male sports a bold combination of orange,
bright red and greenish black. The females of both varieties should be
stippled subtly with a single comb dark brown hen darker color and both
males are extremely glossy. Each variety was further divided between
common or "single" combed birds and those with rose combs.
Bantams: Each of these four types was later
reproduced in miniature or "bantam" form, thus increasing to eight the
varieties we have today. Bantam leghorns can be as vigorous and hardy
as their large counter-parts, and although they don't lay those large
eggs, bantam breeders proudly say that three bantam eggs equal two large
fowl eggs. Their size and thriftiness make bantams ideal for the
backyard enthusiast.
Labels: chicken farm
Niko chilling out under the big tree in the backyard.
Bell pepper harvest on August 6, 2010
One of the ladies laying an egg on top of the compost.
Bell pepper plants
The five Better Boy and Better Bush Tomato plants that were planted in May almost took over the entire left side of the garden bed. I pruned the branches last week so that the garden looks more tidy. Since tomato plants will not set fruit when temperature stays above 90 degree F (as heard on the radio from NPR Morning Edition), we'll have to wait till late October or early November to get any tomatoes, Allah SWT willing.
