Are those egg-layers, too - or just for meat?
We're getting six Leghorns next month, just fer' eggs - but I guess when they stop laying....
Missing you today on the Garden Thread. What’s up in Ya’lls neck of the woods?
They are pretty much a meat bird only, but will lay a super-jumbo egg, if you let them; but by that time they can have severe leg problems.
There is a related breed, Slow White Cornish Cross, which mature 2 or 3 weeks later; but about the same size or just a tad smaller. They are akin to the older strains of Cornish cross of the 70s/80s, and will also lay a jumbo+ egg, without the leg problems.
OTOH, a huge egg apiece 2 days out of 3 is fine for a family situation, even if they don’t have the production of an egg breed. The Leghorns will definitely eat a lot less feed, but when it rolls around to stewing time, the Leghorn is skin & bones.
I have 3 that are in their 3rd season of laying...and basically aren’t any more. Same for the Jersey Giants: stew meat, when I get a chance.