# What does a leghorn hen bred with



## katydidagain (Jun 11, 2004)

either a RIR or a white Plymouth Rock produce? When I was a kid, I did a science fair experiment involving incubating eggs, opening them at 3 day intervals to preserve in formaldehyde (yes, very unPC and day 18 was awful) and raising the rest. My father picked the breeds: leghorns (the one his family had in 3 huge barns on their farm), RIR and Plymouth Rocks. I'm not sure I had a leghorn rooster but I had hens of all 3, 2 RIR roos and 1 PR roo. I incubated some of the fertile eggs of all colord and ended up with good layers that didn't resemble their parents; it's been 40+ years since I had chickens and cannot recall if I got more roos or not. 

I'm having a discussion with Bill about chickens; he totally discounts leghorns but loves Golden Comets. I know I had mutts but is there a name for what I had or might have had? I've searched for information regarding these crosses and come up empty.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I don't know about that cross, but I have a New Hampshire X brown Leghorn in the brooder right now about 4 weeks old...


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2009)

Leghorn crosses used to be very popular, and the various crosses had their own names. I don't remember all the names, but I remember:

Australorpe rooster X White Leghorn hen = Austra-White
California Grey rooster X White Leghorn hen = California White

There were others, I just don't remember what they were called. Rhode Island Red rooster X White Leghorn hens was also a popular cross.


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## Saffron (May 24, 2006)

Anyone ever crosses a RIR hen with a Dominik Roo? We did by accident and got a beautiful black hen with black legs


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

My personal favorite cross that I would like to repeat in the future was Blue Andalusians x Easter Eggers. I had a black roo and a blue roo result, both with brown 'highlights', and several blue/black EE pullets the same. Gorgeous birds.


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## cowcreekgeeks (Mar 5, 2009)

The cross between a RIR and a Leghorn produces a Red Star sex-linked chick...in a perfect world.


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2009)

cowcreekgeeks said:


> The cross between a RIR and a Leghorn produces a Red Star sex-linked chick...in a perfect world.


Red stars lay brown eggs. When you cross a leghorn with a brown egg breed, you get hens that lay off white, cream, or pale brown eggs.

Also, crossing a white leghorn with a colored breed gives chicks of both sexes that are white with colored flecks. They can't be told apart by sex just by looking at down color.

Red stars are a cross between a RIR male and white rock hen.


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