One of the first Chickens we acquired were a couple Leghorns. These were purchased at our local farm store right before Easter one year. It was nice because they started laying eggs for us that fall and we kept them through the winter in our backyard.
The most common Leghorn is the production breed which has been breed over the years to produce a lot of eggs, upwards of 300 a year. Eventually we would like to find a Heritage strain of Leghorn to compliment our turkey flock. The nice thing about heritage breeds they are usually very thrifty when it comes to feed conversion and will do great in a free-range situation. Foraging for food has been breed out of the production variety as when in production they live in a cage in a building all their life and don’t need to forage.
As our farm continues to develop we see ourselves moving more toward Heritage Breeds. These are better suited to the goals of our farm, with sustainability being very important. If you would like to learn more about Heritage Breeds check out The Livestock Conservancy.